Geir Lundestad, who served as the director of the Nobel Institute for 25 years, said that despite Obama's ambitious diplomacy goals, which persuaded the committee to award the president the prestigious honor, he knew there were serious limits as to what could be achieved.
Nobel panel saw #Obama peace prize as #BigMistake Hope they going to ask for it back,,,,,
— orli sagi (@SagiOrli) September 17, 2015
"The committee clearly realized that it was limited what he could achieve, but we felt it was important to support him in these crucial efforts," Lundestad told Sputnik, acknowledging that even Obama himself didn't think he was worthy of the honor.
"In his Nobel speech in 2009, Obama specifically addressed this issue. I mean how could he, who was indeed conducting two wars — in Afghanistan and Iraq — receive the Nobel Peace Prize? How could he justify this?"
Any US President Will Be Involved in Conflicts
The decision to award Obama with the Peace Prized caused widespread criticism, given that the US was actively engaged in several overseas conflicts.
Others have criticized awarding Obama with the prestigious honor due to his actions post-2009, with the US decision to engage in overseas military interventions in Yemen, Libya and more recently Iraq and Syria, which critics argue have further destabilized the region.
"Any American president can be criticized for certain actions. Any American president will be involved in conflicts, sometimes even in wars, but president Obama has been able to, to a very large extent, get out of the two wars that he inherited [in] Afghanistan and Iraq, he had a low profile on Libya and he refused to intervene in Syria and many criticized him for not intervening in Syria."
Media Scandal
Mr Lundestad was at the center of a media storm after Norwegian and international media outlets reported that he had regrets over the decision to award the US president with the prestigious prize, given his record in office since that time.
Bush's legacy is that action can backfire. Obama's legacy is that inaction can also backfire.
— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) September 16, 2015
However, Mr Lundestad said that content in his newly released book 'Secretary of Peace — 25 years with the Nobel Prize' was "misunderstood" by some journalists in the rush to report "sensational news".
