So let me see if I've got this straight. Because Jimmy Carter has built houses for Habitat For Humanity, he is therefore above reproach, or criticism. Carter builds a house and then burns down two. You do some construction work, and that's supposed to compensate for single handedly being responsible for the nation of Iran? You do some good deeds, and then you get to bash Israel, and pontificate about human rights, and then refuse to debate anyone who challenges you. Jimmy Carter would probably bash Israel even if he wasn’t receiving millions from an assorted variety of Middle Eastern Arab organizations, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility, it would seem, that receiving millions from people who would like to see Israel driven into the sea, while bashing that pea sized country on a continual basis, might present a possible conflict of interest. I must remember if I ever want to do engage in some truly dastardly, and despicable behavior, to first do a few very public good deeds, so no one can criticize me.

I got some torture for ya. One softball interview after another with Jimmy Carter. Hey CNN, why don't you ask the guy who ushered in the Iranian theocracy, why he won't debate Dershowitz, or anyone else about gas line Carter's anti-Israel book? He writes a book to supposedly stimulate a debate, and then he refuses to participate in any such debate. It's so Jimmy!

As always, Carter is naive in his comprehension of the world and irresponsible in his commentary. His comments and behaviour on multiple topics from Guantanamo, Cuba, Venezuela and the Mideast at times make one wonder if he was educated in another dimension. Let's be greatful he wasn't at the helm in WW2.

"Jimmy Carter is single-handedly responsible for the nation of Iran."
- Rush Limbaugh

That is literally THE best quote of the year.

If Jimmy Carter was still in office, you wouldn't have a homeland to defend.

Same thing will happen if Hill makes it to power.

I find it interesting that Mr. Carters presidency was such a failure that now he is trying to make himself look good by crircising others. What I would like to know, just how does he know all that he says he knows? He never gives the source of his knowledge. Sounds like a little boy in grade school.

Where's the proof?? We treat those who attempt to kill us more humanly than any one else in the world! Sounds like a jealous rant to me!

As expected I got no response, but then again Liberals don't respond to hypotheticals that could easily become a real life situation as then they would be proven to be the phonies that they are.

"The Government didn't do enough to protect my family", when it is your family, these very minor methods would be welcomed if it saved your families life. No questions asked.

As far as I'm aware, President Bush is the first president, and this the first US administration,that has even been asked to respond to accusations of torture! In past conflicts, whilst there have been certain charges made against US administrations regarding its abuse of human rights (the internment of all citizens of Japanese origin during World War II for example), never before has any administration come close to being accused of torture, nor being this creative in its interpretation of the law!

Terry in El Paso
Why do idiots like you have to bring President Bush's daughters into these conversations? You're naive to think the Bush Administration is the first to participate in these acts. And if private citizens, Jenna and Barbara Bush are fair game, then so are you and your family. I say we hang you upside down underwater..better yet. your kids…let's make your kids responsible for the stupidity that comes out of your mouth!

Good job Wolfie, the senile one actually said that "we had no problems with terrorists while Bill Clinton was in office".

A real journalist would have said "wait a minute, how about the USS Cole, the first WTC bombing, multiple embassies, the Kubar towers etc, etc) were they not terrorist acts????

When Carter said "he doesn't think it, he knows it", a real journalist would say, "do you have any specifics, names, situations etc,etc".

Iran gave up the hostages for three reasons, they were afraid of Reagan and they were not afraid of Carter (who had ample time and didn't get the job done) and lastly the Iran/Iraq war was going to come down and they had too much on their plates.

Quit blaming anyone but Carter for his failings, you already apologize for Clinton and it is stupid as hell.

Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush could have said all kinds of crap about Clinton and Carter, but as ex-Presidents they stuck by the "code" that other Presidents don't do this.

I get it Bush sucks and I agree, but this wholly TERRIBLE president has no legs to stand on.

Jimmy Carter has spent his entire adult life living in a fantasy world. He didn't have a clue while he was President and still has not found one. The eutopia that he presided over included the creation of Jihad, 12% unemployment, 21% interest rates, gas shortages, Americans being held hostage for 444 days and the most botched rescue attempt that has ever been tried by our armed forces. It was not the soldiers fault, it was poor planning, lack of resolve and a lack of support of the administration. He should hide is face.

While most Americans are decent and law abiding people, there are certain groups that are the antithesis of the American Constitution. These guys consider the noble words in the constitution irrelevant, they trash the UN , Geneva Conventions, Kyoto Protocol etc. for love of money/power. They could care less for American soldiers/Iraqi or any civilians dying in Iraq as long as they can get their hands on the billions from armament/oil sales. (9/11 was in response to policies of killing by these same people, not the other way around.)

Torture!, heck these guys kill civilians for fun (Blackwater), imagine what they do to prisoners. They have flushed the soul of America down the toilet.

Amazingly, they get voted in by ignorant Americans and the Supreme Court, so they kill and torture more. And the media controlled by these same power madcaps, lie down like dogs to please their masters.That is the real tragedy here.

Ask him how much torture occurred following his support of the E. Timor Government - well 400,000 died; surely some were tortured in that crackdown.
Or ask him about all of the genocide, killing, torture and suffering which occurred after he and Brzezinski - well, as Brzezinski stated:
Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
And the next time you have Bill Clinton on, ask him how much grief was caused by his complacency during the planning stages for the Rwandan genocide, in early 1994. In addition to the 800,000 who were murdered (many hacked to death) there were untold others tortured and 15 UN soldiers had their genitals cut off and stuffed in their mouths - so Clinton said, "Never Again." Then of course, the conflict moved next door to the DR Congo, where more people have died than any place since the end of WWII - Millions of humans, Bill Clinton. "Never again", meant "Again and Again." Oh right, but at least, after the fact, you sent Brown & Root in to help — under the LOGCAP contract.
And you can ask Clinton and Al Gore about setting up the US policy of extraordinary rendition - which was intended to send suspected terrorists to Egypt, where they could be tortured for information. Al Gore's view of that, according to Richard Clarke:
Gore laughed and said, "That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."
There is less conflict and fewer folks dying in the world than (according to the UN) any other time since the end of WWII. Notably, as compared to the world during the Clinton era.
Get over it. Between Carter and Clinton, Bush can go for another 30 years, and not create as many deaths in the world.

Carter is senile.

Thank God this former president speaks out. The issue is not his presidency but the current one. The current imperial presidency has dis-honored our country with its lies and use of torture. This must never be forgotten.
As far as I am concerned Bush is a torturer as well as a terrorist. What he has done to this country is an act of treason.

