Carter warns against war with Iran
Carter, a naval veteran who served as Democratic president from 1977 to 1981, said that while he is "not against conflict when necessary," the criteria for a just war are often not met.
War is only just when it is a "last resort" after "every other possible peaceful resolution" is exhausted, when all efforts are made to protect civilians, when the purpose of the conflict is to make the situation better, not worse, when society in general agrees it is just and when the level of violence is "proportional to the injury received," he said.
"That would obviously exclude our recent policy of pre-emptive war," Carter said in a keynote address.
The United States has been "almost constantly at war" in the past 60 years -- in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, El Salvador, Libya, Panama, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and many others.
"And now we are contemplating going to war again perhaps in Iran," said the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Most of those wars fail to meet the criteria for a just war and "some of them were completely unnecessary."
Carter said he wished the United States could be seen as a champion of peace, an environmental leader, and the world's most generous nation when it comes to feeding the hungry and opposing human rights abuses.
"That's not a hopeless dream," Carter said.
"Maybe for my generation, yes, maybe for my children's generation yes, but not for my grandchildren and students who are looking at Nobel laureates and saying what can I do to make this world more peaceful and make sure that all aspects of human rights prevail?"
Carter, who suffered from a perception of weakness that culminated in the botched 1980 operation to resolve the Iranian hostage crisis, is among 20 laureates gathered in Chicago for a world summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners.
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Mr Carter. But you are now a burnt fuel with no influence.
Apparently he has still not got over how the "rescue" effort he mounted to snatch the American Embassy personnel held hostage by Iran floundered in the desert and cost him the second term as a President! It must have obviously traumatized him deeply. India remembers the faux pas he committed on Ram Lila grounds when he visited Delhi. He instructed his Secretary of State to issue a sharp rebuke to India immediately on his return home. The public address system was on and his instructions were heard loud and clear by the people to be rebuked. The whole effect of that "rebuke" was lost before it was even issued. The interesting fact is that his mother served in a mission in India. Recently, he was in the news when he issued an impolitic statement against Israel, whereupon his staff at Carter Centre in Atlanta resigned en masse, leaving him alone to wander around its halls. A one-time president, self-opinionated pontiff who consistently talks down, self-appointed guardian of Democracy and human rights, he mistakes tactlessness and blunt speaking for honesty. No wonder he is considered a grand failure!
Do your worst, go ahead, catch Iran if you can.......
well said...........
Despite his old age, the man sometimes just lays bare the truth that we sometimes neglect to acknowledge.