Kucinich: I Agree with Jimmy Carter

Statement

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released a video calling attention to an OpEd in The New York Times by former President Jimmy Carter titled, "Cruel and Unusual Record." In the video Kucinich states, "I agree with President Carter when he says America's violations of international human rights are not making us safer and are instead providing further fodder for our enemies." Kucinich calls upon Congress to address drone attacks, the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay.

The full text follows.

"Earlier this week, former President Jimmy Carter wrote a powerful and courageous op-ed in The New York Times titled "A Cruel and Unusual Record,' highlighting how our counterterrorism policies are damaging the United States' human rights record and our ability to "speak with moral authority on these issues.'

"President Carter challenged the policies that have been pursued in the decade after 9-11, including the targeted assassination of people abroad through drone strikes, the expansion of our government's ability to indefinitely detain terrorist suspects, dragnet and warrantless wiretapping of American citizens and the continued use of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

"Through such policies, the United States is setting a dangerous precedent and is threatening to unravel the very international human rights norms it helped to create. I agree with President Carter when he says America's violations of international human rights are not making us safer and are instead providing further fodder for our enemies. That is why I have been consistently and relentlessly challenging these policies in Congress.

"It is more critical than ever that Congress do something to address drone attacks, the PATRIOT Act, Guantanamo Bay and other harmful counterterrorism policies. The United States must be the example of what it means to uphold international human rights norms, not the example of how to trample on them."

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