Carter versus Bush

[babylonsister]

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=46628

Carter versus Bush

I must respond to the vicious attack on former president and Nobel Prize recipient Jimmy Carter (“Carter ‘a national disgrace,’ ” letter, May 30).

The captain accused Carter of giving aid to the terrorists because Carter said that President Bush was one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. In my opinion, Carter was right, and since Carter was the third-worst president (my opinion), he would know.

When Carter was commander in chief, he mishandled the U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis in Iran. Our armed forces were also demoralized by the failed rescue attempt. With Bush as commander in chief, our Air Force was humiliated and demoralized by a bunch of amateur pilots on Sept. 11, 2001. Our nation suffered its worst defeat since Pearl Harbor; however, unlike Pearl Harbor, the person they say was responsible for the attack is still alive and free five years later.

With Bush as commander in chief, the North Koreans have exploded a nuke, the Iranians are about to get one, and the Russians want to start the Cold War all over again. Did I mention Iraq?

As for Carter giving aid to the terrorists, his action doesn’t even come close. The captain should check out Bush’s decision to remove sanctions on Libya; that decision has allowed the oil industry to put millions of dollars in the pockets of the terrorist dictator Moammar Gadhafi. That murdering terrorist ordered the killing of nearly 190 Americans. With the aid of Bush and Tony Blair, the terrorist Gadhafi is getting paid.

I ask all Americans to check out the polls and you’ll see that the majority of the Republican presidential candidates feel the same as we liberals about the Bush administration.

James Carrethers
Kaiserslautern, Germany

[Colobo]

1. Both were very mediocre presidents, but Bush is evil and Carter was a good man

That's where the difference lies, I think.

[babylonsister]

2. I enjoy reading the letters on the military sites; some of them are

quite revealing, and I'm glad they're being printed.

[still_one]

4. It was exemplified when Carter recently critisized the bush administration

The criticism was right on, but within 24 hours he issued an apology

For what, speaking the truth about this administration?

[Octafish]

18. Carter is a patriot. Poppy is a traitor.

After Carter dismissed him as DCI, Poppy used his old-boys CIA nutwork buddies to sabotage almost everything Carter did.

That includes Operation EAGLE CLAW to rescue the 53 hostages. Richard Secord of Iran-Contra treason fame was one of those involved.

BCCI, The Safari Club and Riggs Bank fit in around here. Those off-the-books operations funded their schemes, secret of course, for national security reasons. Financing terror, drug running and money laundering might also ring a bell for investigators.

Later on, during the 1980 campaign, William Casey, who would himself soon become DCI, and veep candidate Poppy made sure the Ayatollah kept his word and the hostages until Ronnie Reagan was inaugurated.

Then came John Hinckley, Scott Hinckley and Neil Bush. Then came the S&Ls and Silverado Savings and Loan, along with a lot of other loot...

[BootinUp]

3. I'm interested to know

why people think Carter mishandled the hostage crisis.

[still_one]

5. Days before the hostages were taken, Carter was warned to close the embasy

he didn't

Whether it was his assessment of TMI or boycotting the Olympics Carter was mediocre at best

He did helped facilitate the Israelli/Peace talks, and deserves recognition for that, but it was Saddat and Rabin who made it possible

when you have the bush administration that telling Israel NOT to engage in talks with Syria, you have a disconnect that didn't exist with Carter, which is why when he critisized bush, it was extremely disappointing that within 24 hours he appologized

[BootinUp]

6. On the Olympics

I agree. On Three Mile Island I don't think it was Carters job to assess the danger, yes he was a nuclear engineer in the Navy, but his job as President was to prevent hysteria that could caused problems (injuries from traffic accidents of people fleeing). I think he did the right thing there. If he suppressed information then that is different but I have never heard that charge leveled against him. Its been awhile since I read up on it though.

[still_one]

11. You might be right about TMI, I just had a different impression

The embargo of the Russian wheat was also a terrible way to run foreign policy in my view

You persuade countries by example and dialog, not by threats, especially since Russia was able to buy wheat from other countries, and it only hurt OUR farmers

I am not a big fan of Carter, but he is so much more superior to bush and company

[Hippo_Tron]

16. He was absolutely right about energy policy

When Reagan came into office, he cut most of the funding for alternative energy research and said that the free market would deal with it. Well we've been trying his let the free market deal with it solution for over 25 years and it hasn't worked too well. Personally I think we'd be a hell of a lot better off if we'd re-elected Carter in 1980 and gotten serious about alternative energy then instead of now.

[Lisa]

7. and I didn't realize that the American armed forces were so fragile ...

... that one operation would cause widespread demoralization across the entire military? I too would like to see it spelled out, how someone who was supposedly as "inept" as Carter, could have threatened an organization which portrays itself as the very definition of robust.

I suppose that if Carter had been so foolhardy as to send a large number of unprepared troops on a mission that failed and got a lot of people captured or killed, that might count. But these were supposed to be elite forces who had trained for such a mission. And surely Carter didn't order them in, over the objections of the commanding officers and the troops themselves? (The hawks can't have it both ways, if they claim that some of the participating forces had misgivings then and should have been heeded, while ignoring any doubts today's troops might have about the Iraq mission.)

And if Carter had refused to use any military force at all during the hostage crisis, would the same folks who are complaining about him now have branded him a coward?

[babylonsister]

9. Wasn't it Carter who sent a (secret) team in to free the hostages, and the

helo crashed?

[BootinUp]

10. True

Navy Seals I believe. Personally, I don't fault him for taking the risk, assuming his military commanders supported it.

[still_one]

12. Cyrus Vance, secretary of state, sure didn't support it, and resigned because of it

[BootinUp]

17. Well, its not the kind of decision

that you would probably see 100% agreement on. And not surprising after reading about him either.

The other point you mention about warnings to close the embassy, I have not found a source for that...there are stories about how the Carter admin was taken by surprise, and that they had been given reassurances from Iranian officials that the Embassy was protected...bla bla bla.

[flaminbats]

8. not one of the Iranian hostages died..

God bless Jimmy Carter, he puts human life above winning votes!

when Carter left office, the total national debt was less than a fourth of just what Bush and his father added to it! Democrats like Jimmy think that paying interest on the national debt is the worst way to waste the taxpayers money. Republicans think bonds are the best form of government spending, and that winning votes or bombing Muslims is worth more than any single human life. yet they consider themselves.."prolife and Democrats to be ammoral" :crazy:

[still_one]

13. The hostage crisis should have NEVER happened. He was told to get our people out

This didn't happen without warning, this happened because Carter didn't listen to his advisors or intelligence

Incidently, the Navy Seals died in an attempt to rescue them, also against the advice of his advisors

[Hippo_Tron]

15. According to Guests of the Ayatollah

When his advisors told him to allow the Shah to come to the US for medical treatment, Carter asked them "What if they take the embassy?" His advisors didn't reply.

Seems to me Carter's mistake was listening to his advisors.

[Hippo_Tron]

14. Wait, wasn't it Reagan who gave weapons to the Iranians?

Oh yea, that's right he couldn't remember.