Yesterday, in interviews on CNN and the BBC, former President of the United States Jimmy Carter said the U.S. tortures prisoners. He said President Bush has made up his own definition for torture that include head slapping and water boarding. And he unleashed a broadside against Vice President Cheney.
It is hard to fault a former president, any former president, especially one with the sterling record of good works like Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Foundation.
Yet former President of the United States Jimmy Carter has made many controversial remarks and is clearly unafraid of attacking his own country’s policies on the world stage – acts considered taboo for almost two centuries. There once was an unwritten rule that American leaders should discuss their differences at home and then stand united when traveling overseas or facing world opinion.
No longer.
President Carter also said on National Public Radio that he had no problem dealing with the maker of genocide in Darfur, Sudan’ President Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir. When the NPR moderator asked President Carter if Bashir might be “using him,” Mr. Carter said he would be used if that helped alleviate the suffering of the people of Darfur.
We don’t always agree with the 83 year old former president, but no man stands taller in human rights than Jimmy Carter.
And don’t overlook the fact that President Carter is making many of these interviews happen because he is selling his book just now.
Jimmy Carter on the BBC:
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=i&q=jimmy+carter&go.x=38&go.y=10
Jimmy Carter Condemns Sudan for Darfur:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_re_
af/darfur_20
Related:
Jimmy Carter says US Tortures; then rips Cheney
Peace and Freedom thought: For me, a big chunk of me agrees with Dennis Miller who says Gitmo is like Vegas. What happens in Gitmo: stays in Gitmo. We are in a war…..
