Norway -- Toby Keith at Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo

The AP reports on Toby Keith saying there's no need to apologize for his support of the Iraq War, while he was performing in Oslo at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.

Keith’s appearance at the downtown Oslo Spektrum arena was questioned by Norwegians dismayed that a performer known for a fervent pro-war anthem was playing at a show focused on peace. The musician dismissed the criticism. "If President Obama has to send (more) troops into Afghanistan to fight evil, I’ll pull for our guys to win, and I won’t apologize for it,” Keith said. "I’m an American, and I do pull for our team to fight evil.”

Keith said it was the second time he had been invited to perform at the Peace Prize Concert.

Norwegian parliamentarians and a former Norwegian Nobel Committee member criticized Keith's invitation. "If Keith really means what he says in his lyrics, then this doesn't seem like a particularly good decision," Norwegian Labor MP Tove Karoline Knutsen told Norwegian daily VG in November. The Norwegian Nobel Committee's permanent secretary, Geir Lundestad, has defended his appearance. "We need to include a wide variety of artists," he told broadcaster NRK shortly after the line-up was announced. "So, it's not like we can exclude conservative artists."

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Norway has a strong country music scene that has been detailed by the scholar Kristin Solli in her University of Iowa PhD dissertation "North of Nashville : country music, national identity, and class in Norway."

I've had the pleasure of appearing at conferences with Kristin on two occasions -- last year at the International Country Music Conference in Nashville, and in 2005 on a panel she put together for the American Studies Association annual meeting in Washington DC.