Nobel Peace Prize winner: ‘Right now, I could kill George Bush’..

Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams apologized Thursday for saying she could kill President Bush, remarks that drew scorn from Bush loyalists and shook up the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas.

Betty Williams

“My feelings now and again get way ahead of me,” Ms. Williams said. “I couldn’t kill anybody, but I must confess that I’m extremely angry with the Bush administration and what they have done. To say that was wrong.”

Conference organizers immediately sought to distance themselves from her speech Wednesday night, but it brought a swift rejoinder from the White House, dominated some radio talk shows and drew a flurry of hateful e-mails to attendees.

Questioned about her speech Thursday morning, Ms. Williams initially denied making the comment but reversed course after organizers confirmed the quote.

In a speech before 1,000 people Wednesday, Ms. Williams said that violence is a choice and the push for peace takes hard work and commitment.

“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.” As she made her point, she chuckled and some members of the audience laughed.

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Audio: ‘Right now, I could kill George Bush’ (Note: The International Women’s Peace Conference states that Ms. Williams’ opinions are her own.)

Ms. Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for creating a group that helped start peace talks in Northern Ireland, also said that Mr. Bush should be impeached. About half the audience responded to that with a standing ovation.

The speech, given in the city that will host Mr. Bush’s presidential library, caused a stir on talk radio and Internet sites, and among those attending the conference.

“Threatening the president of the United States is a crime,” conservative talk show host Mike Gallagher said on his nationally syndicated program, which airs in Dallas. “Many of us are resentful at a so-called Nobel Peace Prize laureate having the audacity to threaten the life of our commander in chief.”

Several women at the conference said they admired Ms. Williams for having the courage to say what she thought – even if unpopular.

“It was an incredible act of bravery to make that statement in Texas,” said Lucinda Marshall of Louisville, Ky., who added that the anti-Bush rhetoric appealed to her. “When you have a president that’s consistently breaking the law, you do not have a democracy. You have a dictatorship.”

~ by milesmccabe on July 13, 2007.