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Bush could win Nobel for Irish peace
Four more years, so let's make the most of it. President Bush says he wants to cash in on his electoral mandate. Maybe in the back of his mind he's thinking Nobel Peace Prize?
In 2002, former President Carter won for his global conflict-resolution efforts. President Wilson received the 1919 award for founding the League of Nations. And in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt received the honor, drawing up a peace treaty between Russia and Japan.
This is heady stuff, but which hand should W. back? Iraq isn't likely to pay off in the near future. Afghanistan could take years. A satisfactory Israeli-Palestinian settlement is a long shot. Resolving Iranian, North Korean or Sudanese issues might take too long.
But wait, what about little old Ireland? No nukes there. The island's death, destruction and terrorism levels are at an all-time low. All the groundwork has been laid: the 1998 Good Friday peace accord is written, signed, ratified and partly implemented. A burgeoning Northern Irish assembly has been seated, then unseated, four times in the past six years. Paramilitaries on both sides of the political divide have honored formal cease-fire pledges and have decommissioned some weapons.
Today, both nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland are chafing for a peaceful political settlement. America's recent advocate and defender, Britain, is crying out for a resolution. The Irish government is there to lend a hand. Dublin will go to almost any lengths to see a working assembly succeed in Belfast. In 1998, President Clinton showed the world that American diplomacy can have a positive influence, filling a much-needed void.
I couldn't help but wonder, as No. 42 and No. 43 stood side-by-side in the rain at the dedication of Clinton's presidential library, whether opinions were sought or suggestions offered.
Today, another one of those narrow windows in time is open in Ireland. If Bush II would personally reinsert America into the Anglo-Irish political mix, Ireland, the world and his political stature might receive a huge injection of peace with justice. If Bush himself, not some lesser diplomatic envoy, would sit down with Sinn Fein (nationalist), the Democratic Ulster Party (unionist) and other influential Irish, W. might just deliver the elusive solution to the 1998 agreement.
Imagine it - the world applauding George W. Bush at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize banquet.
Cathal Liam of Sycamore Township is an author and authority on Irish .
Any thoughts on this?
Bush could win Nobel for Irish peace
Four more years, so let's make the most of it. President Bush says he wants to cash in on his electoral mandate. Maybe in the back of his mind he's thinking Nobel Peace Prize?
In 2002, former President Carter won for his global conflict-resolution efforts. President Wilson received the 1919 award for founding the League of Nations. And in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt received the honor, drawing up a peace treaty between Russia and Japan.
This is heady stuff, but which hand should W. back? Iraq isn't likely to pay off in the near future. Afghanistan could take years. A satisfactory Israeli-Palestinian settlement is a long shot. Resolving Iranian, North Korean or Sudanese issues might take too long.
But wait, what about little old Ireland? No nukes there. The island's death, destruction and terrorism levels are at an all-time low. All the groundwork has been laid: the 1998 Good Friday peace accord is written, signed, ratified and partly implemented. A burgeoning Northern Irish assembly has been seated, then unseated, four times in the past six years. Paramilitaries on both sides of the political divide have honored formal cease-fire pledges and have decommissioned some weapons.
Today, both nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland are chafing for a peaceful political settlement. America's recent advocate and defender, Britain, is crying out for a resolution. The Irish government is there to lend a hand. Dublin will go to almost any lengths to see a working assembly succeed in Belfast. In 1998, President Clinton showed the world that American diplomacy can have a positive influence, filling a much-needed void.
I couldn't help but wonder, as No. 42 and No. 43 stood side-by-side in the rain at the dedication of Clinton's presidential library, whether opinions were sought or suggestions offered.
Today, another one of those narrow windows in time is open in Ireland. If Bush II would personally reinsert America into the Anglo-Irish political mix, Ireland, the world and his political stature might receive a huge injection of peace with justice. If Bush himself, not some lesser diplomatic envoy, would sit down with Sinn Fein (nationalist), the Democratic Ulster Party (unionist) and other influential Irish, W. might just deliver the elusive solution to the 1998 agreement.
Imagine it - the world applauding George W. Bush at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize banquet.
Cathal Liam of Sycamore Township is an author and authority on Irish .
Any thoughts on this?
