Jimmy Carter Shouts Down Security In Sudan
Former U.S. President Angered After Being Blocked From Meeting With Ethnic African Refugees
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Photo
The local Sudanese security chief, who only gave his first name as Omar, blocks former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, left, from meeting representatives of ethnic African refugees in Kabkabiya town in Darfur, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007. The visit by "The Elders," which is headed by Carter and Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu, is largely a symbolic move by a host of respected figures to push all sides to make peace in Darfur. (AP Photo/ Alfred de Montesquiou)
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The 83-year-old Carter walked into this highly volatile pro-Sudanese government town to meet refugees too frightened to attend a scheduled meeting at a nearby compound.
Carter was able to make it to a school where he met with one tribal representative and was preparing to go further into the town when Sudanese security services interrupted.
"You can't go. It's not on the program!" the local national security chief, who only gave his first name as Omar, yelled at Carter, who is in Darfur as part of a delegation of respected international figures known as "The Elders."
"We're going to anyway!" an angry Carter retorted. "You don't have the power to stop me."
U.N. officials told Carter's entourage that the Sudanese state police could bar his way. "Let's go, or somebody is going to get shot," said one U.N. official, as an increasingly tense crowd gathered. Billionaire businessman Richard Branson and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, tried to ease Carter's frustration as his U.S. secret service security urged him to climb into a car and leave.
"I'll tell President Bashir about this," Carter said, referring to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Carter later agreed to a compromise by which tribal representatives would be brought to him at another location later Wednesday. But the refugee delegates never showed up.
Most ethnic Africans appeared too frightened to speak in Kabkabiya, a North Darfur town that has long been a stronghold of the pro-government janjaweed militia.
Branson, who along with Machel was traveling with Carter, said some refugees had slipped notes in his pockets. "We (are) still suffering from the war as our girls are being raped on a daily basis," read one of the notes, translated from Arabic, that Branson handed to The Associated Press.
The note said that on Sept. 26, a group of girls had been raped, and a refugee had also been shot two days ago. Branson said it had been handed over by an ethnic African man.
The Darfur conflict began when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of neglect. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads - a charge it denies. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven out of their homes in four years of violence.
The visit by "The Elders," which is headed by Nobel Peace laureates Carter and Desmond Tutu, is largely a symbolic move by a host of respected figures to push all sides to make peace in Darfur.
"We are here in Sudan because we want to listen to the voices of those who have not been heard and want to explore ways that we can lend our own voices to peace," said Tutu, in the Elders' arrival statement for the mission to Sudan.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 126 CommentsWhen little king Georgie gets out of office, I don''t expect to hear about him trying to do anything to make the world a better place. Rather, I expect him to retire to his hideout in south america and drink himself to death.
NO, Iran was EMBOLDENED by Ronald Reagan who PAID THE TERRORISTS to let our people go, but they weren''t allowed to let them go until AFTER Carter was out of office! If you think for a moment that they were just "so afraid" of Cowboy Ron that they let them go, then you REALLY are the perfect sucker for the Repugnant Ones'' Imaginary Fables of Greatness.
Posted by mbcsmith at 09:41 AM : Oct 03, 2007
Actual Iran was EMBOLDENED many years earlier by Eisenhower and the CIA with Operation Ajax. That is how the Shah of Iran got his dictatorial start.
Then military, 4/24/1980, Operation Eagle Claw failed resulting in the deaths of five USAF Airmen and three U.S. Marines.
Carter doesn''t have to sneak around (in the US or out of the US) like AWOL Bush !!
Africa is just one stupid continent.
The pyramids are nice.
Posted by robertkjjj at 10:15 AM : Oct 03, 2007
Wrong - check out link !!
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/8176927
If Carter is worst then he''s going to have to allow our current President take that position. If it weren''t for a strong stock market Bush would be picking weeds in Crawford. At least Carter has the brains to raise a cash crop.
It''s really cheap to criticize and whatever the past he should be praised for this effort and particularly in standing up to killers.
As for sending aid to Africa, not another dime! they have all the AK47''s they need thank you.
NO, YOU ID-IOT! REAGAN MADE A DEAL WITH THE TERRORISTS: ARMS FOR HOSTAGES! And we, the disUnited States of Fools, put that mo-ron in office, and YOU, Repugnant (GOP) lovers, think Reagan was "good" and Carter was "weak"? And today, your imaginary hero is "the Decider"?
