Carter remains a former president of these United States, but was not treated as such. This is a little more than mere rudeness, Ed. The issue is a failure on the part of the current administration to inform one of its highest ranking ambassadors of suspected conditions in a foreign land that they knew he was walking into.

It was just plain wrong, and they were actually playing with his life, merely hoping nothing would happen to him.

And as far as supposed incompetence of a former president goes, it makes no difference, and I would expect better treatment regardless, were it Jimmy, Jerry, Ronny, GHW, or -- dare I say it? -- Billy. These gentlemen remain, until death, high ranking members of the U.S. government, whether they hold an official position or not, and should be treated accordingly -- by any U.S. administration.

Dan