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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Ron Zucker, Kelley Campaigns, 301-887-1060 x112

Peace Action says Obama Does Not Deserve Nobel Peace Prize Yet

"If you did, you would stop the surge," challenges Kevin Martin, leader of major American peace group supporting a non-military approach to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON

Reacting to today's announcement of President Obama as
the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Peace Action's Executive
Director Kevin Martin challenged the Obama Administration to live up to
the honor.

"It is ironic that this award comes on the same day that the Wall Street
Journal is reporting that the administration is considering sending as
many as 60,000 more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama needs to
prove that he really is a force for peace. He can do that by refusing to
put more troops in Afghanistan, and instead committing to a non-military
solution that doesn't destabilize a nuclear-armed Pakistan like a surge
would."

Martin added that the president is moving in the right direction on
nuclear disarmament but hasn't done nearly enough yet to warrant a Nobel
Prize. He said there is a hunger for a new, less militaristic US foreign
policy around the world, but again, Obama's modest changes in certain
policies in the first 9 months on the job don't warrant a Peace Prize.

The comments come on the heels of a trip to Afghanistan by Peace Action
Political Director Paul Kawika Martin. On the trip, he saw the effects
of the war firsthand, with visits with every stratum of society. He
learned that the war is undermining any future peace in the region. Air
strikes terrorize civilians, detention paralyzes society and the Afghan
economy has been decimated, with at least 40% unemployment.

Peace Action is the nation's largest grassroots peace network, with a
membership of over 100,000, and chapters and affiliates in 30 states.
For more than 50 years, Peace Action has been a leader in the struggle
for a safer world with fewer nuclear weapons. Peace Action has achieved
victories in successful campaigns to ban landmines, end nuclear weapons
testing, cut funding for Star Wars and new nuclear weapons and stop arms
transfers to nations that abuse human rights.

For booking information or telephone interviews with either Kevin
Martin, Executive Director, or Paul Kawika Martin, Political Director,
please contact Ron Zucker, Associate Director of Campaigns for Kelley
Campaigns, at (301) 887-1060 x112, or via email at
ron@kelleycampaigns.com.

Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.