Kofi Annan Wins Nobel Peace Prize

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United Nations (Oct. 13) presents a singular opportunity to the U.S in the war against terrorism: to switch our strategy and wholeheartedly commit our efforts, both diplomatic and military, primarily through the U.N. With anti-American protests steadily rising throughout the Muslim world--not all of which are groundless--such a move could pay immediate political dividends.

The present threat highlights the bankruptcy of go-it-alone strategies and the need to heed all voices in the community of nations, particularly those of the non-Western nations. The Nobel citation said it well: “[Annan] has made it clear that sovereignty cannot be a shield behind which member states conceal their violations.”

The Rev. Richard W. Gillett

Minister for Social Justice

Episcopal Diocese of L.A.

Pasadena

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It is sickening that the U.N. would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just a couple of months after its anti-Semitic carnival in Durban. But then again, it shouldn’t be such a shock. The Nobel committee awarded the same prize to Yasser Arafat just a few years ago.

Zan Marquis

Los Angeles

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Here we are, in a worldwide crisis that we can overcome only through coordinated action, yet it takes a Nobel Peace Prize to hear anything about the worldwide organization specifically created to deal with such crises. What can our leaders be thinking of? Why are they reacting in the same old nationalistic ways that have failed us? When will we wake up to the fact that the world no longer can tolerate wars between nations, that one such war can destroy us all?

Yes, I too am proud to be an American. But I also want to, need to, be a citizen of the world. We have been telling ourselves that we are good as well as powerful. We can best demonstrate those qualities by exhibiting less nationalistic fervor, which others see as arrogance, and resisting precipitate military actions, which others see as selfishness and cruelty. We can demand that our leaders concentrate on working through the U.N. to develop world laws and world enforcement forces.

Dewey Wasser

Thousand Oaks