Jimmy Carter: U.S.-led war in Iraq is "unnecessary and unjust."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Updated: 05:33 PM EDT
Carter: Guantanamo Detentions Disgraceful
By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD, AP

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050730173309990005

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Former President Carter said Saturday the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States.

Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq as "unnecessary and unjust."

"I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.," he told a news conference at the Baptist World Alliance's centenary conference in Birmingham, England. "I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts." Carter said, however, that terrorist acts could not be justified, and that while Guantanamo "may be an aggravating factor ... it's not the basis of terrorism."

Critics of President Bush's administration have long accused the U.S. government of unjustly detaining terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on the southeastern tip of Cuba. Hundreds of men have been held indefinitely at the prison, without charge or access to lawyers. "What has happened at Guantanamo Bay ... does not represent the will of the American people," Carter said Saturday. "I'm embarrassed about it, I think its wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people."

[spooky3]

1. I think he expresses it well.

[dalloway]

2. maybe BushCo will smear him now. Say he didn't really

win the Nobel peace prize.

[Cha]

5. "They" meaning

limpbaughs have already said Jimmy Carter doesn't deserve it.

It's so Weird how we can't go to Cuba but we have a military base at the tip of the Island!?

[Daphne08]

11. It's also weird that we can do business with China, but

not with Cuba. :eyes:

Both are Communist countries.

[Callalily]

3. Carter has been very vocal

about his disdain for Guantanamo Bay and for the treatment of detainees. He has always been a compassionate man.

[Wizard777]

9. Jimmy Carter actually has the moral and ethical integrity

that the Bush administration & Republican party viciously proclaim that they do. You'll believe it or they will crush you under the immense megalithic weight of "smaller government."

[gratuitous]

4. The Nobel Laureate lays it out well

Which means that the whisper campaign against him will be cranked up today somewhere in the West Wing, aided and abetted by the likes of Joe Klein and the media stooges who have no original thoughts except what comes out of RNC blast faxes.

[dooner]

6. It's highly unusual for a past president to be publicly critical

of a sitting president. Especially outside of the country, and during a war. This is breaking a lot of taboos. Smart to do it at a religious event.

He knows how terrible the whole Iraq mess is, and SURPRISE, a politician with a conscience!! Good for you Jimmy. Maybe Bill Clinton should get a clue and stop kissing up to Poppy Bush.

[leesa]

7. Yes. It was VERY smart to do it at a Baptist Alliance. A lot of BushBots

seem to come from the Baptist varities.

[rateyes]

10. Yes, they do..but the Baptist World Alliance is a different

animal altogether, which is the reason the Southern Baptist Convention pulled out of the BWA. That's a group of Baptists (BWA), at least in the leadership, who "get it."

[PurgedVoter]

8. The only honest president in my lifetime.

The man restores my faith in mankind.

[KoKo]

12. OMG...he has to say this in "Birmingham, England?" Are he and Roslyn

planning to "cut out" of the USA...They can't get their own Georgia Baptists to listen to them so they go to ENGLAND? :eyes:

Am, I the only one who finds this so disheartening?

[bribri16]

13. Not only my favorite President, but one of my favorite people. n/t

[Bluebear]

14. kick

[CTLawGuy]

15. he obviously did not get the DLC memo.

the one about avoiding "weakness abroad" and "interest group liberalism at home".

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Thank You, President Carter!

BRAVO!!!

:applause: :patriot: :applause: :patriot: :applause:

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Shit, lets run HIM in 2008.

Seriously.

[flaminbats]

18. imagine if Carter had been re-elected..

The national debt and energy consumption would be a fraction of they are now, healthcare coverage and stem cell research wouldn't even be political issues, there would have been no military aid to Iraq or Afghanistan terrorists in the 80's, the DLC would have never been started, and the Cold War would have ended nearly a decade sooner!

but whenever I have seen this man since leaving office..I see what our country could become without politics. :thumbsup:

[earthboundmisfit]

19. President Carter is a great example of a TRUE Christian.

He lives his faith every single day. I am not a Christian, but I admire that, and I think the world of him for it. He's also a true patriot who constantly demonstrates his love for our country & its people!:patriot:

[Spectral]

21. I totally agree. And if he ran in 2008, I would volunteer for his campaign

He is a true peacemaker. We need one very badly.

[moondust]

20. Heh heh. Do the British have a Gitmo?

:evilgrin: They'll probably need one now for those terrists they have in custody. :sarcasm:


The Europeans also appear to be combating terrorism the way John Kerry would have: "police work, not war". (Of course they've always done it that way.)