- ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Bush
administration has not convinced Americans or Europeans that a military
attack on Iraq is necessary, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter said
on Friday.
- "Our government has not made a case for a pre-emptive
military strike against Iraq, either at home or in Europe," the Democratic
former president said in a statement.
- "It is sobering to realize how much doubt and consternation
has been raised about our motives for war in the absence of convincing
proof of a genuine threat from Iraq."
- Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, also said
it would be "suicidal" for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to
threaten any of his neighbors at a time when the United States was deploying
its military forces in the Gulf in preparation for a possible war against
Iraq.
- The Bush administration has threatened to use military
action to remove Saddam if he does not comply with United Nations efforts
to ensure he has no weapons of mass destruction.
U.N. weapons inspectors, who returned to Iraq last November after a four-year
hiatus, are scheduled to present a progress report on Iraq's compliance
with U.N. resolutions on Feb. 14.
- Carter said the United States and the world would be
better off if the White House supported the strengthening of the inspection
process in Iraq.
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