Carter Sought to Underwrite Zimbabwe "Land Reform"

Here's a shocker.

Presidential disaster Jimmy Carter agreed to have the U.S. underwrite the communist takeover/redistribution of property in Zimbabwe in 1980.

Of course, the communists at the Beeb call it land reform.

US backed Zimbabwe land reform

The key role played by the United States ahead of Zimbabwe's independence in resolving the sticky point of land redistribution has just come to light.

The land issue has always been emotive in Zimbabwe -- as can be seen with the current crisis sparked off by the government seizure of mainly white-owned farms in 2000.

Cutting to the chase, Mugabe and his revolutionaries took property away from white owners and gave it to his buddies. During the negotiations of all this with the British government, who wanted to get out of that mess, they needed a sucker to write some checks to make it all happen.

Enter Carter.

"He secretly contacted the US ambassador in London, Kingham Brewster, and asked him to get the then US President, Jimmy Carter, to promise money to pay white farmers for their land.

Mr Mugabe was angered when the UK stopped land payments.

"Brewster was totally supportive. We were at a stage where Mugabe and Nkomo were packing their bags," he explains.

"He came back to me within 24 hours. They had got hold of Jimmy Carter and Carter authorised Brewster to say to me that the United States would contribute a substantial amount for a process of land redistribution and they would undertake to encourage the British government to give similar assurances."

To put this in perspective, the U.S. was in the middle of a major recession at that point, and Carter agreed to help underwrite the Communist takeover of property in another country.

So how did that work out?

"But the UK government found that some of the farms were being given to President Mugabe's close associates, and refused to continue the payments.

Mr Mugabe was furious, claiming bad faith.

The path to the seizure of white farms was opened and thus began the long slide to today's economic chaos."

Today, as a direct result of Carter's contributions to the effort, Zimbabwe is falling apart. They have approximately 5,000% annual inflation, life expectancies in the 34- to 37-year range, and thousands hungry and leaving every day.

And today the left sees Carter as some kind of hero.