SPOKESMAN BOOKS
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Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
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Catalogue
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THE BERTRAND RUSSELL PEACE FOUNDATION
DOSSIER
2007
Number 25
PRESIDENT CARTER
– ‘ABOMINABLE’ BLAIR
On
19 May, James Naughtie interviewed former US President Jimmy Carter on Radio
4’s Today programme. These excerpts are taken from the interview.
BBC:
How do you judge these days Mr Blair’s support for Mr Bush?
Carter:
Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient. And I think that the almost
undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President
Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world.
BBC:
This is an interesting question because the implication behind what you say is
that if Mr Blair at some point, say in the year in the run up to war, had
taken a step back, had moved away from Mr Bush, it would’ve made an
important difference inside the United States. Is that what you believe?
Carter:
I believe so. I can’t say it would have made the definitive difference. But
it would certainly have assuaged the problems that have arose lately. And so
one of the defences of the Bush administration, in the American public and on
a worldwide basis (it hasn’t been successful in my opinion) has been that we
must be more correct in our actions than the world thinks because Great
Britain is backing us. And so I think the combination of Bush and Blair giving
their support to this tragedy in Iraq has strengthened the effort and has made
opposition less effective and has prolonged the war and increased the tragedy
that has resulted.
BBC:
You sound quite sad as you say that.
Carter:
Yes I am sad about it because the war was unjustified, unnecessary and has
wrought a tragedy on the Iraqi people, on the American people, on some of the
British people, and has caused deep chasms on a global basis.
BBC:
How important is it that the new Prime Minister, and we’ll have one by the
end of next month in this country as you know, whose support of the war, who
always supported it, who paid for it as Chancellor of the Exchequer, changes
policy. Is that what you hope will happen?
Carter:
I would hope that that combination of less enthusiasm from Great Britain would
be a factor and the rising animosity toward the war within the American public
and within the United States Congress — those factors together, I hope, will
expedite the exodus of the occupying forces primarily of the United States and
Great Britain.
BBC:
One of the interesting things that’s happened in your country, as you know,
in the last quarter of a century is that a kind of religious fervour has
entered into politics. Now, some people probably forget that when you came
into politics as President in the mid-seventies you were a man of conviction
and of faith from the south and that was controversial in its time. And yet
you now find yourself arguing against those who say that faith is essential to
politics. It’s an odd position for you to be in, isn’t it?
Carter:
No I don’t think so. It was clear that I was a religious person, still am.
But I was very meticulous in
completely separating my religious faith from any element of politics of
governance in the White House. I believed in what Thomas Jefferson, one of our
founding fathers, said that we should build a wall between church and state
and I adhere to that premise.
BBC:
It’s a wall that has been chipped away at in your country, hasn’t it?
Carter:
It has been in the last six years in particular. Yes.
BBC:
Do you want to see that change?
Carter:
Yes, I do and I hope it will be. I believe it will be. The current trends and
public opinion polls and the results of the election last year, I think, have
shown that the political influence of the fundamentalist religious believers
on the one side in the White House and in Congress is dissipating.
BBC:
I think you once said that you worshipped a Prince of Peace not a Prince of
something else.
Carter:
Not a Prince of Pre-emptive war. Yes.
BBC:
Look back finally, President Carter, over the last 30 years, during which you
have been performing functions from the very highest in your country, to that
of an ex-president wielding all the influence that you can. Are you still an
optimist, or are you sad that we are where we are?
Carter:
No, I am still an optimist. I think in most ways we’ve reached the death of
international approbation of friendship toward our country. I think the only
change that is going to be likely in the future is to improve that situation.
The situation in the Middle East couldn’t get much worse unless an all out
war erupts. I believe that future changes will be beneficial and I think that
it is inevitable that within the next few months, or certainly less than a few
years, we’ll see an exodus of the occupying forces from Iraq. So these kinds
of things I believe are almost inevitably going to improve the global
situation that we now suffer. So, I am optimistic about that. And I don’t
give up hope on the premise that the Middle East peace process is still
viable, and if we can capitalise on future opportunities, I believe that we
can have success.
