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Jimmy Carter Pats Himself on the Back
Weekly Standard ^ | 12/11/2002 | Claudia Winkler

Posted on 12/11/2002 9:38:48 AM PST by gubamyster

In his self-congratulatory Nobel Lecture, the former president proves he's still as naive as ever.

by Claudia Winkler

12/11/2002 12:00:00 AM

IN A NOBEL LECTURE YESTERDAY that is a familiar mixture of personal self-satisfaction and national self-abasement, Jimmy Carter names the greatest challenge in the world today, and it is us: the tragic failure of the wealthiest nations to cure the poverty of the poorest.

Implicitly, the second-greatest problem is also us: our failure to recognize that war is evil and to embrace "the premise that the United Nations is the best avenue for the maintenance of peace."

Let's start with the self-congratulation. Carter begins by noting the "perhaps unique" scope and character of that island of moral sanity, his own Carter Center (a point to which he returns at the end of the speech, where he contrasts the center's noble work with the "terrible absence" in the industrialized world generally "of understanding or concern about those who are enduring lives of despair and hopelessness"). Then he launches one of the speech's themes: the identification of himself with previous Peace Prize winners.

First come "my friends, Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin." "Like these two heroes," Carter continues, he began his career in the military. Subsequently, he became commander in chief. As president, he extended his "public support and encouragement to Andrei Sakharov," also honored in Oslo for his Carter-like ideals. Woodrow Wilson, Cordell Hull, George C. Marshall, and--Ladies and Gentlemen--the great Mikhail Gorbachev: The former president feels right at home among these statesmen. Other laureates, more like the post-White House Jimmy Carter, showed that "individuals can enhance human rights and wage peace" outside government and "often in opposition to it"--such were Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa. If these are his peers, however, there is one figure Carter--with a Democrat's sure instinct for the primacy of racial struggles--singles out for deference, "the greatest leader [his] native state has ever produced," Martin Luther King Jr.

As for the lecture on foreign affairs, its core assertion is this airy bit of wishful thinking: "It is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus."

But of course, the challenges exist precisely where there is no consensus--not between Indians and Pakistanis, or Israelis and Palestinians, or Russians and Chechens, or suicidal Islamic extremists and anybody else. Great powers have enemies who do not necessarily play harmoniously with others. Carter, who presided over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the holding of some 60 Americans hostage in revolutionary Iran for 444 days, knows this. Alliances are strong when they have intelligent leadership from those prepared to act, not when they are debating societies or comfortable multilingual bureaucracies whose chief product is paper.

Carter seems not to have lived through the 1990s. His belief that the United Nations can maintain peace flies in the face of the U.N.'s catastrophic passivity before genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda. Indeed, his whole pacifist emphasis (the disclaimers--"War may sometimes be a necessary evil"--ring hollow) seems a flight from reality. Thus, he quotes 1950 Nobel peace laureate Ralph Bunche to the effect that "war begets only conditions that beget further war," a sentiment bizarre and unconvincing coming from a grandson of slaves whom it took a bloody war to free.

There is no doubt that Jimmy Carter's NGO has done praiseworthy humanitarian work in Africa and elsewhere. But neither his naive analysis of world affairs nor his smarmy truisms--"We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children"--have relevance for the grownups who must plot our course in the world after September 11.

Claudia Winkler is a managing editor at The Weekly Standard.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jimmycarter; nobelprize

1 posted on 12/11/2002 9:38:48 AM PST by gubamyster
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To: gubamyster
...the post-White House Jimmy Carter, showed that "individuals can enhance human rights and wage peace" outside government and "often in opposition to it"--such were Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa...

this is hogwash. jimmuh "the nobelTM peaceprizewinner" can't hold a candle to...desmond tutu.

2 posted on 12/11/2002 9:45:26 AM PST by chilepepper
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To: gubamyster
First come "my friends, Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin."

