First Published 2009-06-03
‘He’s made a decision with which I really can’t contend’
Former US President says most of Obama’s supporters hoped he would be open in reveling US past actions.
NEW YORK – Former US President Jimmy Carter said that he disagrees with President Obama’s decision to block the release of hundreds of photos of torture committed at US prisons overseas., Democracy Now! reported Tuesday.
“Most of his supporters were hoping that he would be much more open in the revelation of what we’ve done in the past,” Carter told CNN.
“But he’s made a decision with which I really can’t contend, that he doesn’t want to resurrect the past, he doesn’t want to punish those who are guilty of perpetrating what I consider crimes against our own laws and against our own Constitution,” he added.
But Carter said he is not criticising Obama.
“The revelation of those pictures might very well inflame further animosity against our country, causing some harm to our soldiers. So I don’t agree with him, but I certainly don’t criticize him for making that decision,” he said.
Carter also addressed the possible prosecution of Bush administration officials.
“I think prosecuting is too strong a word, what I would like to see is a complete examination of what did happen, the identification of any perpetrators of crimes against our own laws or against international law, and then, after all that’s done, decide whether or not there should be any prosecutions,” he said.
“But the revelation of what did happen, I think, is what I would support,” he added.
General Sanchez calls for truth commission
Meanwhile, the former top coalition commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, has called for a truth commission to investigate abusive interrogation practices.
“If we do not find out what happened then we are doomed to repeat it,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez was in command of Iraq when the infamous abuses occurred at Abu Ghraib. In 2006, a German attorney filed a war crimes suit against Sanchez and other high-ranking officials.
Cheney: death or Guantanamo
Former Vice President Dick Cheney defended the military prison at Guantanamo, saying the US needs a place to hold suspected terrorists.
Cheney said the only alternative the Bush administration had to creating Guantanamo was to kill terror suspects.
“If you’re going to be engaged in a world conflict, such as we are, in terms of global war on terrorism, you know, if you don’t have a place where you can hold these people, your only other option is to kill them. And we don’t operate that way,” he said.
Tags: Dick Cheney, former US President Jimmy Carter, photos of torture, President Obama, truth commission, US prisons overseas
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