EX-PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER BACKS OUR FIGHT

FORMER US President Jimmy Carter is backing the Daily Mirror's Not in My Name campaignThe Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the only US president since 1945 never to order American soldiers into war, endorsed our stance on war with Iraq, saying: "You're doing a good job. I am glad about that. War is evil."

Carter, who will be 79 this year, is a pariah among hawkish Republicans and a hero for doveish Democrats, frequently denouncing wars and conflict whenever they flare. He said: "There has been a virtual declaration of war but a case for pre-emptive action against Iraq has not been made. We want Saddam Hussein to disarm but we want to achieve this through peaceful means.

"He obviously has the capability and desire to build prohibited weapons and probably has some hidden in his country.

Carter said an opinion poll which rated the US as the country posing greatest danger to world peace was a "very embarrassing thing".

It was "sobering" to realise the degree of doubt that has been raised about his country's motives for war in the absence of convincing proof of a genuine Iraqi threat.

Looking at a copy of the Mirror he said: "I know the Daily Mirror, of course. I know it well. It's getting the message across."

We met at his home in Plains, the heart of rural Georgia, 130 miles south of Atlanta.

The former peanut farmer's house, where he lives with his wife Rosalynn, is surrounded by pungent red peanut fields and cotton farms.

It is set well back from the road behind a high iron fence. Secret Service patrol the area 24 hours a day.

Four Secret Service agents dressed in blue blazers and with curly wires coming from their right ears signalled his arrival.

"The news this morning is that all over the world, including this country and Britain, there are massive demonstrations against the starting of a pre-emptive war.

"Obviously Saddam Hussein will have to comply with the revelation and destruction of all weapons of mass destruction.

"But there is a growing consensus, among other countries at least, that we should let the UN inspectors do their thing first before we start a pre-emptive war against Iraq."

Forever the diplomat, Carter was careful not to directly criticise President George Bush by name.

"Time magazine in Europe did a public opinion poll on its website and over 350,000 people responded to the question, 'Which country poses the greatest threat to world peace?'

"North Korea received seven per cent of the votes, Iraq received eight per cent and the United States received 84 per cent.

"We have lost the ability apparently in our country to convince other nations to stand side by side with us."

He added: "I think most people, if they were asked, 'Would you prefer the Iraqi question was resolved peacefully?' would say yes.

"If you asked the same people, 'Do you think Iraq must comply with the UN requirement to eliminate weapons of mass destruction?' they would say yes.

"So the question is, how do we correlate these two yes answers in a positive and effective fashion?"

Carter has argued that any "belligerent move by Saddam would be suicidal" in the current climate of intense monitoring and therefore "inconceivable".

And he has described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the "festering cancer and root cause of much anti-American sentiment".

In private Carter makes his views about the government known, as a friend of his revealed.

"But people round here do remember him saying, 'Our State Department never gets upset about anything unless white skin or oil is involved'. His words have rung true again."

Carter's single term presidency from 1977 to 1981 was often dismissed as ineffective, despite his greatest success - the Camp David agreement of 1978 which led to the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

This was quickly eclipsed by the energy crisis and the taking of US hostages in Iran.

However his activities since he lost office have been held up as a model for a post-presidential career. He has "waged peace", as he calls it.

A commentator once quipped: "Carter used the presidency as a stepping stone to what he really wanted to do in life."

Unlike most of his successors, Carter - an ex-President at only 56 - did not take up golf or take to the lucrative lecture circuit.

He returned to Plains and a year later set up the Carter Center in Atlanta, through which he has negotiated with some of the world's most controversial figures.

He has circled the globe as a freelance mediator in international conflicts. He has defended democracy by monitoring elections and pioneering medical programmes in the Third World. And he has built housing for Atlanta's poor.

It remains to be seen just how effective his influence can be on the warmongers. But if his CV is anything to go by he could hold the key to the crisis.

The only thing causing the pot to boil is the fire underneath it. That fire is the threat of US military force. Take away the fire and you have old Saddam knowing he can get away with deceit and delay. Makes Saddam think the fire is going away and you're back to square one until the cost of keeping soldiers in place becomes too high, the political will of the quislings becomes too weak, and we see millions of Americans attacked with chemicals or bioweapons by a vengeful little dictator.

What is it Carter and these anti-war types don't get? Do they want to put out the fire and claim that Saddam's generosity or the UN's persuasive power deserves credit for making the pot boil, even a little? Was there ANY movement on the Iraq issue til Bush turned up the fire?

Carter is a blithering fool, a useful dupe being fed peanuts for his ever-hungry ego. Bush should publically call him out for this.

Let's look at just one of Jimma's wonderful achievements. He withdrew support of the Shah of Iran ushering in the return of the Ayatollah Komeinie from where... "FRANCE". That destabilized Iran to this day. It precipitated a war by Iraq which cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqi/Irani lives. In Iran there were a lot of people who were supportive of the west. Their nation was set back fifty years by Jimma.

Instead of having a robust ally in the middle-east named Iran, we have had a wild card in the middle-east. That wild card could have defended Kuwait, or at least helped us defend Kuwait. Thus many more lives were lost because of Jimma.

Today Iraq is developing nuclear weapons thanks to Jimma. How many lives his mismanagement of middle-eastern affairs will eventually have cost the world is still unknown.

Had Iran remained western, it would have negatively impacted Taliban/al Qaeda efforts in the region. It is even possible the 09/11 events would not have taken place due to rampant unchecked hatred of the west. And it is possible that a stunted Taliban/al Qaeda would not have proliferated clear across Asia into Malaysia and I suspect the Philippines.

Jimma gets credit for an agreement between Israel and Egypt. How many lives did that save? There's been no agreement between Syria and Israel. There's been no agreement between Jordan and Israel. Do they cost Israel lives? One could argue that Syria facilitates actions against Israel through Hezballah. But I would submit Jimma's positive impact on Israel are negligable at best.

Jimma's actions that precipitated thousands upon thousands of lost souls vs his actions that MAY have saved very few Iraeli lives, certainly puts things in their proper perspective.

Now let's forget about the middle-east. In the 1990s Jimma worked his magic on another region of the world. Instead of us demanding North Korea end it's quest for nuclear weapons, Jimma intervened and worked out a "PEACEFUL" resolution, the same thing he advocates in Iraq now.

The outcome is that North Korea now has "the bomb" and missiles capable of delivering them to the mainland US. South Korea, Japan, in fact the western world are now held hostage as North Korean madmen bluster and the west has to face the fact that a now more potent China may back it if military conflict arrises.

From Iran to Iraq to Malaysia to Panama to North Korea to South Korea to Japan to China to the whole western world, Jimma has been the single most destabalizing force known to man for the last 27 years. By all appearances his magic will last another thirty years unless we put our foot down and undo the damage this man perpetrated on the world stage.

If Jimma's actions precipitate hostilities breaking out between major world players, which isn't out of the question, his overall legacy may well turn out worse than that of Adolf Hitler in overall body count terms.

For decades I have watched as Jimma touted his humanitarian acts in interview after interview. If the interviewer didn't bring them up, Jimma was sure to mention two things. One was his Israel/Egypt accord. The other was his work for Habitat for Humanity. Carter shamelessly touted his good deeds. Compare his self-congratulating mannor with that of Newt Gingrich, who also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. How many times did you hear the media tout that?

Yes the really sad thing about Carter, is that he'll never get the full credit that he is due. But then drawing and quartering a person in the public square wouldn't sit well in this day and age.

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