By Shelley Kofler, KERA News Dirctor
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-607750.mp3
Dallas, TX – In Northern Ireland Betty Williams organized citizens and launched successful peace talks between warring Catholics and Protestants. In Guatemala Rigoberta Menchu Tum endured death threats and exile in her fight to end the persecution of indigenous people. Jody Williams of the United States fought her way through bureaucracy to achieve an international treaty banning landmines. In each case these Nobel Peace Prize winners worked outside established political channels to bring greater stability to the lives of people living in chaos. As President Bush calls for maintaining our increased military strength in Iraq and opponents of his policy demand more immediate withdrawal of US troops we asked these experienced peacemakers for their suggestions.
All agreed, the Bush administration would have to begin by doing something it isn't likely to do- apologize to the Iraqi people for the US for sending in troops.
(Betty Williams, Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchu Tum talk further about -why the United State should apologize for sending troops to Iraq; how an investigative tribunal might help; why the Iraqi people should control their country's oil and compensation for war victims.)
These Nobel Prize winners don't pretend to be experts on Iraq, but they've brokered peace before by challenging conventional wisdom. They offer their views in case current policy needs some tweaking.
For KERA 90.1 I'm Shelley Kofler