Carter: Turmoil in Iraq, Afghanistan likely 2004 campaign issue

Carter: Turmoil in Iraq, Afghanistan likely 2004 campaign issue

Says administration 'seriously disillusioned' on Iraq

Thursday, September 18, 2003 Posted: 2:03 PM EDT (1803 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Faulting the Bush administration for an "overly optimistic assessment" of Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion, former President Jimmy Carter said the turmoil there and in Afghanistan are legitimate issues for Democrats to highlight as campaign issues for 2004.

But he suggested Democrats have to be careful in how they focus on Iraq, drawing a distinction between the invasion itself and the aftermath.

"There was no doubt that we could prevail militarily, but I think that the vice president and secretary of defense and others said that we were going to be treated with euphoria, crowds who would welcome us there, and the problems of administration of Iraq's economic and political affairs was going to be an easy job," Carter, the nation's 39th president, said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.

"I think they have been seriously disillusioned, but whether it would have been more accurately predicted if I had been in the White House or someone else, I wouldn't claim that at all." --- http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/18/elec04.prez.carter/index.html

- Yet one more issue for Democrats in 2004. Will they use it?