Our country installed the Shah in Iran, in 1953, forcebly, to replace a democratically elected prime-minister. No wonder they hate us. Can you imagine (you knuckle headed Bush supporters out there) how you would react if an outside country came in and replaced our democratically elected (we like to think so anyway) president or government with one more to their liking? Think, before you react here.

I find that most of this country's problems are due to the fact that our government and its representives tend to react, in a knee jerk fashion, to every crisis without thinking about the consequences of that reaction. A good example of that is the war in Iraq and the use of torture. We were hurt in 9/11 and when we could not get Bin Lauden, right away, our president decided to strike out at another country instead. A country, no matter how odious the leader, that had not attacked us. Then they approved torture. Torture does not deliver good information.

The simple-minded supporters of this policy and the republicans in general are only expressing their ignorance here today.

Jimmy Carter? He has done absolutely nothing for humanity. He has spent his last twenty five years with Habitats For Humanity building homes for people who lost theirs. Can you think of anything that is more of a waste of time than that?
His time would have been much better spent watching NASCAR, roaming the aisles at WalMart, eating at McDonald's four times a week, working on his trailer, and shooting animals.

How dare he criticize America? We are the land of the free and anyone who doesn't agree with that should be put in jail.

Jimmy Carter? He has done absolutely nothing for humanity.
He has spent his last twenty five years with Habitat For Humanity building houses for people who have lost theirs—can you think of anything that is more of a waste of time than that? His time would have been much better spent watching NASCAR, roaming the aisles of WalMart, eating at McDonald's four times a week, reading the Bible (but not living it–just reading it), working on his trailer, or shooting animals.

I really love how all the comments by folks who don't agree with Carter attack his record as president and DO NOTHING to counter his accusations against Bush.

That's called "Ad Hominem", people; it's a logical fallacy, and it's the easiest way to lose an argument.

Next time, don't attack the source — argue the point he's trying to make. When you do that, we'll take you wilfully underinformed Bush apologists seriously.

International law states that un-uniformed combatants captured on the battlefield can be executed by firing squad. Is Jimmy pressing us for international law??

Jimmy Carter is the only public figure in the US to speak up against the Junta in Washington. Better listen to him before you are all in jail

Jimmy Carter with an opinion?? You'd think he had another book or something coming out. Oh, WAIT! He DOES have a new book! Please, Mr. Carter, try to contribute something like you really mean it…not trying to promote yourself.

The sad answer to that question is that the easiest people to persuade that violence, torture and destruction of human rights are necessary tools of war… are those who are most convinced that "God is on their side."

Such was the case when people like them marched Jesus and his fellow prisoners to the hill two thousand years ago… such was the case when people like them followed Pope Urban II's instructions and slaughtered the women and children of Jerusalem 900 years ago… such was the case when people like them followed Torquemada's instructions and held their prisoner's feet to the flames in the dungeons of Europe 600 years ago… and such was the case when people like them removed the limbs and vital organs from live patients in the operating rooms of Dr. Josef Mengele 60 some years ago in Auschwitz and Birkenau… they were sure that "God was on their side".

Some of the scariest people who ever lived were SURE that "God was on their side".

Therealist imagines that "the US is still the envey of the world." Who is it that envies us? It is true that the world's impoverished want to migrate here for a job that pays more money than they could get back home.

Employment is high, but good jobs with good income and a good future are disappearing and crappy jobs with no future are replacing them. Americans have traditionally depended on employment for income and for employers to value, train, and retain employees. That tradition is gone. Now employers see their employees a cost, like floor wax or light bulbs. The less you spend on costs, the more efficient your business has become.

Most households have more than one wage earner. 71% of American households earn less than $50,000. 43% earn less than $25,000, about $2,000 per month gross pay. Health costs and fuel costs are eating into that income, of course. Employers are abandoning their traditional role of providing retirement income and covering most medical costs. CEO's once (1980) earned about 40 times the wage of the average worker they supervised; now it is 531 times that of their workers. CEO pay is often tied to the growth of company stock value, though that is not true for workers, as if the entire performance of the corporation depended on the CEO. Many CEO's who are fired for incompetence or illegal activities get severance bonuses in the millions, unlike a fired worker. If the average worker earns $30,000 working for a boss that earns about 16 million, then the boss is taking home $7,658.65 PER HOUR. Maybe Einstein was worth that much per hour when he was working on his theories. Maybe Eisenhower was worth that much in WWII when the western world depended on him to save it from Nazism. No CEO is worth that much. We could find another CEO from India or China who would run the corporation just as well for a lot less.

Worker productivity is on the increase mostly because employers now demand more hours of work but do not provide more pay, as all salaried workers know. Those who succeed in corporate work are the men and women who put in 60-80 hour weeks. I read of a corporate CEO who noticed that a certain worker was not in his office two Sundays in a row. He called the employee to see if he was sick.

In short, the more freedom we give corporations, the less they value their employees. This booming economy is only booming for the top ten percent.

GENEVA CONVENTION:

Article 5 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of civilians in occupied territories, states that if a civilian "is definitely suspected of or engaged in activities hostile to the security of the States, such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such rights and privileges under the present Convention as would, if exercised in favor of such individual person, be prejudicial to the security of such State."

Sorry folks - terrorists do NOT qualify for rights under the Geneva Convention.

Don't let that stop you, though. Continue whining and crying about those poor poor terrorists and how we treat them. Assign them Geneva Rights, get them US attorneys, hell why not grant them amnesty - give them driver's licenses and demand the US give them free health care??

The ACLU-cry baby wussies of this country are a greater threat than the terrorists!

The Bush Administration has been caught lying about so much already. You'd have to be a fool to believe ANYTHING they say at this point.

Bush and Cheney have brought nothing but shame to America and according to our government's own intelligence reports, their approach has not been effective against global terrorism, which is now a much bigger problem than it was when they took office. They should be impeached before that do more damage to our beloved country.

Torture is immoral. Torture does not elicit useful information. The Bush administration condones and directs the use of torture. These are the facts. The Bush administration has caused lasting harm to the moral fabric of this nation and to its security. Terrorists could not have had better allies than the Bush administration.

Simply put, Jimmy Carter is a naive, naive fool.

He was wrong on the Soviet Union.
He was wrong on "Palestine."
He was wrong on economics.
He was wrong on foreign policy.

Given his flaccid response to Muslim aggression in 1979, is it any wonder that radical Islam grew to be the hydra it has become today?

If he had done his job as commander in chief, and SMASHED the Radical Muslim threat in its infancy in 1979, we might not be facing the global, fanatical, hyper-radicalized enemy we fight today.

Today, Radical Islam is still non-nuclear. Do we take our bruises fighting a tough enemy today, or do we wait, pretend it's Sept. 10 and pretend the threat doesn't exist, and push this fight off onto our children?

