President Obama defends US wars as he accepts peace prize_History and Peace Making

Obama delivered a Nobel acceptance speech that he saw as a treatise on the use and prevention of war. He crafted much of the address himself and the scholarly remarks — at about 4,000 words — were nearly twice as long as his inaugural address.

Obama refused to renounce war for his nation or under his leadership, saying defiantly [defensively, as in defense of his policy?] that "I face the world as it is" and that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States.

"A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies.

Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida's leaders to lay down their arms," Obama said.

"To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history."

The president laid out the circumstances where war is justified — in self-defense, to come to the aid of an invaded nation and on humanitarian grounds, such as when civilians are slaughtered by their own government or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region.

"The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it," he said.

"No matter how justified, war promises human tragedy," he said. "some will kill, some will be killed."

But he also stressed the need to fight war according to "rules of conduct" that reject torture and other methods. And he emphasized the need to exhaust alternatives to violence, using diplomatic outreach and sanctions with teeth to confront nations such as Iran or North Korea that defy international demands to halt their nuclear programs or those such as Sudan, Congo or Burma that brutalize their people.

"Let us reach for the world that ought to be," Obama said. "We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace."

Full speech as referenced below :

"But he also stressed the need to fight war according to "rules of conduct" that reject torture and other methods. And he emphasized the need to exhaust alternatives to violence, using diplomatic outreach and sanctions with teeth to confront nations such as Iran or North Korea that defy international demands to halt their nuclear programs or those such as Sudan, Congo or Burma that brutalize their people. "Let us reach for the world that ought to be," Obama said. "We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace.""
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