I think you are too kind to Carter. He was a deeply inexperienced and unlearned figure when it came to the major issues of the day. But he thought continued to think and until the day thought stopped for him kept thinking that he knew everything. Who was the anonymous figure in his White House who said "by 8 AM he has made 25 decisions. All wrong." Daniel Patrick Moynahan flat out said that Carter has taken the side of our enemies. I don't give him zero credit for facilitating the peace between Israel and Egypt but he deserves little and certainly less than you give him. First he insanely tried to get the USSR INVOLVED in the discussions. This led to Sadat separating from both superpowers and approaching Israel on his own. This together with Israel's basic willingness to trade the Sinai for a peace treaty is what led to the treaty. In fact Carter spent the whole time at Camp David trying to bully Begin into agreeing to give Yasser Arafat a terror state in the territory taken after the 6 Day War. He failed because Sadat couldn't have cared less about the Palestinians.
Of course everything you say about his singular responsibility for the rise of the Mullah regime is correct. But rather than learn from his errors (of which he admitted none) he spent his post presidency embracing jihadists and terrorists, smearing Israel and his own country, overseeing phony elections and turning into an actual conspiracy minded anti-semite.
Oh and he built houses. What an execrable person. To quote Winston Churchill (speaking of Stanley Baldwin) "It would have been better for his country had he never lived." The world too.
Best article I have read concerning Carter’s legacy.
Thank you.
I think you are too kind to Carter. He was a deeply inexperienced and unlearned figure when it came to the major issues of the day. But he thought continued to think and until the day thought stopped for him kept thinking that he knew everything. Who was the anonymous figure in his White House who said "by 8 AM he has made 25 decisions. All wrong." Daniel Patrick Moynahan flat out said that Carter has taken the side of our enemies. I don't give him zero credit for facilitating the peace between Israel and Egypt but he deserves little and certainly less than you give him. First he insanely tried to get the USSR INVOLVED in the discussions. This led to Sadat separating from both superpowers and approaching Israel on his own. This together with Israel's basic willingness to trade the Sinai for a peace treaty is what led to the treaty. In fact Carter spent the whole time at Camp David trying to bully Begin into agreeing to give Yasser Arafat a terror state in the territory taken after the 6 Day War. He failed because Sadat couldn't have cared less about the Palestinians.
Of course everything you say about his singular responsibility for the rise of the Mullah regime is correct. But rather than learn from his errors (of which he admitted none) he spent his post presidency embracing jihadists and terrorists, smearing Israel and his own country, overseeing phony elections and turning into an actual conspiracy minded anti-semite.
Oh and he built houses. What an execrable person. To quote Winston Churchill (speaking of Stanley Baldwin) "It would have been better for his country had he never lived." The world too.