In December of 2009, Barak Obama was the first sitting U.S. president in 90 years and the third ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet he did so under the long shadow of the war in Afghanistan, where he was ordering 30,000 more troops into battle. Could Truman’s decision to drop the A-bomb on Japan be along the same logic because it was meant to preempt the loss of life that would have come had the US invaded Japan? President Reagan’s peace through strength logic was that a military build-up would forestall or prevent war from breaking out (hence no loss of life would be involved even in the forestalling). The logic of awarding a surge President with a peace prize seems more dubious.
The full essay is at "A Nobel Peace Prize amid a Troop Surge."
The full essay is at "A Nobel Peace Prize amid a Troop Surge."
