posted 03-10-2004 11:58 PM            

Bush, Blair nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Two of the architects of the Iraq war, United States President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, are among nominees for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nominations for the prestigious award close tomorrow.

After sending thousands of soldiers to war and failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Mr Bush and Mr Blair have been put forward to receive the Nobel peace prize.

They were nominated by Jan Simonsen, an independent member of Norway's Parliament who says the pair got rid of a dictator and made the world safer.

"Bush and Blair definitely still deserve it," he said.

"Even though they haven't found those weapons they got rid of a dictator and made the world more safe. They got rid of a madman."

Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction were a main justification for the war.

Nobel watchers say neither Mr Bush nor Mr Blair has much chance of winning.

Other nominees are varied and include: Pope John Paul II; the European Union to mark its expansion to include former East bloc states; the Salvation Army; former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler; former Czech president Vaclav Havel; former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic; and Chinese dissidents.

The 2003 prize went to Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi from a record field of 165 nominees.