Less hopeful aspects of criticism of the Nobel committee's decision however were: (i) the sound and fury coming from FOX and friends, who it is clear are tasked with trashing any and all things Obama related; and (ii) "left" critics who only cite Obama's surfeit of rhetoric, and marked lack of accomplishment in moving America towards peace.
In fact, far from positioning the nation for an end to war-fighting, Obama has proven as bellicose and belligerent towards Iran as George W. Bush, and at least as ineffective as his predecessor in reigning in client-state Israel's egregious abuse of humanitarian principles in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
He has nothing to show for his efforts in Iraq, the "dumb war" grinding
on, with car and suicide bombings, sectarian attacks and IED explosions
daily occurrences again. And of course, there's Afghanistan and
Pakistan, (AF/Pak as the broadened war zone has become known) where
thousands have been killed and maimed since the Obama's took up
residence in the White House last January, thanks largely to increased
drone attacks, (Obama has green-lighted as many forays in nine months
as George W. Bush did in his last three years in office) and relentless
pressure placed on the Pakistani government to increase its activities
along the frontier region, culminating in a
"massive" offensive in Waziristan over the last few days.
It's hardly the curriculum vitae of a man of peace, but you're not likely to hear apologies or expressions of regret coming from the president, even as the body count climbs; leadership necessarily precludes it.
Not sorry too for the rivers of blood spilt during his tenure at the top is Tony Blair. The former prime minister of Britain, and current "peace envoy" to the middle east, revealed his feckless disregard for the victims of his leadership today in Occupied Palestine,
marching with his entourage into the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
One worshiper in the mosque, believed to be the resting place of the patriarch of both Islam and Judaism Ibrahim/Abraham, and repository of the remains of twenty Muslims gunned down by a crazed Israeli gunman in 1994, took offense to Mr. Blair's presence and
assailed him with shouts of "You are not welcome in the land of Palestine" and "terrorist."
A spokesperson for Mr. Blair shrugged off the incident, caught on camera by Sky News, saying the former pm was "used to being heckled." Indeed, Mr. Blair was likewise heckled during a service in London's St. Paul's Cathedral a few days ago, when he was derided as a "war criminal" by the father of a British soldier killed in Iraq.
Responding to the mosque heckler, Blair told the reporters following his entourage, the man's protest was "fair enough," adding;
"I think it's important for you guys as well to not always mistake the protest for the general view of the whole population."
As with Mr. Blair's delusional assessment of his standing among the Palestinian people, Israel too has taken pathological denial to new heights, today insisting the world redefine the laws of war to justify its 'rules of engagement' as practiced against the women and children of Gaza last winter.
Israel's prime minister
Benjmin Netanyahu has reportedly ordered his government mount an all-out diplomatic campaign in light of the recently released Goldstone report on Israeli war crimes and atrocities committed against the civilian population of Gaza, saying;
"We are struggling to delegitimise the ongoing attempts to delegitimise Israel. We must persistently fight this lie which is being spread by the Goldstone report. I want to make it clear: no one will weaken our ability and right to defend our children, citizens and communities."
Whether Mr. Obama's peace prize, Tony Blair's appointment as peace envoy, or Netanyahu's attempts to rewrite the history books, one thing is clear: There is not an ounce of contrition for the gross crimes against humanity these three war criminals represent; and without that recognition of error, and heartfelt regret for its victims, there can never be peace.
Chris Cook is managing editor at
Pacific Free Press.
Recent outrage over Barack Obama's Nobel peace prize was an encouraging, if unexpected, reminder of a time when reality trumped public relations and morality still had a part to play within the political discourse of the day. 
