Carter ready to meet Hezbollah

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said he is ready to meet with Hezbollah officials if they agree to see him.

Carter made his comments upon arrival in Lebanon on Tuesday where he will assess whether his Atlanta-based Carter Centre would take part in monitoring next year's parliamentary elections.


Asked whether he would meet with Hezbollah officials during his five-day visit, Carter told reporters that it was up to the group, which the United States considers a "terrorist" organisation.

"I am going to meet with all of the political parties as possible," Carter said. "I understand that several leaders of Hezbollah said they were not going to meet with any president or former president of the United States, so I don't know yet."


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/2008129191842501955.html

That's interesting. Though if any acitve or former US diplomat was going to meet with them it'd be Carter.

[Hiero]

Got to admire Carter. He very idealistic and really wants people to work out differences.

[JazzRemington]

What could Carter do, even?

[Guerrilla22]

This proposed meeting would be meaningless given that Carter is a completely irrelevent political figure, actually he was a completely irrelevent political figure back when he was President.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

What could Carter do, even?

Nothing, other than being an American of prestige meeting with what the US govt classifies as a terrorist organization.

[Dean]

Carter is one of the few presidents who appears to be a genuinely good, forward-looking person. I have immense respect for him based on a number of the issues.

[danyboy27]

Carter is one of the few presidents who appears to be a genuinely good, forward-looking person. I have immense respect for him based on a number of the issues.


this is an historic moment :lol:

still, its gonna take a lot of diplomacy to erase the fact that hezbollah drowned a us agent in beirut with a plastic tube and a big bottle of water.
they put the tube in his throat, and just filled the guy with 3 liter of water, took it on tape and send a copy to langley.

but whgo know? shrtly after ww2 germany helped israel and it was far more worst than that.

[Plagueround]

Carter is one of the few presidents who appears to be a genuinely good, forward-looking person. I have immense respect for him based on a number of the issues.

His big shortcoming was the same lack of respect for other countries that American politicians have in general, but I've always respected many of his views as well.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

still, its gonna take a lot of diplomacy to erase the fact that hezbollah drowned a us agent in beirut with a plastic tube and a big bottle of water.
they put the tube in his throat, and just filled the guy with 3 liter of water, took it on tape and send a copy to langley.

Ever see what some Marines can do to people?

I don't think it would be that big of a deal, not nearly as impeding as continued attacks on Israel, and vice-versa.

The US govt has recognized lots of folks who just happened to kill a couple of agents (I assume you mean a CIA clandestine agent, I hadn't heard about this). It's understood that some of them are going to be lost. An agents life ain't worth shit to the people they're working for.

Now, if Hezbullah ripped a young American couple out of their hotel bed and proceeded with the full-beheading, and sent it live over the internet, it'd be a different story.



Carter is one of the few presidents who appears to be a genuinely good, forward-looking person. I have immense respect for him based on a number of the issues.


I have huge respect for his post-presidency work, and his work as Georgia's governor. But a lot of people see him as a push-over because of the Iran deal.

[Plagueround]

I have huge respect for his post-presidency work, and his work as Georgia's governor. But a lot of people see him as a push-over because of the Iran deal.

The funny thing about that is their release was attributed to Reagan, but Carter was the one who secured it, so much in fact that Reagan sent him to Germany to greet the hostages once they had been released. I was more talking about his participation in the original Afghanistan war.

I think the biggest problem people had with Carter was that he made the mistake of telling the American people that perhaps our lifestyle is not sustainable and comes at too great of a cost for the rest of the world. America didn't want to hear they might benefit from occasionally wearing a sweater instead of cranking the heat up. ;)

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

The funny thing about that is their release was attributed to Reagan, but Carter was the one who secured it, so much in fact that Reagan sent him to Germany to greet the hostages once they had been released. I was more talking about his participation in the original Afghanistan war.

Yeah, while most Presidents get to spend their last moments in office sucking it all up, he was frantically working to secure their release. I've heard a rumor that Iran purposefully held the hostages until Reagan took office so that it wasn't atributed to Carter, but I know of no source backing that up.

As for Afghanistan, I agree, but if there is one defense I can offer to him it's that he may have honesly believed that he was helping the people of Afghanistan.

It should be noted that Carter's Sec of Def (i think) who engineered the movement of guns to Afghanistan is now an important member of Obama's foreign policy team. His name is very Polish, Zbigeniw Bryzinski, and I promise I misspelled it.


I think the biggest problem people had with Carter was that he made the mistake of telling the American people that perhaps our lifestyle is not sustainable and comes at too great of a cost for the rest of the world. America didn't want to hear they might benefit from occasionally wearing a sweater instead of cranking the heat up. ;)

The biggest complaint I hear against him is that he was "weak," though your assessment would explain why the next president felt it was his right to rake up trillions in debt for gobs of cruise missiles.

I hate to sound brutal, but while we're on the subject, Reagan really makes me wonder why we should pay social security and medicare to the baby-boomers. I'm for both of those things (in fact, I think they should be expanded greatly), but I would appreciate it if everyone who voted for Reagan would sign a statement like this in order to get their benefits:

-I voted for a President who plundered the Social Security Trust in order to buy weapons, because I thought this was more important than the programs I now need to survive.
-I voted for a President who took a dump on seniors benefits while I was young.
-I am partially responsible for the trillions of dollars of debt young people now have to pay for.
-I realize that it is only by the grace and mercy of the young who are working today that my ass isn't going to get thrown out into the cold.

Of course, it'll never happen. Reagan is the "Greatest American" :rolleyes:

What a load of bullshit.

[scarletghoul]

Carter is my favourite president, he's pretty cool and not evil.

Brzezinski was his biggest problem

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Carter is my favourite president, he's pretty cool and not evil.

What I like about him is the frantic pace at which he works. Just last week he was getting locked out of Zimbabwe for trying o bring in aid for the epidemic.

Also, I'll tell you now if Obama is able to make a deal with Assad, Carter will get none of the respect he deserves on that front.


Brzezinski was his biggest problem

That's it.