Say "NO" to crack!
Posted on 02/18/2003 3:41:28 AM PST by repub32
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.
"A sustained and enlarged UN inspection team is required."
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.
He said: "The issue that concerns everybody is Iraq.
"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.
He said: "Some very embarrassing things have happened in this country.
"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.
The friend said: "The former President is far too discreet to go mouthing off.
"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.
Message to Jimmy Carter from an American citizen - You and Clinton ought to be ashamed of yourselves.....using every opportunity to encourage the weakening of our homeland and leave it open to attack and invasion.......for WHAT??? So that you both may get foreign press coverage to salvage failed legacies?? Your Nobel Peace Prize was PURCHASED, sir.
Your job as President was to protect America.....you and Clinton both failed miserably while you held that office and your stupid remarks continuously remind us of that failure now.
"I see your hineys, all white and shiny."
Where's Jesse Jackson's black behind or any black behind? This is an outrage! Quick, call Al Sharpton!
Say "NO" to crack!
"A sustained and enlarged UN inspection team is required."
Typical. Whenever a liberal notices that a government program is failing, they want to increase spending to fix it. /sigh
Maybe so, but he did send American soldiers to their slaughter in the Desert One debacle. This was an audacious plan that had a very slim chance of being pulled off, even if the helicopters didn't crash in the desert. He's fortunate the Iranians didn't just kill the hostages then and there.
Notice how the Iranians finally gave up the hostages on the day that Reagan was inaugurated. They were smart enough to know that the jig was up - America had a real leader now who wasn't going to pussyfoot around.
A perfect example of the antithesis of peace through strength is Carters view of peace at any cost, and the costs have been many.
Screw him.
If I recall that deal correctly, Billy took the money but wasn't involved in a cover-up. The scandal petered out because it was Billy after all. The boy just took advantage of his relationship to an idiot brother in high places and didn't guarantee Khaddafi anything. If that's the way it was, then Billy is guilty of shady ethics, not dishonesty, and in that case he earns higher marks than is sanctimonious ass of a brother.
I do believe this was in Libya.
Jimmy Carter is a dangerous fool and a weak-willed wimp. He makes Gore look like a macho leader. He is not the sort of person I want negotiating "peace settlements" with murderous, meglomaniacal dictators and totalitarian governments, let alone being in agreement with a rabid communist newspaper like the Mirror.
a.k.a. The Carter Administration.
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