Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 645 Location: UK Midlands
Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 11:02 am Post subject: Carter blasts Bush and UK support for war
Former President Carter Blasts Bush
Quote:
Former President Carter: Bush Administration Is 'Worst In History' In International Relations
(AP) Former President Carter says President Bush's administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.
The criticism from Carter, which a biographer says is unprecedented for the 39th president, also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.
"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."
Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed his comments to The Associated Press on Saturday and declined to elaborate. He spoke while promoting his new audiobook series, "Sunday Mornings in Plains," a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Ga.
"Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man," said Amber Wilkerson, Republican National Committee spokeswoman. She said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."
Carter came down hard on the Iraq war.
"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."
Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel. Carter also said the administration "abandoned or directly refuted" every negotiated nuclear arms agreement, as well as environmental efforts by other presidents.
Carter also offered a harsh assessment for the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which helped religious charities receive $2.15 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2005 alone.
"The policy from the White House has been to allocate funds to religious institutions, even those that channel those funds exclusively to their own particular group of believers in a particular religion," Carter said. "As a traditional Baptist, I've always believed in separation of church and state and honored that premise when I was president, and so have all other presidents, I might say, except this one."
Douglas Brinkley, a Tulane University presidential historian and Carter biographer, described Carter's comments as unprecedented.
"This is the most forceful denunciation President Carter has ever made about an American president," Brinkley said. "When you call somebody the worst president, that's volatile. Those are fighting words."
Carter also lashed out Saturday at British prime minister Tony Blair. Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, the former president said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."
"And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 645 Location: UK Midlands
Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 11:04 am Post subject:
Great line:
Carter also lashed out Saturday at British prime minister Tony Blair. Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, the former president said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."
At the above site for the next day you can listen again to the 20 minute Carter interview. Scroll down to "0800-0830" and click. RealPlayer will start at 0800 but the interview starts at 08:10. Use the RealPlayer time bar to drag it 10 minutes in.
It is available at the above site for another day from now. The "Today" broadcasts get replaced every 24 hours with the newer broadcast. I have just found that they are placed in a section where they are available for a further 7 days which is what the above link is. Since it was originally broadcast on Sat 19th May it will be replaced tomorrow Sat 26th May.
Scroll down to 0800-0830 and click link to listen.
From what i have seen jimmy Carter war the only honest decent US president since kennedy.
Remember he lost to reagan purely because george bush senior told his iranian allies to hold the us embassy hostage until carter becomae more and more unpopular then by a strange coincidence when reagon/bush won the hostages were all released.
It is amazing how such obviously crooked behaviour in america gets rewarded rather than getting the culprits thrown in jail. After Reagan/bush won they gave loads of weapons to iran and iran gave money to the central american contras as they were called.
Bush organised for reagan to be shot so that effectively bush was running the show.
Carter was an honest guy, a peanut farmer who did not make wars like all the presidents since who have averaged a war a year for the next 29 years.
It is an absolue slap in the boat race for Tony Blair the war criminal to have a former president of the USA to publicly on the BBC castigate him.
Jimmy Carter described Tony Blair as George Bush's BITCH
I agree 100% with evrything Carter has said about Blair and about Israel being the last apartheid state in the world. it is a shame carter isnt running this time. My choice would still be Ron Paul but i believe they already have programmed the voting machines to pass the baton back to the clinton family for another 8 years until one of the younger Bush brothers is ready. _________________
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