Oslo, Aug 10: French President Jacques Chirac's chances of winning this year's prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, for which he boasts a nomination, are microscopic, Norwegian experts say.
"Chirac's chances are infinitely small," said Stein Toennesson, head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo Prio, adding that Chirac's stance against war in Iraq did not amount to making him a man of peace.

"Chirac's position during the Iraq crisis was closely linked to national interests and not specifically to any desire for peace for the sake of peace. And looking back over his career, there is no trace of a continuous commitment to peace," he said.
Chirac's name was put forward, ahead of the February 1 deadline, by three Costa Rican sponsors who want to see the President rewarded for his Iraq stance and for peace efforts in Ivory Coast.
On March 4, Chirac got further backing when Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said that if Chirac could stop the war "I would like to say, in the name of all peoples, including the American people, that he should receive the Nobel Prize".



But it was not to be, and the US-led army rolled into Iraq two weeks later.



"The Nobel committee cannot reward a failure," said Tove Gravdal, a journalist and France expert at Daily Aftenposten, adding that the Nobel prize for Chirac would not only be extremely controversial in the United States, but also in Norway.


Bureau Report