Carter says U.S. tortures prisoners

The United States tortures
prisoners in violation of
international law, former
President Carter said
Wednesday.

"I don't think it. I know it,"
Carter told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Our country for the first time in my life time has
abandoned the basic principle of human rights,"
Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions
do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and
Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners
and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which
they are accused."

Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition
of human rights.

Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4
article in The New York Times disclosing the existence
of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting
the use of "harsh interrogation techniques."
These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning and
frigid temperatures," according to the Times.

The White House last week confirmed the existence of the
documents but would not make them public.

Responding to the newspaper report Friday, Bush
defended the techniques used, saying,
"This government does not torture people."

Asked about Bush's comments, Carter said, "That's not
an accurate statement if you use the international
norms of torture as has always been honored --
certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

"But you can make your own definition of human rights and
say we don't violate them, and you can make your own
definition of torture and say we don't violate them."

Watch Blitzer's interview with the former president »

After reading a transcript of Carter's remarks, a senior
White House official said, "Our position is clear.
We don't torture."

The official said, "It's just sad to hear a former
president speak like that."

Carter also criticized some of the 2008 Republican
presidential candidates, calling former New York Mayor
Rudy Giuliani "foolish" for his contention the United
States should be open to use force on Iran.

"I hope that he doesn't become president and try to impose
his conviction that we need to go to war with Iran," Carter said.

The Giuliani campaign declined to comment on Carter's criticism.

The former president didn't spare the rest of the GOP field either.

"They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go
to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open
longer and expand its capacity -- things of that kind," Carter said.

"They're competing with each other to appeal to the
ultra-right-wing, war-mongering element in our country,
which I think is the minority of our total population."

Carter declined to say which Republican candidate he feared the most.

"If I condemn one of them, it might escalate him to the top
position in the Republican ranks," he said.

Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama
of Illinois also drew Carter's criticism for refusing recently to
pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of their
first terms if they win the presidency in 2008.

"I disagree with their basic premise that we'll still be there;
I think the American people want out," Carter said. "
If there is an unforeseen development where Iraqi people
request American presence over a period of time I think that
would possibly be acceptable, but that's not my personal preference."