If not dealt with today, our children who will fight an insanely brutal and much better prepared enemy tomorrow (read: nuclear).

It's our responsibility to tackle this monster today. If Carter is badmouthing the effort, he's simply illustrating with whom his allegiance lies.

Ok already! Jimmy Carter was "the worse" etc. It seems that people attacking Carter are still avoiding the main issue. Does the US torture? Do we violate human rights…the Geneva Convention? Stop attacking the messenger rather than face the issues.

If we can't elect a president acceptable to both parties, we are officially not a democratic society. Every second commenter here says, in effect, that they'd like to see this country wrecked just to prove this or that politician wrong. Are you all nuts? Go to some other country and wreck that one - I'm trying to live and raise a family in this one.

For all those enthusiastic defenders of the Bush torture regimen, remember you will confessm you will sign any confession after a couple of hours of simulated drowning. And for the guy who would prefer a president who abuses human rights if his son were in Iraq, you got no complaint coming if your son is abused by 'Islamnfascists.'
Put another way, Dad, if you had to choose between Dick Cheney torturing your son and Vlad Putin or Iran's Ahmedinajad, how could you in God's name prefer any one torturer over another? You haven't thought this through and when you finally do you'll wake up screaming.

he is the biggest idiot i have ever heard. i wasnt even alive to have him as president. THANK GOD!!! but i do want to say i dont see anything wrong with trying to get an answer out of the prisoners. have people forgotten 9/11? if we dont get answers out of them one way we have to try another. because if we give them the chance they will be right back over here trying to kill us. jimmy carter needs to shut up and stay at home

Now we are the laughing stock of the world. - laurinda,ny

13T GDP
4.7% Unemployment
1% Budget Deficeit
65% GDP national debt
Largest homeownership(all races)
Longest economic expansion
Exporting capitalism and democracy

The facts show that the US is still the envey of the world. Small minded political opinions are just that..

Belgium should be the last country someone pipes in about being a joke. Do you guys even have a government formed this year yet??

After reading the comments I find that there are very few that appear to understand what this nation stands for or at least use to stand for. Whether you like Jimmy Carter or not, he has made a clear and concise statement of fact based upon international law and treaties to which the United Stares use to be a leader.

We in the past have refuse to send individuals to nations where we beieve they shall be tortured upon their return. We have had very strong statements as to those nations of the world that extract information through the use of torture. Our courts have recognized from the birth of our nation that confessions gained through torture or other questionable means are not worth the paper that they were written upon.

I shall not defend the Carter administration, it was a very turbulant period of time in US history. However, where were you when the embassy was taken in Iran, I was sitting on a military airfield in the US on alert, where were you when Charlie Beckworth's attempted rescue failed, I was on the ground in Germany defending the free world. What Jimmy Carter is saying is the truth, I think we should start paying attention to our former Presidents not only in what they say, but in many cases in what they do not say. And if you have not noticed, no living US President has come forth to include Gerorge HW Bush and lavish praise upon this administration for their actions in Iraq, their foreign policies, the questionale spying programs, nor the secret CIA prisons or the acknowlegded techiques of extracting information.

Information gained through torture is useless. Guidelines given to US forces in the later daus of Vietnam and after Vietnam stated to withhold information the enemy wanted as long as you could, but to relaize that any information you had was already out of date and not useful to the enemy and to go ahead and give it to them. Information over 24 hours old is not information that has any real use.

This may be a hard concept for some to understand, however, where I am, in my uniform, is America, what I do in uniform is America, the concept that an American soldier can disregard the rules of War, the Geneva Conventions because some official thinks they do not apply is not an acceptable stance. They do apply, why, because we signed them, I do not care who else has signed them but we have signed them, they are a protection for our soldiers and our behavior and adherenace to the rules and conventions are further protection for our servicemen and women today and 100 years from now.

Basically if we have a war the rules apply, if a crimminal act was committed a different set of rules apply, however one can not have it both ways, so make up your mind, we are either at war and the rules apply, or a crimminal act has occurred and our miliary forces are being improperly used for actions other than what we maintain a military force.

Carter is the worst president is US history. It's been throuoghly documented. He is only trying to repair that before his death. Bill Clinton will be doing the same thing 20 yrs from now. I can't wait…

Except for 2 Democrats, all past presidents have followed the same moral principle of not interfering with following administrations, allowing instead, the democratic process to work as intended. What does that say about those 2 presidents? Is there any wonder about which ones??

Integrity and Truth cannot be manufactured or bought ..

President Carter is the real deal.
A great human being and thankfully an outspoken former President…
The Truth always comes in perfect time.

That is Bush's typical mode of operation: change the international definition (of torture) or any rule if Bush does not like it. He appointed his croonies to the supreme court, etc., to favour his agenda.

With the Iraq war, Bush has isolated america from the rest of the world, and america has become public enemy #1. Domestically, america is deeper into debts because of the war, and the social system is in a mess.

Jimmy Carter is a brave man and a wise ex-president. He told it as it is, and does not back down.

As Carter says, it is time to kick the Bush out, with a dem president.

To All the Regan-Lovers:
The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal occurring in 1987 as a result of earlier events during the Reagan administration in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran, an avowed enemy, and illegally used the profits to continue funding anti-Communist rebels, the Contras, in Nicaragua.[1] Large volumes of documents relating to the scandal were destroyed or withheld from investigators by Reagan administration officials.[2][3] The affair is still shrouded in secrecy. After the arms sales were revealed in November 1986, President Ronald Reagan appeared on national television and denied that they had occurred.[4] A week later, however, on November 13, Reagan returned to the airwaves to affirm that weapons were indeed transferred to Iran. He denied that they were part of an exchange for hostages.

Jimmy Carter is the personification of our weak image in the international community. The perception that America is weak is exactly the reason the terrorists believe that their evil, militant actions will make a difference. We need to deal with the world from a position of strength. President Bush understands this well. Former President Carter has never understood it.

Folks, America does not torture people. Torture is what John McCain went through in Vietnam. Torture is what our soldiers went through in the far east during World War II. Torture is daily beatings and starvation like the Viet Cong subjected our soldiers to. Torture is putting a soldier in a chair, strapping him down, and taking a file and filing his teeth down until he makes the desired statements like the Japanese did during World War II.

Torture is NOT sleep deprivation, water boarding, subjecting to chilly temperatures, etc. Those are simply interrogation tecniques, and are quite successful at extracting quality information.

We do not beat people, or deprive them of nourishment, we don't kill one captive in front of the rest as an incentive to make the others talk. We're not chopping people's heads off or anything of the sort.

America has become soft. Jimmy Carter is a large part of the reason why. I wish he would just fade away into retirement and stop meddling in the affairs of our country. We survived his presidency in spite of him. We don't need him now.

