“America as the No. 1 warmonger”: President Jimmy Carter talks to Salon about race, cable news, “slu

[DonViejo]

“America as the No. 1 warmonger”: President Jimmy Carter talks to Salon about race, cable news, “slut-shaming” and more

Exclusive: The former president on Democrats' white male problem, sexual assault on campus, Barack Obama and more

DAVID DALEY

Jimmy Carter’s new book, “A Call to Action,” is an urgent and bold addition to a library of some two dozen books he’s written in his post-presidency, as one of our finest global citizens. It’s subtitled “Women, Religion, Violence and Power,” and Carter is unafraid to tackle controversial topics: sexual assault on campus and the military; religious leaders of all faiths who use sacred texts to justify oppression; punitive prison sentences weighted against the poor and against racial minorities; American drone wars and endless military operations.

In a brief but wide-ranging conversation last week, we talked about many of those topics — but also the Republican war on women; criticism of President Obama which echoes critiques of his own administration; and about how his grandson, Jason, might reverse the tide of white Southern males toward the GOP. Asked why white males have embraced the Republicans, Carter, 89, was unequivocal. “It’s race,” he said. But on other topics, especially about Fox News and the Republican war on women, Carter’s answers were equally direct but more surprising. And wait until you hear his response about “slut-shaming.”

The interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

You write in “A Call to Action” that “there’s an inevitable chasm between the societal leaders who write and administer criminal laws and the people who fill the jails.” What role do you think race plays in the perpetuation of that chasm?

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http://www.salon.com/2014/04/10/america_as_the_no_1_warmonger_president_jimmy_carter_talks_to_salon_about_race_cable_news_slut_shaming_and_more/

[eridani]

1. The part about warmongering--

Jimmy Carter: "America As the No. 1 Warmonger"

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23058-jimmy-carter-qamerica-as-the-no-1-warmongerq


You very clearly call out the speed with which the United States jumps into military action. You write that, “more than any nation in the world, the U.S. has been involved in armed conflict and has used war as means of resolving disputes …”

That’s correct, and I list some of the wars. I listed 10 or 15 and I could have listed about 10 or 15 more.

We also rarely acknowledge the loss and suffering that our policies have caused around the world. You’re specifically critical of our drone wars, and of the innocent people we’ve killed as almost collateral damage. You’ve traveled to so many countries through the Carter Center: At home, we talk of American exceptionalism, of this duty to bring our great democracy to the rest of the world. Do we see ourselves accurately and understand our own history? And how does that square with how the rest of the world perceives us?

(laughs) No. The rest of the world, almost unanimously, looks at America as the No. 1 warmonger. That we revert to armed conflict almost at the drop of a hat — and quite often it’s not only desired by the leaders of our country, but it’s also supported by the people of America. We’ve also reverted back to a terrible degree of punishment of our people rather than the reinstitution of them back into life. And this means that we have 7.5 times as many people now in prison as when I left the governor’s mansion. We’re the only country that has the death penalty in NATO; we’re the only country in this hemisphere that has the death penalty, and this is another blight on our country as far as unwarranted, unnecessary and counterproductive violence are concerned.

John Kerry goes on “Meet the Press” after the Russian actions in Crimea and says, with a straight face, that “it’s the 21st century, you can’t just invade another country anymore.” And I think a lot of us said, “Well, wait a second. That sounds a lot like something we did in Iraq, you know, during the 21st century.”

Right. We did. We do it all the time. That’s Washington. Unfortunately. And we have for years.