10 Dec, 2009, Oslo, America

The President Barack Obama received the noble peace prize in Oslo. In his speech he has said that the US must uphold the moral standards while waging wars which are necessary as well as justified. He also defended the role of US in Afghanistan, arguing use of force could bring the lasting peace. He even said that his accomplishments were compared to the previous laureates.

Mr. Obama was given a prize in October for the extraordinary efforts to strengthen the international diplomacy and co-operation between the people. Thursday’s prize ceremony in the Norwegian capital came after Mr. Obama has announced that he was sending around 30,000 extra US soldiers to war in Afghanistan.

Obama’s elevation at the rank of some fellow laureates like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, before he had even spent year in the office, has sparked a fierce debate. He said that he believes that the instruments of war do have a major role to play to preserve peace. This belief has led him ordering the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison and reaffirms the US commitment abiding by the Geneva Conventions.

The president also paid the tribute to the anti-government demonstrators in Iran, Zimbabwe and Burma. He assured that the US will always stand on the side of those who sought the freedom.

While the Nobel ceremony, a statue of Mr. Obama as the young boy was unveiled in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, at park near a place where the president lived between 1967 – 1971.