The techniques used by the Bush administration to interrogate prisoners do not really harm anyone. These techniques simply make someone frightened that they might be harmed, even though they are in the safe hands of the CIA. To prove this, we should have some CIA operatives demonstrate the techniques on TV, on one of Bush's daughters (or the patriotic daughter of any patriotic Republican), to show us all that they are really harmless.

Hell, six days with no sleep naked in a room kept at fifty degrees followed by being held underwater until you start inhaling some water, then allowed a few seconds to cough it out, gulp in a breath of air, then held under water again, over and over - that would teach any teenager a little self-discipline.

If our schools would only start using this technique on kids who turn in their homework late, we would start seeing some improvement in those little scholars.

Many Carter supporters are overlooking one historical fact: the taking of the American Embassy in November 1979 and the subsequent holding of 53 Americans hostage were acts of war.

The lack of appropriate response by the Carter Administration emboldened the terrorists who now saw Amerca as weak.

Has President Bush make mistakes?
Absolutely; every wartime president does, it is inevitable. However, success is never an accident; we haven't had an attack on U.S. soil since 09/11/01. Also, our economy is the envy of the world: The stock market is soaring, record unemployment, low interest rates, and you're paying lower taxes than under President Clinton.

Terrorists are not covered by the Geneva Convention (i.e., they don't wear uniforms and they're not from one particular nation).
What exactly is torture? Waterboarding? Extreme cold or heat? Lack of sleep? Lack of food for a few hours?

Why are some Americans so worried about people who want to murder all of us? Will it take another 09/11/01 to wake some of us up to reality?

I'm surprised the amount of comments that are hating on Mr Carter.
I'm proud of the time we as a people elected a strong mind to lead us. I think our electing Mr Carter showed we valued character and simple decency. The problem then and continuing today is a decent truth speaking man should be teaching college not in a leadership role of a superpower. Mr Carters strength comes from the truth so many of us hear when he speaks. I believe it's fair to say Mr Carter is a good man. The kind of man we need to start valuing again in my opinion.
Regarding our folks held captive in Iran, moral strength wasn't going to bring them home. It wasnt like after years of Iran out of their oil they were going to consider us a friend? Of course not, they judged us on our actions, and our actions for years were not very cool. I think it's important to deal with truth, even if it puts you in a bad light. Better to confront our own demons honestly than to sweep them under the rug, and pretend they don't exist. That will just lead to bigger and badder problems. It gets so out of whack that people start hating the truth when it speaks of them less than good. Instead of facing it I read something like "why won't jimmy carter just go away!" or "jimmy carter wishes he was in as queda".

I mean wtf?? Things are so so so so out of whack these days our president allows torture and we just sit there. I have a hard time believing the good folks of our country would enjoy seeing anyone suffer. We are a decent country and we know better. Take another look at our current leadership. Does their example show what we are about? Yes, we put them there. You know the Republicans have got game when poor people vote for them. I hope we learn some lessons inherent in Mr Bush's presidency. There's still a ton of folks out there who feel hes a decent president doing a fine job, and he is most definitely in a very fast paced never get a breather kind of job - he's a good worker I'd say - a good worker for his folks. They're the ones driving new cars. Mr Bush isnt such a good worker for the rest of the people though, the majority of our population.
I think allowing torture is enough to raise a concern regarding Mr Bush's morals and beliefs. What kind of person allows deliberate torturing of other people? That's the character we thought wise to lead us. We have been going backwards long enough. It's time to take a 180 degree turn. It looks a little scarey, but it will be ok. Hillary is the best shot we have to get the oil guys out of the white house. I say we get behind her, expect good things, and just leave her be - it's the constant walking on eggshells every day and abut everything that has developed theuncanny and almost natural sounding ability to answer any question in what sounds like an ok answer but i really was two answers, sometimes even opposing each other.
Thats why I promise Hillary we'll leave her alone so she can get the fighting chance she deserves to make our country a better place - a place to be proud of . A place where truth, kindness, and fair play win the day.

My suggestion would be this. Even if the methods used are not "torture" in the sense of harming a person or causing significant pain, let's be very careful about going to down the slippery slope of even approaching torture! Simulated drownings? Oh my.

ThirsyJon
freedomthirst.com

Someone left a comment saying that the USA was the joke of the world during Carter's presidency.

USA is again the joke of the world. But nobody laughs at this "joke". Bush lies, steals, cheats, kills, and the list goes on.

I can't understand how one can still find people trying to justify his (mis)deeds. The huge damage he as done will probably soon be unveiled and will have to be repaired by the next president, but I doubt that four years will be enough for that. If he (she) is a democrat, it will be a child's play for the republicans to declare him incompetent.

At least Carter, if not a great president (I can't judge on that) was honest I think.

Bob from Seattle needs a history lesson. It was Regan and his cronies that made a deal with Iraq so they would hold the hostages until after the election of 1980, so big actor/little man Reagan could win votes. It worked. The hostages were released quid pro-quo in exchange for weapons which Reagan and his henchmen gladly delivered later that same year. Just another example of republican machivallian manoevers that gets the US into repeated disasters. It is the honest and decent men like Carter who fall the victim to these immoral acts - while the majority of republicans blindly fall for continuous disinformation churned out by their own republican leaders. Shame on them! And shame on those that follow un-questioning, in contradiction of facts and ignorant of history. They would rather have a 'strong' man to follow than be incumbered with reality. And again, Carter speaks the truth to help repair our constitution - while he is meligned liars and power worshipers. Alan, The Netherlands

First poster "Dave", you need to check yourself. The CIA is performing, and encouraging torture. While some in the military have falling victim to the CIA's perceived authority in this area (i.e. Abu Ghraib) and followed their instructions, it is strictly forbidden in the military and we are trained to know this and abide by it. The military as an institution does not torture. The CIA, yes, they torture, always have. Where does it get us? Nowhere. Use Al Zachari as a case study. Where did he get his hatred of the west? Maybe it was when he was being tortured by Egyptians under the tutelage of CIA professionals. The sad truth is torture has been long discredited as an information gathering tool. So why does the CIA still do it? Simple, a great many Americans find comfort in knowing that somewhere a brown man with a funny religion is getting the crap kicked out of him 24/7 in response to 9-11. So "Dave" lay off the military would you? We are merely a tool of government foreign policy. Put in an impossible place with an impossible mission. How exactly we are supposed to rectify 100 years of greedy ham-fisted western foreign policy with a whole lot of bombs and bullets is beyond me. It is up to you, the citizenry to hold the government accountable. If you don't like how they are employing your military or your CIA tell them!

"the USA was the joke of the world during this time."

