Carter uses peace prize speech to condemn US policy

Guardian/UK ^ | 12/11/02 | Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

[kattracks]

The former US president, Jimmy Carter, marked his elevation to the status of Nobel peace laureate yesterday by chiding President Bush on his doctrine of pre-emptive war, and urging him to respect the UN's role in Iraq.

The comments, delivered at the Nobel awards ceremony in Oslo, were the second time that the award has been used as a vehicle for criticism of US preparations for a possible war on Saddam Hussein.

In a speech that deplored the emergence of terror and sectarian conflict since the end of the cold war, Mr Carter said the United Nations - though flawed - remained the best way of ensuring global harmony.

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children," Mr Carter said.

If there were doubts that Mr Carter was speaking directly to the hawks of the Bush administration, who have argued that a strike on Iraq is essential to eliminating Baghdad as a nuclear threat, the former president dispelled them.

"For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventative war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences," he said.

Mr Carter prescribed mediation through the UN as a solution to problems such as the environment, as well as Iraq.

Last year the Nobel committee gave the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, the £600,000 award.

Mr Carter also called for Baghdad to comply with UN demands and eliminate weapons of mass destruction. If it failed to do so, war would be quite likely, he admitted.

Even so, Mr Carter's comments - and the implied criticism of President Bush - threatened to spark off a second wave of controversy over this year's peace prize.

The judges outraged conservative opinion in the US two months ago by saying their choice was intended as a deliberate "kick in the leg" for Mr Bush.

Although Mr Carter's single term presidency in the late 1970s was often dismissed as ineffective, his activities during the last two decades have been held up as a model for a post-presidential career.

Mr Carter's eponymous centre in Atlanta has emerged as an active player in conflict resolution and elections monitoring in the developing world, and in recent years has taken an increased interest in combatting disease in Africa.

Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat won the prize in 1978 for the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, which Mr Carter brokered. Yesterday, Mr Carter also highlighted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and called for Israel to withdraw from the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

He said he was disappointed that the presidents who succeeded him failed to capitalise on the Camp David agreements.

"One of the key factors that arouses intense feelings of animosity in the world is the festering problem in the Holy Land, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbours," he said.

[justa-hairyape]

'We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children'

Thinking with the wrong organ again. Carter is trying to equate peace with war. Or at least attempting to quantify the outcome of a war by peace.

Dear Jimmy,
War is not peace. Peace is not war. Thats pretty simple stuff you should have learned in one of those single digit grade school years. When you conduct war, you have an enemy. Your job as commander in chief was to destroy the enemy, not your own troops. Is that clear enough for you ?

[Lion's Cub]

"One of the key factors that arouses intense feelings of animosity in the world is the festering problem in the Holy Land, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbours," he said.

What a liar! I thought he was just a fool before. Now I see that he's actually evil.

[johnny7]

... the £600,000 award.

Nice piece of change. This will get him a couple more stays in Cuba and North Korea.

What a coward and a pissant! Ptuuuie!

[marshmallow]

This is just more evidence that in most case, liberalism is a terminal illness. Carter saw what his own policies achieved. Then he sat on the sidelines and watched Reagan change the world and he still doesn't get it. He's still parrotting the same old '60s and '70s cliches. Still playing the same scratched old record.

A tragic example of a blind man who's been offered sight but refused it.

[DWSUWF]

"...This evil old bastard has been stabbing this country in the back for decades. He can take his Nobel Prize and shove it where the sun never shines..."

LOL!

I dunno...

That rough trade wife of his has the look of the type who might want to use a strap-on appliance to wham-bam ole Jimmah with 'down there'.

He'll probably use it to prop the outhouse door closed when he's in there with a Playboy magazine, his gnarled member clutched in an arthritic claw, with 'lust in his heart'.

[jrlc]

Jimmy should have stuck with peanuts. Oh don't we miss the days of Iranians holding US hostages and double digit inflation. Why does anyone listen to this idiot? Give him a hammer and tell him to shut up. He expects to get a $1 million Nobel prize for building homes for the poor. Total Communist.

[leprechaun9]

Jimmy Carter is an absolute joke!

In 1983, he sought and received support from the SOVIET UNION to try and defeat RONALD REAGAN in 1984. He was joined in that effort by Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy, Tip O'Neil and many other American haters!

The Soviet Union put about $50 million into the anti-war and enviromental movements to impede Reagan's efforts with his military build-up (that Jimmy decimated).

Reagan's build-up caused great havoc in the Soviet Union and eventually led to its demise. Thank you President Reagan!

[Vigilanteman]

Carter's greatest contribution to world peace was, and always will be, electing Reagan in two landslides.

[Vigilanteman]

Carter's greatest contribution to world peace was, and always will be, electing Reagan in two landslides.

Pardon the echo, but I did have to post the correct and glorious 1984 map.

[weegee]

He spent his time out of the White House building houses, writing books on religion, and even a children's book.

The goodwill he showed with those acts has been betrayed by his support of Clinton in impeachment, the Gore legal team in Florida, and his involvement in world politics.

I was joking 2 years ago that the Rats would run Jimmy in 2004 for President. What seemed unthinkable in 2000 is looking more like reality.

[weegee]

In 1983, he sought and received support from the SOVIET UNION to try and defeat RONALD REAGAN in 1984. He was joined in that effort by Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy, Tip O'Neil and many other American haters!

And yet Algore Junior has the audacity to talk about a VRWC of fifth columnists. We know what foreign powers the DNC has alligned. Albert never did disclose what nation(s) the VRWC was supposed to be working for.

[Texbob]

The peanut farmer was probably the most honest USA president ever, but, he was also the worst ever on management ability. So what makes him qualified to give anybody advice?

[dennisw]

"One of the key factors that arouses intense feelings of animosity in the world is the festering problem in the Holy Land, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbours," he said.

TRANSLATION: This 'cRAT wants Israel to be indefensible just like the Arabs. Israel gone just like the Arabs. I hear Arab money is what funds his presidential library.

[Moby Grape]

And on the SAME day that this old fool is accepting his Noble Prize, a North Korean ship is carrying MISSLES to the Middle East....the same North Korea that a appeasing Jimmy Carter told the world had promise him that they would NOT be creating nuclear weapons....Jimmy Carter, in large part, IS responsible for the fact that a brutal dictator that STARVES his

Churchill said, "While not treason, appeasement often has the same result."

[Mr Ducklips]

"For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventative war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences," he said.

Just a minor point, but the correct word is "preventive".

Jimmah the Appeaser...dumber than a sack of nails.

[jrlc]

You're probably right, RATS might be reduced to re-running Carter for President in 2004. Just like a replay of "Leave it to Beaver," only with Iranian Hostages and double digit inflation as a backdrop.

[Teacher317]

Well, now, let's all give the man a fair hearing. Jimmuh should know. After all, the man IS an expert in the area. Most of the violence and unrest in the Middle East can be traced directly back to him as a root cause.

[AmishDude]

RATS @ss -- classic example of repetition.

[tet68]

Did anyone see the guy on Hannity and Colmes last night who kept insisting that CARTER, NOT REAGAN, brought about the end of the Soviet Union?


Carter himself, in his "lecture" made reference to Gorbachov
winning the Peace Prize for "Ending the Cold War".

What a sorry excuse for a man he is.

Our local radio (Atlanta) had an hour long program last night fawning and sucking up to this little toad.

It was a dark and stormy night, and platitudes fell like
a torrent.

Made me sick.

[jriemer]

Jimmy Carter's so devoted to the peace process he cannot even defend himself from a water-logged rabbit.

jriemer