Dick Cheney in Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter
On Homeland Security:
Don't prohibit US military forces from degrading detainees
Republican senators have proposed legislation that would prohibit the US military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of detainees, or from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross, and would set uniform standards for
interrogating anyone detained by the Defense Department. These powerful Republican senators have quoted comments from 15 top-ranking military officers: "The abuse of prisoners hurts America's cause in the war on terror, endangers US service members who
might be captured by the enemy, and is anathema to the values Americans have held dear for generations."Representing the Bush administration, Vice President Cheney has made strenuous efforts to block the legislation, and the White House has warned
that the $442 billion defense bill would be vetoed, claiming that it "would restrict the president's authority to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attacks and bring terrorists to justice."
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.131-132
Sep 26, 2006
On War & Peace:
OpEd: Chose Iraq as first target & permanent military base
Some neocons now dominate the highest councils of government, seem determined to exert American dominance throughout the world, and approve or preemptive war as an acceptable avenue to reach this imperialistic goal.
8 years before he became vice president, Richard Cheney spelled out this premise in his "Defense Strategy for the 1990s."
Either before or soon after 9/11, he and his close associates chose Iraq as the 1st major target, apparently to remove a threat to Israel and to have Iraq serve as our permanent military, economic, and political base in the Middle East.
This dependence on military force to expand America's influence and other recent deviations from traditional values have dramatically reduced the attractiveness of our political, cultural, and religious offerings to the world.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.100
Sep 26, 2006
On War & Peace:
OpEd: repeatedly made false statements to incite Iraq War
It became apparent soon after the presidential election in 2000 that some of our new political leaders were determined to attack Iraq. With false and distorted claims after 9/11, they misled the US Congress and the American public into believing that
Saddam Hussein had somehow been responsible for the dastardly attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, and that Iraq was developing WMDs and posed a direct threat to the security of America.Although the deceptiveness of these statements was
later revealed, the die was cast, and most of our trusting citizens were supportive of the war. Exaggerated claims of catastrophe from nonexistent weapons of mass destruction kept the fears alive, with Cheney repeatedly making false statement, such
as, "Instead of losing thousands of lives, we might lose hundreds of thousands of lives in a single day of war."
There is little wonder that, at least for a few months, fearful American citizens and members of Congress supported the unnecessary war.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.150-151
Sep 26, 2006
Page last updated: Aug 09, 2015