Oliver North: Obama Administration Is 'Jimmy Carter on Steroids'

Tuesday, 25 Jun 2013 06:22 PM

By Greg Richter and Kathleen Walter

The failure of President Barack Obama's administration to convince China and Russia to turn over state-secrets leaker Edward Snowden shows an America losing influence in the world, Lt. Col. Oliver North tells Newsmax TV.

"We always thought that Jimmy Carter was the worst administration you could possibly have," North said. "This is Jimmy Carter on steroids."

Despite National Security Adviser Tom Donilon's assurances that Hong Kong would turn Snowden over to the United States, Snowden was aboard a plane the same day, and is now in a Moscow airport.

"Now we've got Putin who basically says, 'Stick it in your ear, Obama; I'm going to send the guy wherever he wants to go,'" North said. "This is a total breakdown of American credibility because everybody knows that Barack Obama doesn't mean anything he says."

The IRS targeting of conservatives, the Benghazi probe, the NSA scandal, and spying on the media all contribute to a lack of credibility for the administration, North said.

There are plenty of ways to put pressure on foreign governments to convince them to help us, North added. "Some of them are economic, some of them . . . make life difficult for the diplomats."

Though he is critical of the White House's ability to catch Snowden, North believes the PRISM program exposed by the former NSA contract worker goes further than the Patriot Act intended.

"There is no doubt we need to be able to figure out who's talking to bad people overseas," North said, but "the idea of intercepting every single American communication to do that shows first of all a broader, deeper reach than was ever intended."

Only calls to someone outside the United States were supposed to be picked up by surveillance, North said. Any calls between two phones inside the United States would be kicked out of the system.

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