Jimmy Carter at the DNC.

WinterBear's Discontent

Carter had a very interesting interview with PBS after his speach tonight...
Carter: "We concentrated to almost an obsession, to a commitment that appears to have been made long before Bush came into office, to attack Iraq. So we abandoned the terrorist concentration to concentrate on Iraq. In the process we lost the alliance... the almost unanimous support around the world for our battle against terrorism and now we have allienated our allies, created consternation among them.



McNeil: "Thats a very serious charge your making Mr President. Your saying they went into office determined to make war with Iraq no matter what happened.



Carter: (Smiling knowingly) " Yes, well, if you look at some of the statments they made in advance, before 9-11, read Wolfawitz, Rumsfield, Richard Pearl and others.. What I say will be confirmed by the facts.



Later

Carter: "We have aroused a lot of unnecessary threats to our country by ailianting those avid supporters and allies of ours against terrorism by acting in such a irresponsible manner."



McNeil: "And you hold George Bush responsible for this?"



Carter: "I don't hold him uniquely repsonsible... I don't know really to what degree George Bush is the leader among that inner circle when they congregate in the oval office to make decisions about what to do. It may be that Vice President Channey is the dominant voice or maybe Rumsfield in military affairs, anyway it is a coalition of leaders who collectively have not maintained the inegrity of our government or a commitment to human rights. For instance the public statements made by Mr Channey as it lead up to the tortures at Abu Gareb for instance. His saying that the geniva accords on the treatment of prisoners is no longer applicable or when he said that the prisoners in guantanimo bay, before they were put on trial, which they have not been yet, but if some day they are put on trial and then found innocent, they may not be released. Those are the kinds of statements that send chills around the world.



In the last year we have had represive regimes, quite often supported by the US government, are now branding human rights workers as terrorists."