politics

Carter Pleas for Peace, Bloggers Step Up Attack

The former president issues an op-ed plea to "Stop the Band-Aid Treatment," which bloggers receive with characteristic restraint and maturity.
August 2, 2006

With the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon now three weeks old, former President Jimmy Carter stepped into the breach yesterday with a plea to “Stop the Band-Aid Treatment” — and bloggers received his Washington Post op-ed with characteristic restraint and maturity.

“The Middle East is a tinderbox, with some key players on all sides waiting for every opportunity to destroy their enemies with bullets, bombs and missiles. One of the special vulnerabilities of Israel, and a repetitive cause of violence, is the holding of prisoners. Militant Palestinians and Lebanese know that a captured Israeli soldier or civilian is either a cause of conflict or a valuable bargaining chip for prisoner exchange,” Carter wrote. “The urgent need in Lebanon is that Israeli attacks stop, the nation’s regular military forces control the southern region, Hezbollah cease as a separate fighting force, and future attacks against Israel be prevented. Israel should withdraw from all Lebanese territory, including Shebaa Farms, and release the Lebanese prisoners.”

Acknowledging that “These are ambitious hopes,” Carter said “the current conflict is part of the inevitably repetitive cycle of violence that results from the absence of a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East, exacerbated by the almost unprecedented six-year absence of any real effort to achieve such a goal” — one of a few jabs he took along the way at the current administration in Washington.

Immediately, the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner was vilified in the ‘sphere, as bloggers gave him such creative monikers as Dhimmi Carter, Jemma Carter, Peanutbrain and Jimmeh Peanuthead.

“Continuing its policy of giving voice to heinous politicians who ought to be put out to pasture, this morning’s Washington Post features an article by former President Dhimmi Carter, who argues that Israel should be carrying out ‘peaceful prisoner exchanges’ with Hamas and Hezbollah rather than trying to disarm them and in Hezbollah’s case push them north of the Litani River,” wrote Carl at Israel Matzav, adding that giving terrorists away “in ‘exchanges’ of the type advocated by Carter just leads to more kidnappings.”

“Say what you will about former President Jimmy Carter, the man is precise and thorough. When he wanted to publish a series of stereotypical anti-Israel myths about the current war against Hamas and Hezbollah, he made sure to include virtually every annoying catchphrase and incoherent argument that has circulated through the anti-Israel media in the last few weeks,” wrote Omri Ceren at Israpundit. Saying that “This is the man who lost Iran to Islamofascism,” Ceren went on to give a paragraph-by-paragraph rebuttal of Carter’s piece.

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Focusing on the Carter statement that “It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response” (bringing, said Carter, a broad rally in support for those groups and intensified condemnation of Israel and the U.S.), Cassandra at Villainous Company posted this:

Incroyable. Witness the searing and majestical logic of our former President:

1. Israel “unarguably” has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks.

2. Unless, of course, those attacks are made by terrorists who use civilians as human shields, in which case,

3. Israel loses the right to defend itself from attacks, and furthermore

4. Will be accused of “punishing” civilians should it try to take out enemy command and control sites.

Other bloggers piled on, with many seizing on Carter’s failures as a president. “I have a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter as a great humanitarian,” wrote Shadowscope, “but he was a terrible president, and he still doesn’t have a clue about politics, particularly politics in the Middle East.”

Still, Carter had some defenders, such as Where’s the Outrage?, who said he “continues to be a thoughtful leader,” and StealthBadger.net, who argued that “the man didn’t get re-elected because, economically and diplomatically, he did the right, honorable, and unpopular things. He sure as hell gets the Middle East better than anyone in office now.”

“I have seen a lot of vitriol directed at former President Jimmy Carter on various blogs today,” noted centerblue.org, saying “The hatred seemed to focus mostly on his perceived ineffectiveness as a leader.”

“What people seem to forget is that, had we listened to Carter, we would not be where we are today. He was right all along,” the blogger wrote. “How was he right? One word: energy.”

Edward B. Colby was a writer at CJR Daily.