Carter Criticizes Guantanamo as Disgrace to the US

Carter: Guantanamo Detentions Disgraceful
Jimmy Carter Says Detention of Terror Suspects at Guantanamo Bay ‘Is a Disgrace to the U.S.’
By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD
The Associated Press

Jul. 30, 2005 - Former President Carter said Saturday the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States.

Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq as “unnecessary and unjust.”

“I think what’s going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.,” he told a news conference at the Baptist World Alliance’s centenary conference in Birmingham, England. “I wouldn’t say it’s the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.”

Carter said, however, that terrorist acts could not be justified, and that while Guantanamo “may be an aggravating factor … it’s not the basis of terrorism.”

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