Posted on 10/09/2007 11:41:29 AM PDT by presidio9
Diplomacy, not military action, "definitely" remains the best approach to dealing with Iran, former President Jimmy Carter said in a wide-ranging interview on The Early Show Tuesday.
"Even after the Shah (of Iran) was deposed," Carter told co-anchor Harry Smith, "I quickly restored diplomatic relations with Iran. As a matter of fact, that's been proven by the fact I had about 60 diplomats in Iran, and they had an equal number in Washington, so we were continuing to try to communicate with them and work with them. And I think that, now, with increasing evidence that Iran is a dangerous and unpredictable country, the best thing to do is to have a maximum diplomatic relationship.
"They're potentially dangerous and they're certainly unpredictable. But I think that if we could find some way to communicate directly with them, to reassure their fears that we might attack them, which is constantly a drumbeat out of Washington, maybe deliberately from the administration or inadvertent -- Sy Hirsh has written three or four articles in the New Yorker, though I haven't read the latest one, but he's always maintaining that the United States is preparing to attack Iran. They read those articles and they see all the other news, and if they feel that they're going to be attacked, then I think that's one incentive for them to be more militant. So, I think, to assuage their fears, and to tell them the truth about our intentions, would be more helpful."
Still, Smith noted, "It seems to me we've done a pretty clear job of letting our intentions be known, yet they remain recalcitrant, at best. Is a military strike an option?"
"I don't think so," Carter said. "Not at this early stage, and I don't think that anybody in the administration has maintained openly that that is a present option. Every indication I've heard from Condoleezza Rice or President Bush has been, 'We want to resort to diplomatic means to -- as thoroughly as we possibly can before we would consider a military strike.'
"So, I think a military strike against Iran at this time would be completely unnecessary and counterproductive. Iran is a different proposition from what Iraq was when we attacked Iraq. It wouldn't be an easy thing to invade Iran. And where would we get the troops? We don't even have enough troops for Iraq. Where would we get them from? And I don't think we would have any other nation in the world that would join us in any sort of military adventure against Iran. So, diplomacy is the best approach."
Carter's latest book, "Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope," covers the work he's done around the world since leaving office -- and continues to do.
He discussed it, and much more on The Early Show Tuesday, including his recent criticism of Sudan for the violence and humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region, his thoughts on the Clinton administration's handling of Sudan, and the big apartheid/Israel controversy he sparked.
A previous book of his, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," and subsequent remarks about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, prompted an uproar from Jewish groups and the resignation of 14 people from an advisory board of the Carter Center, the 25-year-old Atlanta-based humanitarian organization.
Asked Tuesday by Smith if he has any regrets over the book or the remarks, Carter replied, "No, not at all. The book is absolutely correct, and I think it was necessary and has played a good role and was overwhelmingly approved, although there were some that objected to it. The book was written about Palestine, not Israel. And the second word in the title, as you just mentioned, was 'peace,' not apartheid. And I think a lot of people adopted the word 'apartheid' as the No. 1 thrust of the book and it's not even mentioned in the book, as a matter of fact.
"But, I think the peace effort that's belatedly gonna be attempted in November is a very good development. As you know, for seven years, since Bill Clinton left office, we've had not a single day of good-faith negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, and it's highly overdue. And my hope is that we'll see some constructive efforts being made on the Palestinian side and the Israeli side when they convene in the United States in November."
This problem should have been fixed when Carter was President. But the same “weakling” that set the conditions to have the shaw over thrown also lacked the balls to fix the mess he helped create. Carter today giving advice on a malingering disease that came to be under his watch; advising the world and current policy makers to do what he did (nothing) is hardly an answer. His words are an insult to anyone with any concept or knowledge of the past, current events, or concept of consequences for the future if Iran does develop a nuke and long range missiles. Both things Iran is aggressivly pursuing. Iran shall be stopped, that’s the message that should be sent in word and actions, whatever that may entail.
Jimmy Carter knows how difficult it is to invade Iran. Allah licked him good when he tried it.
So, how'd that work for ya? Isn't the definition of insanity repeatedly trying to do things that didn't work in the first place?
Let's try some real diplomacy and back up our requests with strength.
Thanks Jimmy, for telling us exactly what we should do:
Invade Iran.
From Seinfeld, all of Carter’s instincts are always wrong, therefore doing the opposite would always be right.
“I quickly restored diplomatic relations with Iran. ....”
Yeah, that worked really well Jimmy.
He was so good at foreign and domestic policies...
I think it is past time to invade the “Carter Center” and clean it out.
Yeah, let’s take advice on how to effectively deal with Iran from Jimmy Carter.
November 4, 1979 is all you have to remember about chicken s**t carter.
Some of us remember his effective diplomacy with Iran.
Lacking any class, he will live a LONG LONG time. Quotes from him in the MSM are the equivalent of leaving a flaming bag of dogshit on the front steps, and ringing the doorbell. They love it.
Let’s see:
We had 60 diplomats in Iran.
Iran had 60 spies in the USA.
Now...that fixes Carter’s statment.
I had to run to the TV to turn to another station this AM when his voice came on.
I cannot stand him and I feel he should be tried for treason with all his pandering all over the world, mostly to the worst of the worst.
Revulsion with Nixon. We will never know if it all was real, or just a Media fantasy, like "10% of people are Gay", or the Gore candidacy.
YOU HAVE TO BE EFFING KIDDING ME! Carter is the person responsible for these nutbags in Iran in the first place!
Yes, Jimmy, and all your diplomacy did a magnificant job during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, you dolt. Had he won the Presidency in 1980 the hostages would have remained in Iran for an unknown amount of time instead of being released when they were.
While in office:
Carter engineered the highest prime interest rate ever in my 67 years if life.
He caused the deaths of Israeli and American troops when they tried to rescue the hostages Iran was holding. Most of those hostages today state that the present head of Iran was the ringleader of the hostage-takers. Carter had them try the rescue operation during the windstorm season.
Carter sat on TV with his “Mr Rogers” sweater on and told us all to turn down our thermostats. Don’t think he did it himself.
Carter ran his own peanut business into bankruptcy twice, I have heard.
Carter gave away the Panama Canal which will come back to bite us in the future.
Carter never met a terrorist and troublemaker he didn’t fawn over. Somehow in his “christian” mind, they are all souls who can be fixed. He never seems to learn there are persons who can never be fixed.
If the fox was in the hen house, he would chastize the chickens for being attractive to the fox and he would start what he thinks is a dialogue with the fox to make the fox understand he should stay out of the hen house.
The feathers 4 feet deep wouldn’t faze Carter.
He just doesn’t get it.
Say Jimmeh,
Get back to your Morvex-3000 Postal Sorting Machine.
Yea, Jimmy. Your previous successes in Iranian diplomacy are duly noted . . .
Is this incompetent moron to stupid to remember the result of this?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.