Nobel Peace Prize Eludes Bono for Not Cursing Bush

- Nobel Peace Prize Goes to...Chief U.N. Nuclear Inspector!

I wanted Bono of U2 to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in fighting global poverty. It's too bad that he didn't curse Bush and insult the U.S. That's a requirement to win. Bono could have given the winner a real "run for the money."

Mohamed ElBaradei and his International Atomic Energy agency won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Friday, leaving the chief U.N. nuclear inspector strengthened in a job he nearly lost because of a dispute with the United States over Iran and Iraq.

ElBaradei (pronounced ehl-BEHR'-uh-day)and the IAEA locked horns with Washington in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war by challenging U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. More recently, ElBaradei's refusal to back U.S. assertions that Iran has a covert nuclear weapons program hardened opposition to him within the Bush administration.

Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes also denied the award was meant as a slap at the United States.

Among the dozens of foreign leaders congratulating ElBaradei was German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder � a strong critic of the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam. He praised ElBaradei's "courageous stand for an objective view of the situation in the run-up to the Iraq war."

Last month, the IAEA board put Iran on notice that it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council unless it dispels international concerns about it nuclear aims � despite ElBaradei's private preference for a less confrontational approach.

The Nobel committee received a record 199 nominations for the peace prize, which includes $1.3 million, a gold medal and a diploma. ElBaradei and the IAEA will share the award when they receive it Dec. 10 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

One final note. Did you catch the next to last paragraph in which "the IAEA board put Iran on notice that it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council...despite ElBaradei's private preference for a less confrontational approach." Oooooooh. That's a real threat. "Iran, give up your nuclear weapons program or the U.N. Security Council will pass resolutions against you which it doesn't intend to enforce!" Fortunately, this year's prize winner wants cooler heads to prevail. Appeasement really works on terrorists and thugs.

Sorry, Bono. At least you didn't have to share the stage with Jimmy Carter.