President Carter: White House ‘Ordered’ Me To Not Go To Syria

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/05/carter-syria/

President Carter: White House ‘Ordered’ Me To Not Go To Syria

Recently, the White House has launched partisan attacks against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for taking a trip to Syria, while refusing to criticize similar Republican delegations.

Yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter revealed that he was barred from visiting Syria last year when he was abroad monitoring the Palestinian elections: “I have known President Bashar al-Assad since he was a college student, and I thought it might be helpful if I went and urged him to support the peace process in the Middle East. But for the only time in my life as a former president, I was ordered by the White House not to go.” Watch it at link:

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, also praised Pelosi’s trip, stating, “It’s long overdue, as a matter of fact.” He added, “When there is a crisis, the best way to help resolve the crisis is to deal with the people who are instrumental in the problem.”

Transcript:

QUESTION: Speaker Pelosi’s visit with President Assad today, her expressing concerns about Hamas, Hezbollah, her expressing concerns about foreign fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria, her relaying of a message from Israel to Syria about the desire to open peace talks — do you believe she’s being, essentially, a more effective emissary to the Middle East than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice?

CARTER: Well, I wouldn’t want to compare the two women, no. But I was very pleased when I learned that the speaker would go to Syria. It’s long overdue, as a matter of fact. And I wrote, as I wrote in a book that I published that was published last year, I was scheduled to go to Syria on the same trip as to monitor one of the Palestinian elections because I have known President Bashar al-Assad since he was a college student, and I thought it might be helpful if I went and urged him to support the peace process in the Middle East.

But for the only time in my life as a former president, I was ordered by the White House not to go.

CARTER: I know that earlier, other members of Congress have gone, both Democrats and Republicans. And I was glad that she went.

But it’s very good to have the United States reach out to Syria, to see if they won’t be more accommodating because we still have to resolve the question of the Golan Heights. And I think that Syria can be quite helpful in assuaging the negative tendencies of Hamas. And certainly they have some influence that could be beneficial in Hezbollah. So, yes, I’m glad she went.

QUESTION: To clarify, you were asked by the White House not to go on this particular trip?

CARTER: No, when I was going to go there as part of my monitoring an earlier Palestinian election.

[AshevilleGuy]

1. What were they going to do? Invalidate his passport?

I'm surprised that Pres Carter didn't tell them to go fuck themselves. In a seemingly polite way, of course.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Another Democrat takes the High Road

It may be frustrating now, but the "accomplishments" of Team Bush and decades of Conservatism are going to evaporate like beer on a frat house floor.

Bush is turning himself into the most hated man in American politics in history.

--p!

[scarletwoman]

3. So why didn't he speak up when he was first "ordered" not to go?

Why did he wait so long to say so?

I like and respect Carter, and I defend him regularily. But I am really getting fed up with the charade that has been kept up since 2000 by the Political Ruling Class that bush and his crew of demon-possessed maniacs are in the least bit part of a "normal" American system.

I mean, gawdalmighty, hasn't it been obvious from the start that installing an entire coterie of recycled felons and almost-felons from Watergate and Iran-Contra just might NOT be such a great idea?

Anyone helping these guys keep their secrets, anyone helping these guys to look normal, is not defending our Republic.

sw

[AshevilleGuy]

5. Yes. He should have made a huge stink out of it!! n/t

[Gman]

4. He should have gone anyway, why the hell not?

He's a damn former president. Nobody, especially a president who Carter is old enough to be his dad, can tell Carter where he can go and who he can talk to. No doubt they told Pelosi the same thing. I'm sure her reply was a polite, "I'll take it under advisement."