Carter had nothing to do with Rabin's prize. Sadat shared his prize for the Israeli-Egyptian treaty with Mr. Begin, who strangely Carter ignores.

3 posted on 12/11/2002 9:46:16 AM PST by Hugin
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To: gubamyster
Jimmy Carter: "Useful Idiot" or "Traitor"?

"[Marshall Tito] is a man who believes in human rights.
[He is] a great and courageous leader [who] has led his people
and protected their freedom almost for the last 40 years."

-- Carter, while still in office, hailing Yugoslavia's communist dictator

"Our goals are the same: to have a just system of economics and
politics ... We believe in enhancing human rights."

-- Carter comparing himself to Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu

"Our concept of human rights is preserved in [Communist] Poland."
-- Carter speaking to Stalinist Edward Gierek, Poland's First Secretary

"[I am] ashamed of what my country has done to your country."
-- Carter speaking to Haitian dictator Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras

"I don't see that they [the North Koreans] are an outlaw nation."
-- Carter in North Korea, lauding Stalinist Kim Il Sung,
   one of the most destructive and repressive dictators in history

"Ill-informed commentators in both countries have cast the other side
as a villain and have even forecast inevitable confrontation
between the two nations."

-- Carter making exquisite moral equivalence between the giant and
   repressive Chinese Communist state and America

Carter gave away US oversight of the Panama Canal, "the most
important waterway in the world," says Adm. Thomas H. Moorer (ret),
which is now "packed with Chinese communists."

Sadat, appalled that Carter wanted the Soviets in on Middle East peace
negotiations, decided to directly offer peace to Israel's Begin. When
their plan was essentially worked out, they then called the White House,
because obviously, "they needed someone to pay the bill" (Bernard Lewis).

Not resting on his laurels, Carter demanded the Shah of Iran step down
and turn over power to the Ayatollah Khomeini, an Islamic madman. Carter
had the Pentagon tell the Shah's top military commanders - about 150 of
them - to acquiesce to the Ayatollah and not fight him. The Shah's
military listened to Carter. ALL OF THEM were murdered in one of the
Ayatollah's first acts. By allowing the Shah to fall, Carter created one
of the most militant anti-American dictatorships ever. Soon the new Iranian
government was ransacking our embassy and held hostage its staff for over
a year. More than 20,000 pro-Western Iranians were put before firing
squads. With the Shah gone, the whole region was destabilized.

Iraq took advantage of the Shah's departure to invade Iran, a war that
killed more than 500,000 people. It also created the regional instabilities
that led to Iraq’s later invasion of Kuwait and to Operation Desert Storm,
which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands more. But Carter meant well.

In the closing days of the 1980 election, Carter's White House contacted
the Soviets in a quid pro quo to plead for assistance in stopping Reagan
from winning. In 1984, Carter himself visited Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin
to ask the Soviets to intervene on behalf of Democrats. Damning evidence
that Jimmy Carter, as both president and citizen, may have committed treason
by enlisting the help of our enemies in presidential elections.

Since leaving office, Carter has:
- praised Syria's late Assad (killer of at least 20,000 in Hama)
- praised Ethiopian tyrant Mengistu (killer of many more than that)
- secured Saudi funding for Arafat after he sided with Iraq against the US
- wrote the UN Security Council after Iraq invaded Kuwait, urging them
to thwart President Bush's pre-Gulf War coalition (designed to reverse
that act of aggression) - another action some called "treason"

"Our people, who face Israeli bullets, have no weapons: only a few stones
remaining when our homes are destroyed by Israeli bulldozers."

-- from a speech written by Carter for Yassir Arafat

"[Arafat's] election [was] democratic, well organized, open and fair."
-- Carter describing the "rigged" 1996 Palestinian election

"[Arafat] may well see the suicide attacks as one of the few ways
to retaliate against his tormentors, to dramatize the suffering of
his people, or as a means for him, vicariously, to be a martyr."