Well, for your information, Thomas. The USA is the joke of the world as this time! The reputation of a free nation is down the drain with the terror-reign going on right now. But of course the 55% op americans who reelected a no-brain bush is just too blind to see it, or saw it too late.

Jimmy Carter is honest, loyal to good and truth, and one of the last true patriots we have in this country. Thoes who continue to bash this great humanitarian harbor hate and preach distruction. It amazes me how self loathing some can be when it comes to the values of our country.

Dear Echo,

Clinton WAS impeached (but not convicted) for lying to a Grand Jury of the United States.

It is simply an historical fact.

Carter is great compared to bush,i remeber those free peanut butter days and peanuts.

Reagan had already promised the Iranian's "Arms for Hostages", otherwise, give me one good reason why Iran released them as soon as Reagan was sworn in. Jimmy Carter would not stoop so low and bore the brunt of criticism for not buying the Hostages out. The interest rates and inflation was so high because the country was paying back the enormous debt for the Vietnam war. Something to look forward to for the next 25 years. Thank you George Bush.

Gee I dont ever recall President Carter ever making idiotic mistakes like Bush. Sad to hear the White House denounce a former PRESIDENT with a PROVEN track record!!

Wow. You folks don't remember that at the time of the hostage crisis, Carter had tried house-cleaning at the CIA, GHW Bush was the Director of the CIA, and a deal was cut between the displaced rogue elements of the CIA and revolutionary Iran. This was the Iran-Contral scandal. Part of the agreement included the non-release of the hostages, in order to ruin Carter's chances at reelection.

There is no way in hell that Reagan takes credit for releasing he hostages, on his swearing-in day. He wasn't yet president! In fact, he and Bush 41 deserve all the blame for their extended stay.

Very nearly the first action of The Criminal Bush was to block the release of his pappie's presidential papers which must be absolutely dripping with evil.

Like father, like son. I despise these festering meatsacks.

It's amazing how these right wing nitwits continue to buy into the myth of "Bush is protecting us from terrorists", or should I say "terrists". They are truly hopeless when their need for a daddy figure "who will take them by the hand and lead them to safety" is so desperate that they put their faith in a couple of draft dodging sociopaths like Bush and Cheney.
Wake up! They torture people not because they are terrorists. They torture them because they like to. In fact if they had evidence they were terrorists they wouldn't be so afraid to actually bring charges against them. Hello! Earth to the wingnutosphere.

Remember when being from the USA meant you were one of the 'good guys'?

I do.

::sighs::

Everyone seems to forget that the hostages in Iran were not freed because the Reagan political campaign BRIBED THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT WITH ARMS BOUGHT WITH DRUG MONEY. My God people, did the Iran-Contra hearings mean nothing to you? Have you forgotten the recession of 1982-84? Do you not understand that the "Reagan Recovery" was PURCHASED by the largest increase of government debt in history (to that date, Bush II has made it even worse?)

James Carter was the one of the only Presidents to actually behave according to his Christian beliefs. For that the "Christian Right" will never forgive him.

It seems to me that not one person in this room remembers how it was the Republicans that made a deal with Iran to hold our people captive until after the election. They either seem to believe amyth and choose to forget about Iran-contra, Ollie North,Regan(The one who coined"I can't Remember")
Oh those crazy toe tapping Republican.

I wish someone would torture Jimmy Carter and make him go away. What an a-hole….
Posted By Bob, Des Moines, Iowa : October 10, 2007 2:35 pm
—————————————–

And Jimmy Carter would do all he could to spare you from the same fate. Not that I would want him to, a-hole.

How about we STOP focusing on how good/bad Jimmy Carter was a president and focus on what he said in the interview? How about we start focusing on how horrible of a president George W. Bush in the history of the US? How about we focus on the state of the country under George W. Bush and his administration's leadership? Let's not kid ourselves folks. We are too far up the creek to keep playing into these bipartisan polictics. Let's start admitting what's wrong and instead of placing blame, start taking some action. This country can not thrive on the type of leadership we've seen since 2000 (republican or not)!! I am frankly sick of people trying to defend the actions of this current administration. It's hard to believe that people can be so naive as to actually believe that there was no torture or that we are fighting the good fight in Iraq.

It's torture watching our people wage war against our country, our lifestyle, our president, our pocketbook,our freedom, You can't eat this, you can't smoke that,you can't say that. I want freedom from idiots trying to run our lives and sell us out to our enemies

God bless you Jimmy Carter - seriously. This is courageous to stand up and call foul where foul runs up & down our criminal corrupt administration. Yes we - the people - deserve better than the jerks up-top.

My big question to the democrats in congrress: What is it gonna take for you to do your job? If carter from outside the administration has to call out what has been more obvious than daylight, what the heck are you empty suits doing for the salaries you're earning????

Hearings. Yup. subpoena the big and small of the cowboys running amock with our constitution. Let's fix this darn foreign policy failing to live up to our constitution once and for all.

Matt

I guess we can count old Jimmy in the 20% of Democrats who think the world would be better off if America loses the Iraq war. Jimmy should just go away.

an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind -Ghandi

Don't get too excited over the memory of Ronald Reagan "freeing" the hostages in Iran. The fact of the matter is, and few know this, that Regan paid ransom money in gold bullion to Iran. Yes, pure gold bars, transshipped through Lakenheath Air Base, England, to Iran, a few days after he took office. A good friend of mine was the security guard on duty at Lakenheath at the time and all there knew of its purpose. Didn’t anyone wonder at the time why (and how) we got the hostages back so quickly and easily?

I would have to agree that Carter may not have been the best president, however, he is a very good humanitarian and an all around good person. His legacy will always be remembered as one who stands for peace.

I have to agree that Bush is the worst thing that ever happened to our country. It will take many, many years to get back what we once had, if we ever can get it back. I am completely opposed to how Bush has run this country; from imprisoning people without allowing them the benefit of knowing their accusation or not allowing them any kind of attorney privilege, to his complete ignorance of the Geneva Convention. I find that very appalling; psychologists all agree that inhumane punishment does not get results. People will tell you anything you want to hear when fearing for their life. Bush lied to get us into war, his manipulation of the truth, his stomping all over our constitutional rights in the name of fear, his illegal war in Iraq and now preparing us for war in Iran. Will Bush ever quit taking our country down?

All of us have the right to freedom of speech and should question our leaders when they appear to be doing things wrong. Where does it say that we cannot question? Do you realize that Hitler's soldiers feared so much for their lives that they never questioned either? Is that really what we want? Or do we want the ability to know or try to know what is going on in our government? Bush has created a very secretive government, much has been classified, so much executive privilege. He is a very scary person and I have such a strong feeling that we will go to war in Iran before the next election; which will complete his neocon ideology. Our country is just not the same as what I remember it to be while growing up. We have allowed the terrorists and Bush to shape us into something that many do not respect worldwide.

