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For Immediate Release
October, 09 2009, 12:43pm EDT
Contact:
Mike Ferner, 419-729-7273
Michael McPhearson, 314-303-8874
Veterans React to President Obama Receiving Nobel Peace Prize
"Once you had to help lead one of the most important social movements in U.S. history or minister to the poor,
sick, orphaned, and dying to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Now you can promise change and international
cooperation while ordering more drone bombings that kill innocent civilians -- and still get a Nobel Peace Prize.
There's something wrong with this picture."
That was how the head of a national group of military veterans today reacted to the news that President
Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
WASHINGTON
"Once you had to help lead one of the most important social movements in U.S. history or minister to the poor,
sick, orphaned, and dying to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Now you can promise change and international
cooperation while ordering more drone bombings that kill innocent civilians -- and still get a Nobel Peace Prize.
There's something wrong with this picture."
That was how the head of a national group of military veterans today reacted to the news that President
Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mike Ferner, a former Navy Hospital Corpsman and president of Veterans For Peace, said "I've seen what
happens to people at the receiving end of bombs. For two years I took care of hundreds of wounded and dying
soldiers coming back from Vietnam and Cambodia. Sadly, President Obama continues to rely on violence to
carry out foreign policy. Moving from 'go it alone' rhetoric and pledging to reduce nuclear weapons is good, but
not enough -- not even close. He'll have to do far better than that to deserve even a nomination for this
prestigious award."
Past Peace Prize awardees include Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, major forces in eliminating South
African apartheid; Lech Walesa, who, as leader of the "Solidarity" union, defied the power of the Communist
Party to win rights for Polish workers; Mikhail Gorbachev, who presided over the end of the Soviet Union and
helped end the Cold War; Rigoberta Menchu Tum, campaigner for human rights in Guatemala during the reign
of the death squads; Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines; Dr. Linus Pauling, early
leader in the movement to oppose the nuclear bomb; Doctors Without Borders; Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Others have been nominated, sometimes more than once, like Kathy Kelly, coordinator of Voices in the
Wilderness. This Chicago-based group organized over 70 citizen delegations to Iraq to report how sanctions
were affecting people in that country during the 1990's. In addition, Kelly twice led delegations that literally
camped out in the way of the U.S. invasions of Iraq in 1991 and 2003.
"These are the kinds of people who have taken huge risks for peace over many years of their lives. They
inspire us to look inside ourselves to find the best of our natures and change how we live our lives. President
Obama has the ability to turn away from violence and two of the longest wars in our history. He appears to be
interested in doing so. That is the sort of thing for which Nobel Peace Prizes should be reserved."
Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.
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[image or embed]
— Antifa_Ultras (@antifa-ultras.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 2:20 PM
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