Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday in Oslo. He became the third U.S. president to win the award, joining Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.

In his acceptance speech, Carter warned a U.S. attack against Iraq will have “catastrophic consequences.”

“It is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus. Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt that this can best be done through the United Nations… We must remember that today there are at least eight nuclear powers on earth, and three of them are threatening to their neighbors in areas of great international tension. For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventive war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences.”

The former president has repeatedly voiced opposition to the Bush administration’s plans to attack Iraq.

But some say Bush is merely carrying out the Carter Doctrine.

Former Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy writes in the current issue of The Progressive:

“Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter helped set the stage for some of the terrorism and violence that plagues our world today. It was Carter who said that oil resources of the Persian Gulf War were vital to U.S. security and pledged in his Carter Doctrine to defend U.S interests there 'by any means necessary including military force.' George W. Bush is merely carrying out that doctrine.”

Tape:

• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Guest:

• Colman McCarthy, former editorial writer at the Washington Post and the founder of the Center for Teaching Peace, which helps schools begin or broaden peace studies programs. He wrote a piece titled “St. Jimmy the Lesser” in the December issue of the Progressive.