[WCUSP] Fwd: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter

[yvonne simmons]

--- Lloyd Marbet <cnsrvncy at cascadeaccess.com> wrote:

> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:52:11 -0800
> From: Lloyd Marbet <cnsrvncy at cascadeaccess.com>
> To: undisclosed-recipients:;
> Subject: The Sanity of Jimmy Carter
> 

---------------------------------
Jimmy Carter has become a man for all seasons with the
publishing ofhis book "Palestine, Peace Not
Apartheid."  It is worthy ofbeing read.

Respectfully,
Lloyd K. Marbet

  The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel
and the Middle East only when the Israeligovernment is
willing to comply with international law, with
theRoadmap for Peace, with official American policy,
with the wishes of amajority of its own citizens---and
honor its own previouscommitments---by accepting its
legal borders.  All Arab neighbors mustpledge to honor
Israel's right to live in peace under theseconditions.
 The United States is squandering international
prestigeand goodwill and intensifying global and
American terrorism byunofficially condoning or
abetting the Israeli confiscation andcolonization of
Palestinian territories.
    
It will be tragedy---for the Israelis, the
Palestinians, and theworld---if peace is rejected and
a system of oppression, apartheid, andsustained
violence is permitted to prevail.
    
Jimmy Carter, "Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid"
    
        
    
    http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0227-27.htm
  
                  Published on Tuesday, February 27,
2007 by The Nation  
                          The Sanity of Jimmy Carter  
   
                          by Katrina vanden Heuvel
                                         
In an interviewwith This Week, anchor George
Stephanopoulos on Sunday, formerPresident Jimmy Carter
said that his recent book Palestine PeaceNot
Apartheidhas led to the most personal criticism of his
life. Carter said that hehas been called a "liar,"
"anti-Semite," "plagiarist," "thief,""coward"--and yet
the 82-year-old remains as focused, passionate
andarticulate as ever on his reasons for writing the
book and what hehopes it will accomplish.      
      
      "If I have hadoneburning desire in my heart and
mind for the last thirty years, I wouldput peace for
Israel at the top of the list," Carter said.
"Andcommensurate with that has to be justice and human
rights for thePalestinians next door." (To readers who
would still question Carter'scommitment to Israel,
read the article in TheNationby former national
Director of the American Jewish Congress,
HenrySiegman). Carter hopes his book will precipitate
an open debate on theIsrael-Palestine conflict and
renew the abandoned peace process-certainly, as both
Carter and Stephanopoulos noted, it has
alreadyaccomplished the former.      
      
      In Carter'sopinion,the need for this vigorous
public debate is all the more crucial sincehe doesn't
believe the Democratic Congress will take any more of
abalanced approach to peace than its Republican
predecessor. Aside from"maybe two or three members"
Carter believes that our representativesview any
position critical of the current conservative
Israeligovernment as "politically suicidal." 
      
      The samehumanity which leads Carter to speak
outfearlessly about the Middle East has led him to
address "diseases thatno one else really cares about
much, or knows about"--like Guinea Worm(now on the
verge of becoming the first disease eradicated in
overtwenty-five years largely throughthe work of the
Carter Center)--thatimpact "the poorest, most
destitute, forgotten and needy people onEarth." He
stated plainly that the United States needs to
increase ourforeign aid--"We're at the bottom of all
the developed countries ingiving to other people"--and
he's right, as a percentage of GDP we areshamefully
stingy. 
      
Finally,Carter gets the importanceof global warmingas
a defining issue of our time--which is a significant
reason why hewould support formerly elected by popular
vote/Oscar winner, PresidentAl Gore in 2008. "I've put
so much pressure on Al to run that he'salmost gotten
aggravated with me," Carter said, laughing. "He
said,'Jimmy, I'll support you. Don't call.' But he
would be my favorite."      
      
      At a time whenthereis too little honesty or
boldness in our politics, Jimmy Carter speakshis mind,
with sanity and humanity. His ideas deserve discussion
anddebate, not vituperation and ad hominem attack. 
      
 Copyright &copy; 2007 The Nation
            




 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com