Carter Urges New U.S. Role
Former President Carter tells a "town meeting" at Snowbird's Cliff Lodge on Thursday that the United States should intensify its peace efforts in the Middle East and focus on aiding poorer nations.
BY DAWN HOUSE and PAUL ROLLY THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
SNOWBIRD -- Former President Carter, speaking in Utah on Thursday night, said that the great animosity toward the United States overseas is the result of America abandoning peace efforts in the Middle East. He also noted that, while the United States provides weapons to the rest of the planet, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the nation's gross national product -- the least amount of any developed nation -- goes to giving assistance to the world's poor. Carter, 78, was appearing at a private "town meeting" with 300 donors and friends to raise money for the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which promotes peace, democracy and world health. He was accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn. After a presentation about the work of the center, Carter opened the room to questions, but his starstruck audience mostly avoided the issue of war with Iraq, and he did not mention it directly. One man did want to know if Carter, as reported in Britain's Daily Mirror, had signed a petition opposing going to war. Carter said the story was not true, that reporters had come to his Sunday school while he was there, but he told them he did not give interviews in church. Since Feb. 6, when Secretary of State Colin Powell brought the U.S. case against Saddam Hussein to the U.N. Security Council, Carter has refused numerous other requests seeking comment. In his most recent statement about Iraq, issued Jan. 31, he said "any belligerent move by Saddam against a neighbor would be suicidal" with the country under intense monitoring from satellite surveillance and the U.N. inspection team. "If Iraq does possess concealed weapons, as is quite likely," Carter had said, "Saddam would use them only in the most extreme circumstances, in the face of an invasion of Iraq, when all hope of avoiding the destruction of his regime is lost." Carter did not comment Thursday on Powell's recent address, but he did have great praise for the secretary of state. "Colin Powell is caught in difficult circumstances," Carter said. "I'm glad he's there." Carter also said he hoped President Bush and future administrations would want to take advantage of his expertise and the resources of the Carter Center. He said he consulted past presidents during his own administration, but that Bush had not contacted him in the past two years -- until last week. "I had written op-ed pieces somewhat critical" of the Bush administration, Carter said, implying that is what prompted the call. He didn't elaborate. On Saturday at Snowbird, a fund-raising auction will be held for the not-for-profit, nongovernmental Carter Center, which the Carters founded in 1982. Among items to be auctioned is a coffee table handcrafted by the former, one-term president. The auction is closed, but the public may view items and enter bids by visiting www.cartercenter.org. The Carters will be in Utah through Sunday. The Carter Center's peace initiatives in the past year included Carter's trip to Cuba, efforts to promote dialogue in Venezuela and missions to oversee elections in Sierra Leone, Mali and Jamaica. The center also has ongoing projects to eradicate diseases in Africa and Latin America. Carter became the third president to win the Nobel Peace Prize, when he was honored in October for his efforts in negotiating solutions to conflicts worldwide. President Theodore Roosevelt got his for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and President Wilson for his role in the 1919 Versailles Conference after World War I. While in the White House, Carter helped secure the 1978 Camp David accords for peace between Israel and Egypt. Since his defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter has promoted human rights and most recently, criticized U.S. leaders' "preeminent obsession" with Iraq while not pressing for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or pressuring North Korea to stop developing nuclear bombs.