Carter Says U.S. Tortures Prisoners

[Hei Hu Quan]

Although what Carter has to say about Israel and the US using torture is absolutely valid and grand. The fact that Jonestown, and US military intervention in El Salvador and Nicaragua went down during his watch makes him look hypocritical. Especially his statement

"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,"

. That's complete shit stated for the woefully ignorant. Let me be clear, I do support what he's saying, I just wonder what his angle is. I trust him as far as I can toss a 500 stone gorilla, I seem to remember that it wasn't that long ago that he was chumming it up with G.H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, like the 3 horseman of the apocalypse[/color]

Link: Carter Says U.S. Tortures Prisoners

Story:
Carter Says U.S. Tortures Prisoners

    * Story Highlights
    * President Bush makes up his own definition of human rights, ex-president says
    * U.S. has said "Geneva Conventions do not apply," former President Carter says
    * GOP presidential candidates in rush to go to war with Iran, Carter says
    * Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama criticized for refusing to set Iraq pullout date

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.

"I don't think it. I know it," Carter told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."

Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.

Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques." These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures," according to the Times.

The White House last week confirmed the existence of the documents but would not make them public.

Responding to the newspaper report Friday, Bush defended the techniques used, saying, "This government does not torture people."

Asked about Bush's comments, Carter said, "That's not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored -- certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don't violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate them." VideoWatch Blitzer's interview with the former president