Jimmy Carter: “I am very pleased this afternoon to participate in what I believe is an historical occasion.”

I say to you, quite frankly, that the time for racial discrimination is over.

Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss. Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy.

I think that sends a clear signal to Maliki that we won't be there indefinitely and my hope is that they'll be a commitment by the world community including the controversial nations of Syria and Iran.

But when a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the President of the United States of America as an animal, or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have…