An early September edition of The Washington Post carried one of Jimmy Carter's rare rebukes to his successors in the White House. Makes nostalgic reading, up to a point. Carter began his term with an optimistic and decent view of foreign policy, only to be dragged slowly to the right by his foreign policy adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski. At the end the President found himself in the obscene position of supporting Pol Pot, because of Brzezinski's idiotic belief that the friend (Pol Pot) of the enemy (Red China) of my enemy (the Soviet Union) is my friend. But at least he (President Carter, not Brzezinski) refrained from the folly of going to war with Iran. This brave and decent refusal to sacrifice hostages cost the president a second term in the White House. Now, out of office, Mr. Carter has devoted his extraordinary energies to the service of peace. The man from Plains stands in interesting contrast to the man from Greenwich. Not George W., who is also from Greenwich, but his father. Once ejected from the White House, George Herbert Walker Bush lost no time in hiring himself out as an influence peddler for the Carlyle Group; arms merchants to the world. No doubt a corner office is waiting there for Bush the Younger as well. Peace. _____________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
