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Noble Prize Winner Carter Opposes Unilateral U.S. Attack on Iraq

Carter would have voted against authorizing Bush to attack Iraq

PLAINS, Georgia, October 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter spoke out against unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq, saying any move must be made through the United Nations.

"I would have voted 'no'," he told CNN Thursday, October 10, when asked about congressional resolutions authorizing President George W. Bush to order "necessary and appropriate" force against Iraq if the United Nations fails to disarm Iraq.

"I think there is no way that we can avoid the obligation to work through the United Nations Security Council, to wait until we get that condemnation of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein, to force him through the United Nations to comply completely with inspections of an unlimited nature and to make sure we destroy all his weapons of mass destruction and his ability to produce nuclear weapons in the future," Carter said.

"But I think it ought to be done through the United Nations not unilaterally," said Carter.

He welcomed, however, what he said was the Bush administration's switch of focus away from unilateral action and toward U.N.-sponsored measures.

Noble Committee Chief

"The administration has come a long way in the last few weeks," he said.

"It's very significant that President Bush's statement the other night ... calls for dealing with the United Nations, calls for inspections as a primary priority, and acting with other countries," Carter said.

He said this contrasted with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent statements in support of a unilateral U.S. military intervention in Iraq.

Carter urged the U.S. administration to seek every possible alternative to war against Iraq.

"People everywhere share the same dream of a caring community that prevents war and oppression," he said in an acceptance statement issued by his Carter Center, based in Atlanta, Georgia, which has worked to promote human rights and resolve conflicts across the world.

Nobel Committee Chairman Gunnar Berge said Friday, October 11, that awarding this year peace prize to Carter "can and must be interpreted as a criticism of the position of the administration currently sitting in the U.S. towards Iraq."

It was also a signal "to all the other countries which have adopted the same position" as the U.S., the Agence France-Press (AFP) quoted Berge as telling reporters in Osla Friday.

The chairman's comments were made just hours after U.S. Congress gave President George W. Bush the authority to strike unilaterally against Iraq.

White House spokesman Ari Fleisher declined to comment on Berge's statement, but said Bush congratulated Carter during a two-minute telephone conversation.

Carter, who started out as a peanut farmer in Georgia and is the third U.S. president to win the Peace Prize, said he was grateful and honored" to receive the prestigious prize and renewed his calls for mediation to resolve international conflicts.

In May 2002 he became the most prominent American to visit Fidel Castro in Cuba. His trip, which centered on talks on human rights and U.S sanctions, was frowned upon by the Bush administration.

He has also served as an observer at elections all over the world.