Jimmy Carter, I will always respect your thoughts. I share many of them. It's too bad some on here cannot see what damage this administration has done.

"I don't think it. I know it, certainly."

Same Dan Rather moment.., different elitist. Any documents on that Jimmy?

Former President Carter is under-appreciated for his years as President.

However, his contributions to the common good since he left office, and his genuine humanitarianism is beyond question. He is a true elder statesman and should be applauded for his recent remarks concerning the conduct of this adminstration. The ongoing torture being conducted with the consent and support of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney is criminal and deplorable.

I only disagree with Presidnet Carter on one point; he says that he isn't sure President Bush and the Vice-President should be prosecuted. I am sure they should be tried and convicted.

They have damaged this country and the Contitution so much the Republic may never recover.

Thank you, CNN! At least for now, my 6:56 post is back up! Maybe there's hope yet.

Jimmy has been my hero for 30 years. Honest, decent and upright. Just the sort of person republican weasels love to attack. The more morally repugnant their failed position gets the more they work to blame others. Thanks for always speaking up for what's right Jimmy!

Um, what happened to my 6:56pm post? It was up, now it's gone. Nothing offensive or inappropriate in it. I'm guessing that my only sin (and many others', too, I'm sure) was being too "liberal" (or, as most people around the world would see it: too rational). I'm guessing my post and many, many others were pulled to make room for what I assume to be the fewer in number conservative posts. I can't get one mildly worded liberal post up, but irrational hate-spewers like Riggs, Ryan Indiannapolis and RightyTighty can post multiple times? The fix is in.

Why? Because, as usual, CNN is mistaking quantitative "balance" with objectivity. I would bet the pro-Carter/anti-Bush comments probably outnumber the senseless Carter bashers by about 5-to-1, but CNN is so obsessed with trying to prove that it's not "liberal," its editors feel compelled to manufacture the appearance of an even 50-50 debate. It's bad enough that this distortion prevents the network from doing any in-depth reporting on the Bush Administration (can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear — there would be no way of shirking the "liberal" label if they were tell it like it is with this president); I didn't realize they go so far as to censor their blogs, too, to further their self-serving commercial agenda. If I'm right about this, it's just another example of how spineless "news" outlets like CNN have made meaningful public debate virtually impossible anymore in this country. Everyone is led to believe that there is no such thing as right and wrong — just differences of opinion, and we're all perfectly and equally entitled to be portrayed as half-right. It's ironic: no one benefits more from "political correctness run amok" in this country today than the right wing, because it's politically incorrect to say, show or do anything that would leave a viewer or reader with the impression that there really is a right and a worng on a given issue. God forbid CNN lets its blog reflect an overwhelming support for one ideological position over another, regardless of such trivialities as facts, reason or (as I suspect is the case here) the true proportion of readers' views on the subject.

If I'm wrong about why my pro-Carter/anti-Bush(anti-torture) post came down, I'd like to know the real reason. It contained no profanity or even harsh, crass, personal insults (all of which are rampant here, especially among the repetitive conservative post-ers).

Can't wait to have this post come down too (Actually, I doubt this one will even get posted in the first place).

All those bashing Jimmy Carter use the same tired Republican tactics: When you cannot refute the facts, you attack the messenger.
To all those right wing nuts, think (if you are capable) about (1) If it's ok to torture to get info, why not admit it? Why the charade that Bush plays? (2) In little over a year, who will be the worst ex-president? hint: it starts with B…

Job Opening: President of United States. Must be able to lie without moving lips and pray at the same time. Must have your own Condie look-a-like to look for WMD (can't find em anywhere). Also, no Dick Cheney halloween masks permitted at job interview (scares the little ones)! No knowledge or lack thereof a plus. Those with history of torture will be preferred. Ignore little kids without health insurance in the lobby. Bring your NRA card for free parking. Job posting limited to the remaining life of the country.

What's a real bummer for me is reading all of these comments from my fellow Americans that are basically supporting torture and the Bush adminstration. It's you people that have degraged Democracy and destroyed true Freedom. The Taliban would be proud!

This seems very typical of the republican style of attack. 'It must not be true that George Bush tortures because Jimmy Carter was one of the worst presidents ever', or 'Global warming does not exist because Al Gore is a democrat' How do these responses make any sense, if Superman said that America tortures than it's true?

"It took the specter Ronald Reagan to free American hostages in days."

Reagan made a deal with the Iranians to keep the hostages until after his inauguration. He sold Americans out for his political purposes. Just as he sold all of us out on with his trickle-down, deregulation hi-jinks that left the middle class shafted and the rich ever richer. Reagan, not Carter, is my vote for the worst modern American President - until this one.

The Bush Koolaid drinkers that are posting their vitriol here against Jimmy Carter are a nice sample of the 29% dead enders. Totally brainless sheep. All of you together would not even equal Carter's little finger. Everyone else now knows your so-called Conservative world views are total bunk. Your days are numbered right wingers. Just a little more than a year till the GOP will be history. Get your things in order.

Someone has to say what all of us know…..Bush tortures. period. He flouts law and tradition whenever it's inconvenient. He's so short-sighted and incompetent. Everyone else in the world knows what he's doing, providing a great recruitment tool for terrorists. Bush is without a doubt the WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!

I believe that Jimmy is right, that we are torturing prisoners. But, he should realize that many in the world think that he is "In the Know" and therefore it is a fact. I think this hurts the American Image even further then Bush has already hurt us. Jimmy needs to keep his gut feelings and opinions out of the media. I realize that he is a gentle soul and things like this make him sick at the core of his being. He has the connections to tell George directly what he thinks, not use the WorldWide Media. And, just for the record, for what they (the terrorists) have done already and what I believe they are capable of, a little head slapping and sleepless nights don't bother me one little bit. For what they do to our citizens I think they are getting off easy. If we went with the "Eye for an Eye" thing, maybe they would think twice.

Frank Boca Raton, FL : October 10, 2007 4:12 pm:
You are a typical liberal. You tell the Republicans to stop "labeling" people who disagree with them, yet you do the same thing. Sounds like "do as I say, not as I do" to me. Typical. And unless any of you have seen an interrogation, may I suggest you not judge. Don't be fooled by terrorists who are released that claim torture. Try reading the Al Qaida handbook posted all over the internet. That's exactly what they are supposed to do.

Jimmy who?

I wasted my vote when I voted for Jimmy Carter as president. He is and idiot; he did not know what he was doing or talking about when he was president, and he does not know what he is doing or talking about even today.

