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.

[freebilly]

"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 an idiot....

[xrp]

Ugh yeah...I was stuck with listening to that last night. I love WSB but I think that this hour long radio show was pathetic. I was SORELY disappointed that WSB wasn't running Sean Hannity or Royal Marshall at this time instead.

[Terridan]

They say he has an IQ of 170... go figure.
It is good to know who is chosen for a "nobel" rat prize, that way, we can know the enemy of the United States.
After all these years, I still cringe and am angered at the mental picture of the hostages, paraded before cameras with blindfolds, and the commercial footage playing Paul McCartney's, "the long and winding road." Carter sickens me.

[afz400]

"The peanut farmer was probably the most honest USA president ever".
I'm not so sure about the honesty part - i.e. Bert Lance, Clark Clifford, Robert Vesco, etc.

[samtheman]

Unfortunately the Peanut President speaks for a lot of misguided Americans when he says that pre-emptive war is wrong.

This is an issue that we must debate openly.

The fact is, pre-emptive war is right. And we who know that have to be ready, willing and able at all times to advance the arguments as to why it is right.

We can blame the Peanut President all we want for arguing the wrong side of this issue. But he's not alone. And what we have to do is refine our arguments. And win.

The survival of Freedom depends on it.

[speedy]

And don't forget registered Libyan agent brother Billy. Or the cocaine-snorting twins Hamilton Jordan and Jody Powell. Yeah, well-conceived criticisms, Carter. And (to paraphrase one of his heroes, Joe Stalin) remind us again of how many divisions you have?

[moondoggie]

And, poetic justice that on the same day he criticised Bush's foreign policy his "beloved" North Korea was caught shipping scuds to Yemen.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Mr. Peanut-still the useful idiot's idiot, and as it has been said, " there's no fool like an old fool".

[logic101.net]

Imagine this. We are about to send our troops into the former Yugoslavia under Clinton's orders. Former Pres Ford goes to Moscow and publicly declares that the USA has no national interest at stake in the region. He goes on to state that Milosovich has no interest in threatening his neighbors, that he was duly elected by the people. He blatantly states that this would be an unjust war, with potentially terrible results. That it sets a bad precident.

Now imagine the media reaction.

However, Carter is a Democrat. Bush is a Republican. So the media focus? Trent Lott!


MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/

[Sam Cree]

"and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbours," he said."

Not to forget this little gem, he also took the opportunity to blame the violence in the Middle East on Israel, rather than the arabs. I didn't respect the guy, but my dislike is growing.

"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"

Considering that he was chosen as a slap at W, I'm not sure that this can be called an "elevation." More like a decension.

Carter might want to note that a little pre-emptive war making against Hitler could have saved the lives of millions. Perhaps the parallels here are reasonable.

[lilylangtree]

That's Carter for you. Classic example of "biting the hands that feed you." Is there a place to sign up to recall Carter's Nobel prize, like the one recalling yASSer araRAT's?

[Darksheare]

Carter, responsible for:
Cuban Criminal boat flotilla.
Ayatollah Khomenei's takeover of Iran.
Hostage crisis.
Gutting of the miltary prior to Reagan's restorative work.
Higher unemployment rates at the time.
Higher Percentage rates.
Higher taxes.
Ludicrous infantile Liberal Whining for the past two and a half decades.

And there's people who insist he was a great "Militarily Friendly" president who "did a lot of good".
I challenge them to prove it.

[Darksheare]

*SNZXXXKCKCKXXS!* *Gurgle...*
You trying to kill me? I near drowned in me tea there from that one.

Does that plaqueboard show a recliner?

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

WHAT A JOKE!Carter should stick to his hammer and nails.

[Darksheare]

Doesn't look like a bird to me..;-)

[A CA Guy]

I heard about it, crazy attempts at re-writing of history, very Clintonesq.

[aquawrench]

The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke anyway. Didnt Arafat win it once?!?