Wednesday, 8 March 2023 — The Dissenter

Former President Jimmy Carter, who had won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, shakes hands with President George W. Bush (Bush Archives)

March 8, 2003: In an op-ed for the New York Times, former President Jimmy Carter opposes going to war in Iraq.

“As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards,” Carter declares. “This is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology.”

“[W]ith our own national security not directly threatened and despite the overwhelming opposition of most people and governments in the world, the United States seems determined to carry out military and diplomatic action that is almost unprecedented in the history of civilized nations.”

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