President Carter has done a great service by adding his voice to all those who are appalled to see an American president reduced to repeated denials of what has become undeniable–that the United States has, and continues, to engage in torture. Shame.

Imagine you are a US captive now caged in Gitmo. you are sleep deprived, have been naked in a freezer for 20 hours, they strap you onto an board tying your hands down. You know nothing, you were in the wrong place and got swept up into US hands, but no one believes you do not know where the arms are stockpiled; they promise you a warm dinner if you just tell them where the depot is but hold you underwater until you can't help beginning to let some water into your lungs; do you hold out or do you just make up a likely place so they stop the torture? You tell the story, you get your dinner and the fools race off to investigate your false info. This is the only result of harsh interrogation, take a lesson from my mother, she asked her 2yearold was the icing sweet? And immediately got a full confession.

Jimmy Carter speaks the truth that is obvious to any thinking person. The ad hominem attacks of the right wing posted in previous comments only serve to validate his analysis. Bringing up the inflation and gas shortages of the 70's is a diversion from actually speaking to the points that Carter makes: the Bush administration has undermined human rights and the Geneva convention that has protected the veterans of our previous wars for over a century. Talk about supporting our troops! Bush has done just the opposite in the court of world opinion.

There's a huge difference between torture as the prefered method of interrogation of administration-deemed "enemy combatants" and interrogation techniques as employed by seasoned intelligence officials who know how to a.) do it effectively and to our benefit and b.) do it within the parameters of international law. What we have at the sadly diminished "helm" of US leadership is the sad, caved-in, pathetic little voice of a foolish bully from Texas who is too ignorant to do anything but follow his own little inner voice, to our national demise, morally, internationally, and economically. God Bless America and God help us all.

Jimmy Carter speaks the truth that is obvious to any thinking person. The ad hominem attacks of the right wing posted in previous comments only serve to validate his analysis. Bringing up the inflation and gas shortages of the 70's is a diversion from actually speaking to the points that Carter makes: the Bush administration has undermined human rights and the Geneva convention that has served us well for over a century and protected the veterans of our previous wars. Talk about supporting our troops! Bush has done just the opposite in the court of world opinion.

President Carter is 100% correct in stating that the Bush administration bypasses the Laws of the land to create Laws to suit their needs and to hell with anyone that disagrees.
"W" Bush is the biggest LIAR and the most CORRUPT President this great country has ever had in the White House period.
So, take that you RADICAL RIGHT WING WAR MONGERS…….

When the truth sinks in about the terrible things the Bush Adminisration
has done in the name of the war on terror it makes you sick.

Based on the majority of comments, I can only conclude that much of the public really (1) doesn't understand what it is to be an American citizen (i.e. have the right to air legitimate complaints about the power structure)
(2) condones torture
(3) doesn't deserve the freedoms inherent in #1

Actually, I suspect this is a skewed representation: probably, some FOX hate purveyors (O'Really? Shammity?) have issued their legions marching orders to discredit progressive intellectuals (same thing happens to Noam Chomsky, Bill Moyers, Al Gore, etc. any time they opine publicly). Go back to watching Fox "News", please.

Jimmy Carter has a conscience …
Dubya has none …
Clinton ignored the Islamic menace … or
Clinton wagged the dog … which is it?
Clinton tried to get Osama …
Dubya forgot Osama and hit Iraq …
Osama still in AFG/PAK … now Bush wants to attack Iran …
I'm a retired army Officer and am ashamed of what Bush, et al has done to this country.

Actually, neither Carter nor Bush43 could be considered the worst American president. That honor would go to James Buchanan, who did nothing about mounting tensions between the North and South and left it to his successor, Abraham Lincoln.

Bob wrote: "Oh my GOSH……If you just listened to his speeches you would think this Lil man was a member of Al Queda or some terrorist organization. I mean what is he trying to prove. Jimmy Carter knows he is the WORST PRESIDENT in America History and will not give it up. I mean this is the same guy that got pushed around by IRAN making Gas go up to astronomical prices, interest rates for homes were at 19%,the economy was horrible….etc I could go on…..This TRATIOR is out of his mind but more than that he is just giving propaganda to our enemy. Jimmy please either go away or join the forces you really want to…Al Queda"

Gas prices certainly haven't gone up under 6 years of Bush! We all know that Jimmy Carter secretly controlled OPEC.

I suppose the Federal Reserve (an independent, private, quasi-government institution) wasn't in charge of interest rates during the Carter administration. It was Carter's fault!

And Reagan certainly was a true patriot, not a "traitor" like Carter. While Carter was mounting a bold rescue effort to try to rescue our hostages, Reagan and GHW Bush were secretly negotiating (illegal) arms deals with the Iranians . . . on the condition that they not release the hostages until Reagan's inauguration.

Then they funded and trained Al Qaeda in Afganistan for 8 years.

Jimmy Carter, worst president in revisionist history. If you believe that, you have been either high or stupid for the last 6 years.

Former President Carter has the limited view of human nature that most Liberals had during the 20th century. He believes that human beings are formed in the image of God and that their true inner nature is God-like. He also believes that people only choose to be evil or destructive because their innate God-like nature has been deformed or suppressed by an unfortunate childhood, political oppression, racism, or brutal treatment. He also believes, like a good Liberal, that inside every man and woman is the God-given yearning to be a good human being. Give your enemy understanding, compassion, and support and he will transform himself - gradually - into a decent person.

What a fool Carter is! His own inner goodness and his deep faith doesn't allow him to realize that much of the human race is mean spirited, selfish, self-centered, and cruel by nature.

For example, Liberals like Carter never learned that, if you give a poor boy a government grant so he can afford to go to college and then make something of himself, that boy will vote against similar benefits for others as an adult.

But Carter is too old to learn anything new now. He will probably go on helping the poor, the unfortunate, the young, the female, and the aged until the idiot dies and goes to Heaven. Even there he will probably try to persuade God to let the rest of us into Heaven with him.

This makes me so very sad. My father fought on the front lines of WWII when the very survival of our nation was threatened but he and his colleagues did not stoop to torture. It breaks my heart that my country has fallen so low.Thanks to President Carter for the truth.

Lol all these people talking about the success or failure of Carter's presidency, like that has any bearing on anything, not to mention what he inherited from Nixon and Ford. You people are about as insightful as Bush, which would explain your knee jerk reaction. In case you forgot or didn't hear it on Limbaugh, Jimmy Carter was a successful businessman and commander of a nuclear submarine. Compare that to your genius who was called by Jesus to be president and couldn't even figure out how to be a cokehead properly ie not while in the cushiest most desirable job in the military during a war, ie a jet fighter pilot stationed in your home state in the National Guard while the unaddicted, unentitled, and otherwise not cowardly are dying by the 10's of 1000's overseas. Sheesh, your time is over republitards. Many of you will have lots of time to kiss W's backside when you're hanging out in hell together.

