After less than a year in office, President Barack Obama flew to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
Upon evaluating that Prize, the Greater New Haven Peace Council drew up a list of goals that President Obama should champion to evidence his contributions to Peace:
• The President would not only call for abolition of nuclear weapons at some vague time in the future but lead the Nuclear NonProliferation Review at the United Nations this coming May to agree that the year 2020 would be the target date, as demanded by the Mayors of thousands of the world’s cities (Mayors for Peace
• The President would invoke Article 6 of the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty and begin serious negotiations towards reducing conventional armaments and demilitarization.
• The President would de-escalate the occupation of and war on Afghanistan, end the illegal bombing of Pakistan and ensure the recall of all foreign troops from Iraq.
• The President would sign and urge Senate ratification of the treaty banning anti-personnel land mines
• The President would sign and urge Senate ratification of the treaty banning cluster bombs
• The President would immediately negotiate agreement with Russia to take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
• The President would act to end the illegal embargo against Cuba.
• The President would call not only for ending torture by U.S. operatives but also for prosecuting those who condone and are complicit in torture.
• The President would close secret and brutal prisons in Afghanistan, such as Bagram, and wherever else they exist.
• The President would close the thousand U.S. military bases on foreign soil whose presence threatens peace and the sovereignty of nations and reverse the decision to build military bases in Colombia
• The President would end economic, diplomatic and military support for the coup leaders and their lieutenants in Honduras
• The President would pursue a treaty ensuring demilitarization beyond earth’s atmosphere.
• The President would state that since NATO no longer fulfills its mission of protecting Europe he will work toward abolishing NATO.
• The President would end the U.S.’s one-sided treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pursue action on UN resolutions to justly end the conflict.
• The President would join members of Congress to dramatically cut the one trillion dollar U.S. military budget.
• The President would rebuke and end the nuclear materials agreement with India, which violates U.S. Obligations under the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty.
• The President would press the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and work to amend it to include the banning of virtual testing.
• The President would instruct his Ambassador to the United Nations to end U.S. obstructionism and work on and vote for disarmament resolutions
• The President would support strong international environmental treaties, such as Kyoto.
• The President would submit to and urge the Senate to ratify the International Covenant On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights; also the Convention on the Rights of the Child; also the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Using his authority on these and other issues the President could make great strides toward peace worthy not only of a Nobel Prize but to gain the enthusiastic approval and support of the world’s peoples.
