|
Carter Blasts Bush on His Global
Impact
AP
Sunday May 20, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — 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.
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
|
