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Ex-US
President Jimmy Carter Slams 'Arrogant'
US Foreign Policy
November
16, 2002 by Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON -- Former US president Jimmy Carter, this year's Nobel
Peace Prize winner, called on Friday for disarmament by the United
States, which has taken the lead in urging such countries as North
Korea and Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass destruction.
There
is a sense that the United States has become too arrogant, too
dominant, too self-centered, proud of our wealth, believing that
we deserve to be the richest and most powerful and influential
nation in the world.
Jimmy
Carter
"One
of the things that the United States government has not done is
to try to comply with and enforce international efforts targeted
to prohibit the arsenals of biological weapons that we ourselves
have," Carter said on CNN's Larry King Live program broadcast
late Friday.
He
also called for more stringent efforts by Washington "to
reduce and enforce the agreement to eliminate chemical weapons,
and the same way with nuclear weapons."
"The
major powers need to set an example," Carter said, as the
United States confronts Iraq over its possession of such banned
weapons.
"Quite
often the big countries that are responsible for the peace of
the world set a very poor example for those who might hunger for
the esteem or the power or the threats that they can develop from
nuclear weapons themselves," the former US president continued.
"I
don't have any doubt that it's that kind of atmosphere that has
led to the nuclearization, you might say, of India and Pakistan,"
he said.
Carter,
who will receive the Nobel prize on December 10 in Oslo, Norway
for his efforts in seeking negotiated settlements to head off
violent conflict, also noted that the United States gives only
one one-thousandth of its gross national product for international
assistance, while the average European country gives four times
as much.
"For
every time an American gives a dollar, a citizen of Norway gives
17 dollars," he said.
"Foreign
aid in this country has a bad name, but in other countries, it's
a right thing for the government to do. And that's where we at
the Carter Center quite often have to turn," the former president
said, referring to the Atlanta-based Carter Center he founded
some 20 years ago, and which now operates humanitarian projects
in 65 countries.
Carter
also said the United States has given many nations around the
world cause for resentment and scorn.
"There
is a sense that the United States has become too arrogant, too
dominant, too self-centered, proud of our wealth, believing that
we deserve to be the richest and most powerful and influential
nation in the world," the 78-year-old former president said.
"I
think they feel that we don't really care about them, which is
quite often true."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1116-01.htm
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