Carter: U.S. missteps embolden dictators

By Doug Gross

Nov 11, 2003 | Perceived human rights violations by the United States during the war on terrorism could allow dictators in other nations to justify their own abuses, former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday.

Opening a conference of international human rights workers, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said an erosion of civil liberties in the U.S. has ``given a blank check to nations who are inclined to violate human rights already.''

He cited the indefinite detention of hundreds of terrorism suspects from Afghanistan at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo and a post-Sept. 11 roundup of roughly 1,200 U.S. immigrants _ many of whom were held for months without being formally charged with any crime.

``I say this because this is a violation of the basic character of my country and it's very disturbing to me,'' Carter said.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether foreigners held at the Navy base in Cuba should have access to American courts. The Bush administration has cited World War II-era laws stating that foreign prisoners detained during wartime have no such right.

The conference, which began Tuesday at The Carter Center, attracted more than 40 human rights activists from across the world, including United Nations acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertran Ramcharan. Attendees planned to craft a document calling for renewed attention to human rights as nations draft anti-terrorism laws.

Saad Ibrahim, a professor at the American University in Cairo who was jailed for seven years after exposing fraud in the Egyptian election process, said the United States' actions cast a long shadow over the rest of the globe.

``Every dictator in the world is using what the United States has done under the Patriot Act ... to justify their past violations of human rights and to declare a license to continue to violate human rights.''

The Bush administration is asking Congress to further expand the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention power. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the law has helped prevent more terrorist attacks.

The Patriot Act was passed overwhelmingly by Congress after Sept. 11 but has been under attack by liberals and even many conservatives who say the law intrudes too much into Americans' lives in the name of fighting terror.

Democrats have been trying to build support in the Senate to rolling back portions of the law, and some Republicans say it needs to be changed.

• View blog reactions