Carter to visit N Korea to try and free American

Leave the guy there. He shouldn't have crossed in the first place.

Don't give NK anything to negociate with.

Dear Great Leader, If you really want to get on the good side of the American people, send back Gomes and keep Carter...

Yes, PLEASE KEEP JIMMY CARTER and do with him as you will and sen back Gomes.

who pays the $700,000 fine? Will there be a penalty for early release?

Where will the silliness end? Now, NK will get another propaganda photo with another former U.S. President...

I say keep 'em both!

If some of you hate Carter this much, I am surprise you have not taken a shot at Bush yet, jeez. The guy averted war and got all the hostages back alive. And now he is going to get an true idiot American back alive. The guy must have a heart of gold to even bother. I personally would prefer that tax money into keeping stray cats and dogs alive for another month or so.

The guy ... got all the hostages back alive.

Which hostages?

RR

Carter is right. Putting pressure on North Korea is unproductive. NK is unpredictable and its policies and human record seem out of tune with western ideology, but more results could be obtained by keeping open a line of communication and showing some respect than threats.

Carter also is owed respect and ridiculing him here on this forum is pretty low and is only an indication of the intelligence of the contributors.

Carter will dazzle the North Koreans with his smile and return with Gomes.

"The guy averted war and got all the hostages back alive."

Yeah I have to go with ramen on this one. Reagan got "the hostages" back when the new Iranian regime wished to avert war.

Nortn Korea : Jump! United States: How high? Agree Carter should stay there.

"Carter also is owed respect and ridiculing him here on this forum is pretty low and is only an indication of the intelligence of the contributors."

Some of us were around during his presidency and formed our views during that time. Ridiculing the opions of others of a former president is pretty indicative of one's intelligence level as well.

The North was unlikely to back down from a standoff over its nuclear >weapons program, he added, unless the U.S. and South Korea would prove >to the North’s satisfaction that they harbored no hostile intentions >toward it.

You can't "prove" a negative.

Madverts said: Reagan got "the hostages" back when the new Iranian regime wished to avert war.

Prove it.

Iran refused to give the hostages back to the US while Carter was president and waited till Reagan was inaugurated. There wasn't any war averted. < :-)

@ MistWizard: No, he most certainly did NOT get the hostages released. He kept them sitting on a pin while he negotiated with Iran for more than a year. He was voted out, and Reagan came into office and TOOK action. Carter may have "a heart of gold", but he has the negotiating power of Elmer Fudd: Pwease pwease pwease wet dis fehwa go home... Heh heh heh heh.

You folks don't seem to appreciate that the hostage crisis could have resulted in a full scale invasion (war) and the U.S. has invaded other countries over less. More provocative action would have led to dead hostages. Everyone I knew was as for war at the time as they were after 9/11. The hostages all survived. There was no war. I credit Carter.

adaydream said: Iran refused to give the hostages back to the US while Carter was president

And some people think that is Carter's fault! What I heard is that Reagan cut a deal after he won the election. Reagan was so ridiculously dirty. But people go after Carter.

Course, none of you offered proof for what you said. And neither have I, but you Carter attackers first. Where you getting your info?

"Prove it."

444 days held hostage under the weak leadership of Jimmy Carter, but they were released hours before the Amezrican people Ronnie Raygun handed the keys to the missile silo's .....

Handed Ronnie....

Jeez my typing gets more dyslexic by the day.

but they were released hours before the Amezrican people [handed] Ronnie Raygun handed the keys to the missile silo's .....

Hmmm... Reagan...missiles...

This wasn't the same Reagan who traded missile parts to the very same Iran to get them to release American hostages that their proxies were holding, was it?

The truth is, after well over a year, the Iranian government was glad to rid themselves of the embassy hostages. In order to save face, they didn't want to release them to Carter -- the man who welcomed the Shah into the U.S. for humanitarian medical treatment, which action prompted the takeover to begin with.

Reagan proved what a tough guy he was when he retreated after nearly 300 Marines were killed in Lebanon. Oh, and North Korea was so scared of Reagan that they completely abandoned communism and peacefully joined with the South. (I supposed that if that ever happens in the next 50 years, the Republicans will find a way to attribute that to their god, Reagan.)

Carter's handling of Iran was poor overall. He's a great diplomat today, and he's done a lot of good in the world since then, but if you want to talk about that one incident I don't think he'll be getting any awards anytime soon.

"The truth is, after well over a year, the Iranian government was glad to rid themselves of the embassy hostages. In order to save face, they didn't want to release them to Carter"

Glad?

Heh, they were certainly glad to avoid a ground invasion by US troops because the mullahs knew Raygun, opposed to wet-lettuce Jimmy, would do it once his hoss was tethered outside the Whitehouse and his gun-belty hanging in the Oval Office.

But I agree with Super's comments also, the man can't be written-off, he's done good work since.

Heh, they were certainly glad to avoid a ground invasion by US troops because the mullahs knew Raygun

Yeah, he sure showed that group who sent nearly 300 Marines to an early grave.

But he was tough against mighty Grenada, I'll give him that.

We're talking about the Iranian hostage crisis, not the Lebanon.

Carter got Gomes released. < :-)