Repugs live in a sick fantasy world of Cowboys vs. Indians, "good" vs. "evil", where they IMAGINE themselves to be "the few, the proud" and the "brave" heroes. In fact, they are the sick, twisted, delusional, amoral fools who can only succeed in one thing: destroying themselves and everyone and everything around them.
You liberals are such immense hypocrites it''s stunning... really, you''re ALL about getting the US ''involved'' in Darfur - because... well, that''s the flavor of the month on the liberal calendar right??? And Hollywood''s saying it''s ok so.... But getting involved in Iraq where we not only had a brutal dictator in Saddam, but ALSO have significant national interest by way of infusing the Middle East w/ a Democratic future in lieu of horrific terror attacks on our soil... but that''s a travesty... Let''s face it.... for liberals, it''s got absolutely NOTHING to do with any mission or goal, and everything to do with who''s running the show... My God, do you liberals ever just get tired of your own bullsh*t?
HA! THAT''S A LAUGH. Search for "worst president" and you''ll get many, many more hits that return George W. Bush, unarguably the WORST president in the history of this once-great-but-now-impoverished nation.
I will NEVER vote for a Republican AGAIN.
As for Afganistan, bushy let the REAL threat get away by refocusing the main effort elsewhere. Idiocy and incompentence. You voted them in, so take some responsibility for the inane missions and goals of swill.
"Him" being Dwight Eisenhower.
Eisenhower''s CIA overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, and helped the brutal Shah into power. His motive: a favor for his British friends, whose oil profits were being threatened by nationalization.
This led to the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, the overthrow of the Shah and the rise of Muslim extremist rule in Iran.
Thanks a lot, Ike. Thanks a lot.
Again... absolutely amazing - liberals will criticize Bush for attacking Iraq because they were not a direct threat to us - and yet.... and I can hardly contain myself here... yet they manage to also criticize Bush for not getting involved in Darfur just because they''re not a direct threat to us... oh man, this is too rich - and so drippingly liberal. Honestly, I WISH Clinton were in office post 9/11 because according to his very own words, he would have definitely invaded Iraq - came very close when he WAS in office (read up on it liberals)... and seeing as liberals only care that it''s THEIR guy calling the shots rather than what shots are actually being called (although they''ll rant from the mountaintops such is not the case) - we''d have gotten liberal support AND most of the conservative support as well... As it is, we''ve got these traitorous liberals siding with Al Queda just to defeat a common foe in George Bush...
- Posted by dogsoul at 11:19 AM : Oct 03, 2007
Please supply a reference. A link.
It''s not that I don''t believe you, dogbreath. I just want to read it for myself.
Those are Ted Koppel''s very words, not Bill Clinton''s.
I didn''t think Bill Clinton himself ever said that, or the Right would have been quoting those words day and night around here.
Source:
"KOPPEL: I mean, the only difference between the Clinton administration and the Bush administration was 9/11.
BROKAW: Right.
KOPPEL: If 9/11 had happened on Bill Clinton''s watch, he would have gone into Iraq.
BROKAW: Yeah. Yeah."
http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=1&num=2366
They lie like rugs.
Maybe not this time, however.
"[Bill] Clinton defends successor''s push for war
Says Bush ''couldn''t responsibly ignore'' chance Iraq had WMDs"
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/
[Same source]
Jimmy Carter, while not a perfect president, was far from the worse! For that dubious honor, just look at the current occupant of the White House!
Jimmy Carter has done lots of good since he left the white house, not least of which is his involvement with Habitat for Humanity, which is building over 100 homes in New Orleans. He has also promoted democracy by participating as an election monitor in many parts of the world.
If the book you are referring to is the one by Stephen Hayward, he is as full of C-Rap as you are!
Jimmy Carter, while not a perfect president, was far from the worse! For that dubious honor, just look at the current occupant of the White House!
Jimmy Carter has done lots of good since he left the white house, not least of which is his involvement with Habitat for Humanity, which is building over 100 homes in New Orleans. He has also promoted democracy by participating as an election monitor in many parts of the world.
If the book you are referring to is the one by Stephen Hayward, he is as full of C-Rap as you are!
Retire from public life and join Billy - ASAP.
You talk a good game about standing up to Muslim extremists but Carter was actually doing it and you demean him for it.
Are you an apologist for the murderous Jihadist regime in Khartoum?
