Gore wins Nobel peace prize By Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent The Financial Times Limited: October 12 2007
Al Gore, former US vice president, and the UN climate panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for raising awareness of the risks of climate change. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e2b8a650-780d-11dc-8e4c-0000779fd2ac.html The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to share the $1.5m prize from a field of 181 candidates. Al Gore had been touted as the most likely winner of this year's Nobel peace prize since his film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, hit cinema screens last year. So the award of the prize on Friday to the man who in his own words "used to be the next president of the US" surprised few, but reinforced his reputation as the world's foremost champion of environmental issues. Mr Gore's film, which presented the scientific evidence and theories behind climate change as well as charting his own journey through electoral victory and defeat, became the third highest grossing documentary ever and won an Oscar. Some of the scientific claims in the film, notably the graphs showing temperature and carbon dioxide increases, have come under attack by climate change sceptics. On Wednesday, a British judge ruled that the film contained so many scientific errors that school pupils must see it with guidance notes to prevent political indoctrination. Mr Gore has also been criticised for wasting energy through inefficient use of power at his homes, and for his frequent air travel and practice of "offsetting" his greenhouse gas emissions. However, most of the science presented as the "inconvenient truth" is in line with mainstream scientific research and predictions on the climate. Mr Gore has given the hour-long lecture which gave rise to the film to thousands of audiences around the world, from students to heads of state. His performances are occasionally free but more often he charges up to £50,000 a time. Mr Gore is also a prominent investor in environmental technology, chiefly through Generation Investment Management, a fund management company he helped to set up in 2004 with David Blood, former chief executive of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The choice of Mr Gore will give rise to concerns - for US conservatives at least - about the perceived politicisation of the prize, previously awarded to Jimmy Carter and Mohamed ElBaradei. It raises questions about the broadening of the prize's criteria beyond the traditional understanding of peacemaking. The prize also added to speculation that Mr Gore would be persuaded to have another attempt at the US presidency. Such a move remains unlikely, however, as campaigns are already in full swing among the main contenders for the 2008 presidential nominations on both the Democratic and Republican sides. Mr Gore would have to be confident he could outpoll Hilary Clinton, wife of the former president Bill Clinton whom Mr Gore served as vice president, and Barack Obama, both of whom have raised large war chests and spent months drafting policy. To join the race now would require a massive effort to catch up with the leading contenders. But Mr Gore has been reluctant to rule himself out definitively, despite saying his new career satisfies his love of public policy. He told the FT in an interview last November that running for president was "a toxic process and has grown more so over the years". More likely is that Mr Gore will continue in his self-appointed role as climate change champion, perhaps by visiting the United Nations conference this December in Bali. Negotiations will begin there on a potential successor to the Kyoto protocol, whose main provisions expire in 2012. There are also moves to create a new international agency to draw together the UN's work on climate change and break the logjam preventing progress on tackling greenhouse gas emissions. Jacques Chirac, former president of France, is thought to be interested in heading such an agency, and there was speculation that Tony Blair, former prime minister of the UK, would be called on. Mr Gore could probably have such a post for the taking - if he wanted it. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 *** From: All the News That Doesn't Fit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [NYTr] Carter: US Tortures, Bush Approves, Cheney's a Disaster ... but Don't Try Them ??!? USA Today - Oct 10, 1007 http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/10/carter-us-has-t.html Carter: U.S. has tortured detainees and Bush approved it In an interview with CNN, former President Jimmy Carter said he believes that the United States has tortured detainee and that President Bush has authorized the abuse, which he said violates international laws. Despite that, Carter said formal charges or a trial "would be inappropriate." Addressing Iraq, he said that all 168,000 U.S. troops could be withdrawn in 18 months and that he disagreed with the 2013 timetable proposed by fellow Democrats Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Here are excerpts from the interview with Wolf Blitzer: Regarding the Bush administration and allegations of torture: BLITZER: President Bush said as recently as this week the United States does not torture detainees. CARTER: That's not an accurate statement. If you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored, certainly in the last 60 years, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated. But you can make your own definition of human rights and say, we don't violate them. And we can ? you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate it. BLITZER: But by your definition, you believe the United States, under this administration, has used torture. CARTER: I don't think it, I know it, certainly. BLITZER: So is the president lying? CARTER: The president is self-defining what we have done and authorized in the torture of prisoners, yes. BLITZER: But that raises a really important question. Those who are engaged in torture, who commit torture, potentially that could be a violation of international or other laws. CARTER: Yes, I think so. Regarding ?holding someone accountable? for violations of international laws: CARTER: Well, I think we ? the best way to hold people accountable in this country is through the election process. BLITZER: That is the best way to get -- in other words, from your perspective, to get rid of the incumbent administration and move on. But you don't want to see any formal charges or a trial... CARTER: No, I don't think so. I think that would be inappropriate. That has been done in some cases, as you know, but I don't think it is appropriate at all. Regarding leaving Iraq and Republicans wanting ?to stay there permanently?: BLITZER: So on this issue, you disagree with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. CARTER: Absolutely. We ought to get out earlier than 2013. BLITZER: How quickly do you think the U.S., realistically, could withdraw all 168,000 troops from Iraq? CARTER: I think over an 18-month period, we could be totally out, if that's our desire, but I never have seen anybody in this current administration or the Republican candidates advocate that we ever get out of Iraq. I think they want to stay there permanently. *** Reuters - Oct 10, 2007 http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1026419120071010 Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a "disaster" for U.S WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy. Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said. "He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday. "You know he's been a disaster for our country," Carter said. "I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed." Asked to comment on Carter's remarks, Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the Republican vice president, said, "We're not going to engage in this type of rhetoric." Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace prize for his charitable work, is a strong critic of the Iraq war and has often been outspoken in his criticism of President George W. Bush. In a newspaper interview in May, Carter called the Bush administration the "worst in history" in international relations. Carter did have kind words in the BBC interview for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I'm filled with admiration for Condoleezza Rice in standing up to (Cheney) which she did even when she was in the White House under President George W. Bush," Carter said, referring to Rice's former role as White House national security adviser. "Now secretary of state, her influence is obviously greater than it was then and I hope she prevails," Carter added. Reuters 2006. 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