Betty Williams (Nobel Laureate) - Comments On George W. Bush

Comments On George W. Bush

On July 24, 2006, while delivering a speech at the Earth Dialogue forums, Williams told school children at the Brisbane City Hall, "I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence,' because I don't believe that I am non-violent." Decrying the deaths of innocent children in wartime, she went on to say,

"Right now, I would love to kill George Bush. I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die, the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life."

In a keynote speech at the International Women's Peace Conference on July 11, 2007, Ms. Williams told a crowd of about 1,000: "Right now, I could kill George Bush," she said at the Adam's Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas, Texas. "No, I don't mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that." Williams later apologized for the remarks.

According to the Dallas Morning News, “Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren in Washington declined to comment, but a Dallas agent said Ms. Williams had not been questioned and there were no plans to do so.” However, the people who emailed the conference in anger about her threats — they were the ones investigated: “Conference organizers reported that a Dallas police detective was working with hotel security to review about 40 hateful e-mails received in response to Ms. Williams’ speech.”