Baracck Obama on bin Laden, Nobel Speech

[Mark Kohut]

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same 
ceremony years ago - "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social 
problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones." As someone who stands 
here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life's work, I am living testimony to 
the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive - 
nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King. 

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided 
by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the 
face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in 
the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. 
Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say 
that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a 
recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason. 

I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about 
military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a 
reflexive suspicion of America, the world's sole military superpower.