Sunday, January 07, 2007
Jimmy Carter and the business of quoting dictators
I read The New York Times book review this morning -- it's a servioe I provide -- and stopped to ponder the opening paragraphs from Ethan Bronner's review of Jimmy Carter's new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid (the title of which, by the way, is curiously missing important punctuation):
This is a strange little book about the Arab-Israeli conflict from a major public figure. It is premised on the notion that Americans too often get only one side of the story, one uncritically sympathetic to Israel, so someone with authority and knowledge needs to offer a fuller picture. Fine idea. The problem is that in this book Jimmy Carter does not do so. Instead, he simply offers a narrative that is largely unsympathetic to Israel. Israeli bad faith fills the pages. Hollow statements by Israel’s enemies are presented without comment. Broader regional developments go largely unexamined. In other words, whether or not Carter is right that most Americans have a distorted view of the conflict, his contribution is to offer a distortion of his own.
Yasir Arafat is portrayed as someone who disavowed terrorism. Hafez al-Assad, who was president of Syria until 2000 when he died and his son took over, is quoted for an entire section, offering harsh impressions of Israel, including the opinion that it “initiated the 1967 war in order to take even more Arab land.” Carter does not contradict him.
This is of a piece with the growing tendency of the left and its bag carriers to quote Arab dictators -- or use their podium -- in support of moral arguments against American policy. Arab dictators, whether fascist or royal, are less qualified to make a moral argument against the United States or even Israel than just about anybody on the planet, and citing them authoritatively is precisely identical to quoting Main Kampf or some medieval pope on the depredations of the Jews. This practice is depraved, and must be called out and denounced every time it happens.
Now, this is not to say that the opinions of disgusting but powerful foreigners are not relevant in the formulation of American policy. One might say "Syria's president Assad is outraged at America's support for Israel, and while that speaks volumes for the morality of America's policy, we need Assad and failing to cater to him will hurt other of our geopolitical interests." I'm fairly sure I don't agree with that statement, but it seems to me defendable at some level. Syria can hurt us and our interests, so a responsible leader should consider all reasonable alternatives for reducing the chances that it will, including policies that are, shall we say, cynical.
It is quite another thing, however, to quote an Arab dictator in support of a moral argument against Israel's conduct, or American support for Israel in light of that conduct. Even if the argument stands on its own merit, it speaks volumes for Jimmy Carter's obscene morality that he thinks that the argument's credibility is enhanced, rather than diminished, because Hafez al-Assad, one of the most brutal dictators in a very brutal part of the world, embraced it. One is forced to wonder whether Jimmy Carter is deeply cynical or lacking any moral compass. It is hard to imagine a third explanation. Either way, he promotes the idea that Assad is a credible moral thinker because he thinks it will resonate with his gooey left audience. Undoubtedly, he is right.
8 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Sun Jan 07, 01:25:00 PM:
Many Arabs--especially Egyptians--have adored Jimmy Carter for many years. I began to notice the attitude during my trips to Egypt after the death of Sadat. In Egypt's case, the attitude has its roots in the enormous amount of U.S. foreign aid to Egypt since the 1978 Camp David Accords and 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Those annual subsidies continue to this day.
Obviously, Carter has spent too much time with members of his Arab fan club since his departure from political office.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sun Jan 07, 01:33:00 PM:
It is hard to imagine a third explanation.
Insanity.
By Gary Rosen, at
Sun Jan 07, 04:44:00 PM:
"One is forced to wonder whether Jimmy Carter is deeply cynical or lacking any moral compass. It is hard to imagine a third explanation."
How about plain old antisemitism? Several years ago I saw Carter on TV being interviewed by Bill Moyers, and he made mocking, sarcastic references to Jews as the "Chosen People". I couldn't believe that a former POTUS - who I foolishly voted for *twice* - could be spewing out bigoted venom that sounded as though it came from David Duke. I suppose it goes back at least to his loss to Reagan in 1980 which Carter and his flunkies blame on the Joooos, even though the typical "Reagan Democrat" was a blue-collar Catholic. And of course the primary blame for his loss belongs to neither Jews nor Catholics, but to Carter himself.
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Sun Jan 07, 10:01:00 PM:
Gary, I suspect it goes even farther back than that. Carter's own book recounts his conversation with Golda Meir about his Sunday School lessons that God punishes Israel for being secular. Applying that lesson to modern Israel can still be found on the fringes of fundamentalist Christianity today, but was more common forty years ago among the Southern Baptists. Because God did punish Israel for apostasy in the OT, it became convenient for anti-semites to cover their butts this way. That was decades ago, but exactly what Carter grew up with.
By Escort81, at
Mon Jan 08, 01:36:00 AM:
Carter's current international politics are even more remarkable when one puts it the context of the fact that he faced a primary challenge in 1980 from the left wing of his own party in the person of Ted Kennedy. He has gone from not being sufficiently doctrinaire 37 years ago to sitting next to Michael Moore 3 years ago. He travels further and further off the reservation every year -- if he lives another 5 years, he will catch up to Ramsey Clark. He would do well to continue to work with Habitat and otherwise keep his policy recommendations to himself (or allow them to be given posthumously a la Ford).
By 
, at
Mon Jan 08, 09:59:00 PM:
Proves why JIMMY CARTER is till a idiot and dumber then a turkey his brain must be walnut sized
By , at
Thu Jan 11, 02:20:00 PM:
From Carter's book:
"It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel."
In other words, Carter believes that the tactic of suicide bombing and other terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians are legitimate.
By Freedom Fighter, at
Thu Jan 11, 05:15:00 PM:
Here's your explanation for Carter's behavior..m-o-n-e-y:
J O S H U A P U N D I T: Ex-president and Jew hater for sale - Jimmy Carter's dirty little secret
