Jimmy Carter, America's 39 th president, denounced the Obama
administration for "clearly violating" 10 of the 30 articles of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing in a New York Times op-ed on Monday that the "United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights."
"Instead of making the world safer, America's violation of international
human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends," Carter
wrote.
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While the total number of attacks from unmanned aircraft, or drones, and
the resulting casualties are murky, the New America Foundation
estimates that in Pakistan alone 265 drone strikes have been executed
since January 2009 . Those strikes have killed at least 1,488 people, at
least 1,343 of them considered militants, the foundation estimates based on news reports and other sources.
In addition to the drone strikes, Carter criticized the current
president for keeping the Guantanamo Bay detention center open, where
prisoners "have been tortured by waterboarding more than 100 times or
intimidated with semiautomatic weapons, power drills or threats to
sexually assault their mothers."
The former president blasted the government for allowing "unprecedented
violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless wiretapping and
government mining of our electronic communications."
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He also condemned recent legislation that gives the president the power
to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely, although a federal judge
blocked the law from taking effect for any suspects not affiliated with
the September 11 terrorist attacks.
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"This law violates the right to freedom of expression and to be presumed
innocent until proved guilty, two other rights enshrined in the
declaration," Carter said.
While Carter never mentioned Obama by name, he called out "our
government" and "the highest authorities in Washington," and urged
"concerned citizens" to "persuade Washington to reverse course and
regain moral leadership."
I wish Carter would STF and go away
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