Wow…NOW can we start impeachment proceedings???

Bob in Seattle:
The Iran hostage story you describe is the Official story. The facts are that it was engineered so Carter would never see them released on his watch. It's called emasculation. You can thank the CIA for emasuclating Carter so that you version, the Official storey, can still be said to be true

Listen to all these right-wingers attack Jimmy Carter, just because he has the nerve to tell the truth. Bush is the first U.S president to trash the Geneva Conventions and authorize the torture of prisoners, and he doesn't even have the guts to take responsibility for what he is doing.

The truly chilling thing is the number of people who are responding that they support torture and who give justifications for why they think it is okay to torture. It makes me fear that our country is becoming fascist.

Torture is not acceptable under any circumstances. Aside from the fact that torturing people is immoral and illegal, it has been shown that people who are tortured do not necessarily provide truthful information. If they don't actually know anything, then they will say or agree to anything in order to stop the torture, resulting in wasted time and lost resources following dead-end leads.

Additionally, people who support torture seem to forget that government agencies in this country had sufficient information about the terrorists that planned 9/11 to have made arrests. That information was gathered using conventional investigation techniques–no torture was used. Europe has also had success uncovering terrorists using conventional techniques.

Hey Bob in Seattle, WA — What does your ENTIRE post have to do with the topic at hand? Answer: NOTHING.

Carter speaks the simple truth.

The only part that's sad is that these truths have to be said.

So Jimmy Carter was a bad president because 53 Americans were held hostage for 18 months and then returned home alive? How does that compare to this current president, on whose watch 3,000 Americans were killed in our largest city and our capital, and an entire city was destroyed? Hmmmm….

Say what you want about Carter and his presidency, but if we had listened to him and put on a sweater, turned down our thermostats, started conserving energy, and moved forward with his alternative energy initiatives (undone by Reagan), maybe we wouldn't be in this mess in the Middle East and be 30 years further in weaning ourselves off of oil. Just a thought.

The saddest part of this discussion is the fact that detractors of Mr. Carter's statements can only seem to respond through defamation and/or fabrication.
One comparison that keeps coming up is bringing up the 444 Days in Tehran where hundreds of students and embassy staffers were held hostage, and his (controversially) 'inept' handling of the situation. To contrast: Bush II has laid waste to two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) creating massive rates of civilian deaths and a global humanitarian crisis, held our armed forces hostage by sending them into a fabricated conflict with no clear goals and no definition of "victory", and held the citizens at home in our own Great Nation hostage since 2003 because anyone voicing concerns about the war plans was automatically a traitor and "un-American".
Carter was not one of the best presidents. That's nothing new. But while he had his serious fumbles in foreign policy, at least he didn't dismantle the Constitution and the system of governmental self-regulation known as 'checks and balances', choose to manufacture two major wars (one on fabricated pretenses), disenfranchise citizens of color, widen the vast gap between the earnings of the super-rich and the rest of us wage-earners, AND approve of torture. And that's just for starters!
Regarding the question of whether "enemy combatants" can be tortured… There are two legitimate channels for dealing with physical threats to our country. Military, and law enforcement. Both approaches require commitment to human rights, especially Habeus Corpus. So - if a captured fighter is not "worthy" of being designated as a prisoner of war, they should be treated within the framework of the police and criminal justice system. There is no exemption from upholding moral standards.
In my mind, those suggesting that torture is fine-and-dandy, an-eye-for an-eye and all that, are as unAmerican as they usually claim others to be. It is these torture-apologists, the New American Fascists, who are subverting the American Way of Justice For All and the Rule Of Law.

IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY before they completely destroy us.

I had to double check the date on comments here that claim Jimmy Carter was the worst president in history.

Yep, they said "October 10 2007″! Where have they been? No president has ever sent *everything*, comprehensively, into a tailspin since the previous presidency faster than G.W. Bush. In fact, no president has ever come close to such stunning reversal. I supposed it helped that Republicans have been in control of all 3 branches of government through this period.

Carter is objective, moral, honest, and intelligent–and passionate about it all. A combination Republicans cannot stand.

Anyone can make things appear like they're going great on a credit card like Reagan did. Tax cuts for the rich and record deficits have been his legacy ever since.

President Carter is not anti-semetic. He has been steeped in the Israel/Palestine conflict for years. He has a better grasp of whats really going on than most candidates (Rep and Dem) running. It's time the United States stopped drinking the "I'm such a victim" Israeli koo-aid and started dealing with our own problems. Israle and Palestine must come to grips with the reality of sharing (equally) a piece of real estate and stop making the world miserable because of ancient text. It's beyond ridiculous!

Posted By TJFRMLA : October 10, 2007 7:12 pm

Thank you for speaking the truth, President Carter.

The Bush administration is, without a doubt, the worst one the U.S. has ever had to endure.

Our unelected leader, Mr. Bush, behaves as if he were an emperor, unaccountable to anyone. His administration has violated numerous international laws and most of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Indeed, even eight hundred years of habeas corpus rights are trashed during his time in office.

Our nation's largest budget surplus in history has been plundered; we now have the nation's largest debt ever, with Bush at the helm.

And he apparently misled the American people into an unnecessary, illegal and immoral war, which has killed over a million Iraqis (mostly women and children) and almost 4000 Americans to date (with no end in sight).

Many of the cherished ideals that America once stood for (equality, charity, democracy, truth, justice, etc.) have been tossed aside like some quaint, old-fashioned, irrelevant notions.

Mr. Carter had his share of problems to deal with during his presidency, of course, as do all presidents. But at least he can say he dealt with them with intelligence and integrity.

And at least he didn't trash our American ideals (the Constitution, etc.) and our world standing as a leader in democracy while doing so.

We can't defeat terrorism by becoming terrorists ourselves. But sadly, under Bush's revised definitions and rules (or lack thereof), that is exactly what we have become.

Jimmy Carter is a brilliant humanitarian. He has more world knowledge in his little toe than Chimpy Bush will EVER aquire. He is a real American patriot. Those who disagree with his views have the right to but they do not have th right to trash this man. He's always been truthful, honest and noble in his hope for this country. Try even thinking that about George W. Bush and your head will EXPLODE! The man and his buddies are a bunch of THUGS AND LIARS who should be dragged from the Whitehouse in chains.

Well, of course, President Carter didn't really do a great job of President. That's my opinion. However,That being said, he was a much greater Presiden then Bush is today. Not only that, he is also a great American, which Bush is not. And I'm no longer a Republican because of just that.

attacking carter just proves your inability to focus on the issue. Bush and his cronies use TORTURE! america and everything