Former President Jimmy Carter recently criticized President George W. Bush finding almost nothing he could agree with in the new administration. The former president has been characterized as perhaps the best, the most noble of past presidents. He is a man standing up for human rights the world over.

But there is another side to former President Carter. He has neither been as noble nor as high-minded as some would like to believe. His hammering with Habit for Humanity is not enough to erase his past record as a failed President of the United States.

During his administration the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. His response was to cancel United States participation in the Olympics. He was alleged to have said after the Soviet invasion,  "For the first time I really understand what the Soviet Union is all about." What innocence coming from a president. After years of study he finally realizes the brutality of the Soviet Union!

During his administration the Iranian government under the Shah fell apart. There is speculation that President Carter helped to bring down the Shah and pave the way for the new revolutionary Iran, which has caused so much bloodshed and terrorism for the past two decades. His dislike of the Shah was not over human rights abuses, but something more practical-OIL!

President Carter was mad at the Shah for not helping us more with oil prices and OPEC. Iranian revolutionaries were in exile in France. The idea was to back a different Iranian regime under the new revolutionaries hoping this would be a barrier to Soviet expansionism in that part of the world. And a new Iranian regime would be more mindful of our oil needs. Further, fundamentalist religious leaders were thought to be a natural barrier to Communism and under our direction.

Does anybody need to remember the American Embassy being overtaken? The constant and incessant humiliation handed out by a regime that President Carter believed would be with us. President Carter should be deeply ashamed of allowing American humiliation to proceed for so long and contributing to a regime hostile to the very ideals he professes: human rights. Human rights have certainly not been furthered by this foreign policy debacle.

During Carter's administration interest rates soared along with inflation. There were double-digit interest rates and double-digit inflation. This economic nightmare made many people suffer. Further, the gloom, which permeated American society, during his term as president was palpable. U.S. citizens were dispirited perhaps more than at any time since the Great Depression. President Carter's response was to put the blame on the American people in his infamous "malaise speech."

Among President Carter's many criticisms of President Bush is that President Bush has been too easy on Israel's West Bank settlements. If the former president can criticize a vibrant healthy democracy like Israel why does he refrain from criticisms of other Middle East or North African regimes that have no semblance whatsoever of freedom or democracy.  Where is President Carter's critique of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Egypt? The former president is keen in criticizing democracies, but very lenient in tolerating authoritarian and autocratic regimes. It is not simply a double standard. It is human rights blindness!

President Carter has been trying since he left office to rehabilitate himself politically for history. His presidency was a failure in most areas, and human beings were hurt then, and now because of his policies or lack thereof.  President Carter has been able to get the media and the public to believe in his human kindness, truthfulness, and human rights crusades.  

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