While you quiver in fear behind your keyboard this 83 year old man is traveling into the lion''s den and standing up unarmed to lunatics with AK-47s.
What have you done in the war on terror other than cast aspersions?
reuters
Billy Boy has repeatedly made such references... baaasically saying that yeah... post 9/11 he''d have gone in - with juuuuuust enough wiggle room to escape out if need be - after all, he IS Billy Boy. Make no mistake though, Clinton would have gone in too - and during his own administration, made many many many references to Saddam''s WMD''s & such - you can easily find those if you look....
Oh really??? Care to read up on Carter''s relationships with Palestinian terrorists???
Okay, so taking out a brutal dictator with a history of constructing, acquiring, and even using WMDs who had previously invaded our ally Kuwait & committed all sorts of atrocities AND constantly created problems for the United States - and whose country is strategically located in the heart of the Middle East where establishing a Democracy might well change the long term face of that region in an opposite direction from what feeds our terror sowing enemies that attacked us on 9/11.... THAT''S not worth it - THAT''s not winable...
but Darfur IS both worth it AND winable
No.... I GET what you''re saying - I just see it for what it is...
He should be at home, tending his library, not running around making things worse in the world.
Amen to THAT! Carter has also gone on record saying that America should not have fought the War of Independence against England - and perhaps WWI & WWII as well... although I''d have to check on that - he''s a pacifist, mostly because he''s at the end of his years and is a mega religious guy so he''s worried about getting into heaven, regardless of where that may leave the rest of us still stuck on earth.... like most liberals, he''s mostly concerned about ''looking'' the part than what may or may not actually work... What''s funny is that given his religious convictions, you''d THINK liberals would HATE him - but you see, it''s only religious republicans that liberals hate - and then it''s only the Christians, because they not dare saying anything against Islam after all... that would be bigoted - even though it''s open season on Christianity most any day of the week.... again, the hypocrisy of liberalism knows no bounds...
Posted by realpatriot1 at 12:04 PM : Oct 03, 2007
An excellent point. Though, do you really think anything would have happened to him?
Posted by likeitis5050 at 12:53 PM : Oct 03, 2007
Like they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
I think they had people like Jimmy Carter in mind when they came up with that saying.
Just ask the the families of innocent Israelis who have had loved ones killed by Palestinian terrorists over the last 60 years. Jimmy Carter is has worked diligently for 30 years to give Palestinian terrorist entities like Hamas the rights and the means to kill Israeli citizens with impunity.
Jimmy Carter is not a diplomat - he''s a madman.
About 125,000 Jews left Iraq for Israel in the late 1940s and into 1952, most because they had been lied to and put into a panic by what I came to learn were Zionist bombs.
Bacteriological Warfare
The Haganah put typhus bacteria into the water going to Acre, the people got sick, and the Jewish forces occupied Acre. This worked so well that they sent a Haganah division dressed as Arabs into Gaza, where there were Egyptian forces, and the Egyptians caught them putting two cans of bacteria, typhus and dysentery, into the water supply in wanton disregard of the civilian population.
Posted by mbcsmith
And where were Reagan''s balls when he hightailed it out of Lebanon like a little school girl and then, along with Michael the Traitor Ledeen, sold Iran weapons. That sure was standing up to them.
David Ben Gurion, Israel''s first prime minister, told a Zionist Conference in 1937 that any proposed Jewish state would have to "transfer Arab populations out of the area, if possible of their own free will, if not by coercion."[8] After 750,000 Palestinians were uprooted and their lands confiscated in 1948-49, Ben Gurion had to look to the Islamic countries for Jews who could fill the resultant cheap labor market. "Emissaries" were smuggled into these countries to "convince" Jews to leave either by trickery or fear.
In 1954 several terrorist bombs were set off at the United States Information Agency offices in Cairo and Alexandria. An attempt .. failed when the bomb went off in the pocket of one of the perpetrators. That led to the discovery that the terrorists were Israeli spies bent on souring the warming relationship between Egypt and the United States...
Bush 43 is no doubt the worst President in American History -
---- He waged an unnecssary war in Iraq on the same ideaology & agenda Hitler waged his war --- On a presumed terrorist threat in order to provide the opertunity to change the world,,
,, Now he veto''s Children''s health care for 4,000,000 Amareican Children.
They should take away the walking cane from the old arrogant ****!
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