I’m no fan of Jimmy Carter but …
… I also think the allegations of him having a cozy relationship with Osama Bin Laden via contributions made to the Carter Center from Bakr Bin Laden on behalf of the Saudi Bin Laden Group are way off the mark.
I’m inclined to agree with Captain Ed, who writes:
In truth, Bakr bin Laden and the rest of the bin Ladens have had little or no contact with their terrorist-leader relative, and the BLG in many ways represents everything that Osama opposes. Two years ago, Newsweek ran a major rebuttal of Moore’s film, calling it “unfair” and titling their article, “More Distortions From Michael Moore” (and here is my post on this article). Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball reminded their readers then that the bin Laden family, apart from Osama, have never had any ties to terrorist activity. It relies heavily on business with the West, and all terrorist activities that pressure their business partners cost them a great deal of money.
With that history, and with many articles and posts defending George Bush against this brainless smear already in archives all over the Internet, the use of this particular connection by the Censure Carter Committee seems very strange indeed. In the first place, using allegations that an organization’s likely allies have already repeatedly debunked tends to erode credibility very quickly. Second, it attempts to burn Carter for what may be one of the more positive projects he has undertaken. If we want to transform the Middle East through engagement and democracy, having one of the most powerful Saudi families publicly supporting the Carter Center helps legitimize Western ambitions in that direction.
I have written several posts here criticizing Carter for his ignorance on many issues, the biggest one being his stance in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict (see here, here, here, here, and here) so I am no big defender of the former Prez. But I think the allegation that he’s cozied up to OBL via the contributions from Bakr Bin Laden is way off the mark.