EDITORIAL

Timely Nobel

Award to organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is timely and well-deserved

10/15/2013

The awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is timely and well-deserved. It sounds the alarm on the unresolved issue of chemical arms proliferation.

The use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war has focused attention on their horror. The OPCW is verifying the weapons stockpiled by Bashar Assad’s regime and destroying them on a schedule that should be complete by mid-2014. The OPCW team deserves praise for working in a lethally chaotic environment.

There were other worthy candidates for this year’s peace prize, including Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, whom the Taliban shot in the head last year. Ms. Yousafzai, 16, has become a courageous activist for education and human rights.

It is a blessing for people around the world to see advocates for disarmament, education, and peace being recognized and honored. Too many monsters get too much notoriety. This time, the good guys get the attention.