-- Carter in an apologia for the Pali homicide-bombings

And yet, with the blood of perhaps a million people dripping from his hands,
Carter stalked the earth in his sick quest to be given a Nobel Peace Prize.

If he had any moral center at all, he would return his recent peace prize.

Carter is the smiley face of evil.

R E F E R E N C E S:

Jimmy Carter: America basher
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/jg20020515.shtml

Carter: Cuba Terror Claims False
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/682807/posts

There He Goes Again
http://www.nationalreview.com/20may02/nordlinger052002.asp

You Didn’t Ask for It, You Got It: Carterpalooza!
http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus050302.asp

Carter & Castro
http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/ponte05-08-02.htm

Jimmy Carter’s Trail of Disaster
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/12/164726.shtml

'Idiotic' Carter Castro's Dupe
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/15/202903.shtml

Carter, Democrats Asked Soviets to Stop Reagan
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/10/16/214040


4 posted on 12/11/2002 9:47:37 AM PST by polemikos
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To: gubamyster
Wonder if the people in Rwanda consider the UN the solution to the horrific massacre that went un-commented upon in the rest of the world.
5 posted on 12/11/2002 9:58:02 AM PST by OldFriend
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To: polemikos
Wow! Thank you for all of that documentation. Carter is yet another Rat threat to America.
6 posted on 12/11/2002 9:58:59 AM PST by Bigg Red
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To: gubamyster
"We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children"

Yeah, but what about killing those "killer rabbits," Jimmy?

7 posted on 12/11/2002 10:12:21 AM PST by NYC GOP Chick
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To: polemikos
A most excellent post! Worthy of being sent to FOX and/or O'Reilly. Thank you for taking the time to post and inform.
8 posted on 12/11/2002 10:17:32 AM PST by Boxsford
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To: polemikos
"If he had any moral center at all, he would return his recent peace prize."

If had a moral center he would perform sepuku.

9 posted on 12/11/2002 10:32:42 AM PST by semaj
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To: semaj
he would perform sepuku

And what, pray tell, is sepuku?
10 posted on 12/11/2002 10:41:54 AM PST by polemikos
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To: polemikos
And what, pray tell, is sepuku?

I think he means seppuku, also known as harakiri. It's Japanese ritual suicide.

11 posted on 12/11/2002 11:41:31 AM PST by DaveCooper
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To: polemikos
<a href="http://kyushu.com/gleaner/editorspick/seppuku.shtml>A Practical Guide to Seppuku</a></P> <P>I mispelled it in my original post.</P>
12 posted on 12/11/2002 11:58:23 AM PST by semaj
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To: semaj
A Practical Guide to Seppuku

I mispelled it in my original post.

Is today Monday? It seems I'm all thumbs today.

13 posted on 12/11/2002 12:00:16 PM PST by semaj
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To: gubamyster
Jimmy Carter Pats Himself on the Back

Only wish he was holding a hatchet at the time.

14 posted on 12/11/2002 12:06:26 PM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: DaveCooper
Isn't Harikiri used to preserve honor, and seppuku used to regain it? Isn't there a difference between the two?
15 posted on 12/11/2002 12:18:15 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: DaveCooper
many thanks
16 posted on 12/11/2002 12:27:32 PM PST by polemikos
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To: polemikos
Ancient Samurai practice of self disembowelment by your own Sword to save face.
17 posted on 12/11/2002 1:11:59 PM PST by ffusco
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To: gubamyster
Most remember the Georgia bungler for his contributions to astronomical interest rates coupled with high inflation, encouraging the Soviet military to reach it's zenith, his emboldening even the smallest of nations to spit on America with no fear of retribution, etc. But one thing that has been forgotten about is the swine flu hoax and how Carter used it to force hundreds of thousands of military personnel and elderly on medicare to be innoculated with the swine flu vaccine. Thousands of people were made seriously ill by this, some permanently, and many died because of it. The media did a great job of burying this.
18 posted on 12/11/2002 4:50:53 PM PST by DaBroasta
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

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