President Carter - He Gave Peace a Chance

[AlfredJPruffock]

Extracr from interview with former US President Jimmy Carter




What he's most proud of, though, is that he didn't fire a single shot. Didn't kill a single person. Didn't lead his country into a war – legal or illegal.

"We kept our country at peace. We never went to war. We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. But still we achieved our international goals. We brought peace to other people, including Egypt and Israel. We normalised relations with China, which had been non-existent for 30-something years. We brought peace between US and most of the countries in Latin America because of the Panama Canal Treaty. We formed a working relationship with the Soviet Union."

It's the simple fact of not going to war that, given what came next, should be recognised. "In the last 50 years now, more than that," he says, "that's almost a unique achievement." He was bitterly opposed to both Iraq wars.


"Iraq was just a terrible mistake. I thought so in Iraq 1, and I was against it in Iraq 2."

And it's not just George W Bush who has blood on his hands, he says, but Tony Blair too: "I don't know what went on in private meetings when Tony Blair agreed to it. But had Bush not gotten that tacit support from Blair, I don't know if the course of history might have been different."


Its a very intersting aritlce/interview-read all about it here Jimmy Carter: 'We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war' | World news | The Observer

[VectraMan]

Did Ronnie Reagan ever go to war? I can't think of any.

[Clippy]

Did Ronnie Reagan ever go to war? I can't think of any.

By proxy - Afghanistan.

[AlfredJPruffock]

There was the debacle of Granada invasion-but he did go to War with the Soviets- by winin g the Cold War with an Arms Race withoout firing a shot-altough this led to strategic errors such as the creation of Al Queada in Afganistan and arming of the afoeementioned - its a mistake that the US policy makers would not make again -until Libya.

Also the backing of various represive Governments in Lain America was not his proudest moment.

[AtW]

If he had balls he'd not turn helicopters back and have backup team to deal with embassy crisis, decisive action back then would have removed Iran as a threat now, possibly Iraq too.

[AtW]

Did Ronnie Reagan ever go to war? I can't think of any.

Star Wars - technological war that broke back of Soviet Union.

[AlfredJPruffock]

If he had balls he'd not turn helicopters back and have backup team to deal with embassy crisis, decisive action back then would have removed Iran as a threat now, possibly Iraq too.

From the interview - this might interest you - to think of what might have haapened had he ordered that one extra chopper ...

But if I'd had one more helicopter we could have brought back our hostages, and I would have been looked upon as a much more successful president."


What could the US do?

How could it save the hostages? It was a question that President Carter wrestled with for 444 long days.

It paralysed the presidency. Carter refused to campaign for re-election, refused to light the White House Christmas tree, refused to bomb Tehran.

Rosalynn has been quoted as saying that, had her husband bombed Tehran, he would have been re-elected. I put this to Carter.

"That's probably true. A lot of people thought that. But it would probably have resulted in the death of maybe tens of thousands of Iranians who were innocent, and in the deaths of the hostages as well. In retrospect I don't have any doubt that I did the right thing. But it was not a popular thing among the public, and it was not even popular among my own advisers inside the White House. Including my wife."

Really?

"Well, she thought I ought to be more willing to use military power."

Instead, he launched Operation Eagle Claw and, in a terrible confluence of extreme circumstances involving a sandstorm in the desert and a helicopter crash, eight US servicemen were killed. And no hostages were rescued. It was a humiliating failure. A failure his political career never recovered from.

Nicholas Schmidle, in his New Yorker account of the covert Seals mission that killed Osama bin Laden in May this year, notes that: "Deploying four Chinooks was a last-minute decision made after President Barack Obama said he wanted to feel assured that the Americans could 'fight their way out of Pakistan'." In the event they weren't needed (although the prime helicopter did crash in Bin Laden's compound and had to be abandoned), but the source of his anxiety is easy to guess. If there is one thing President Carter wishes he'd done differently, it would be sending "one more helicopter".

"We had to have six, to bring back the hostages.

We planned on seven.

At the last minute I ordered eight.

And, incredibly, three of them were decommissioned. One turned back to the aircraft carrier. One went down in a sandstorm in the desert, and the other had a hydraulic leak and crashed. Complete surprise to all of us, particularly to the military experts. We lost three out of eight helicopters. So then we had to withdraw. But if I'd had one more helicopter we could have brought back our hostages, and I would have been looked upon as a much more successful president."

Does that haunt you?

"Not really. I feel quite at ease with what we were able to do while I was president and what we've done since then."

[AtW]

Should have sent 16 then or if necessary defend in embassy until main forces arrive.

HTH

[TiroFijo]

Star Wars - technological war that broke back of Soviet Union.

He got his hands very dirty in central America.

[DodgyAgent]

Extracr from interview with former US President Jimmy Carter




What he's most proud of, though, is that he didn't fire a single shot. Didn't kill a single person. Didn't lead his country into a war – legal or illegal.

"We kept our country at peace. We never went to war. We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. But still we achieved our international goals. We brought peace to other people, including Egypt and Israel. We normalised relations with China, which had been non-existent for 30-something years. We brought peace between US and most of the countries in Latin America because of the Panama Canal Treaty. We formed a working relationship with the Soviet Union."

It's the simple fact of not going to war that, given what came next, should be recognised. "In the last 50 years now, more than that," he says, "that's almost a unique achievement." He was bitterly opposed to both Iraq wars.


"Iraq was just a terrible mistake. I thought so in Iraq 1, and I was against it in Iraq 2."

And it's not just George W Bush who has blood on his hands, he says, but Tony Blair too: "I don't know what went on in private meetings when Tony Blair agreed to it. But had Bush not gotten that tacit support from Blair, I don't know if the course of history might have been different."


Its a very intersting aritlce/interview-read all about it here Jimmy Carter: 'We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war' | World news | The Observer

I suggest you stick to poetry and leave the rest of us to bomb Iran