Thread: Jimmy Carter Defends Meeting With Hamas

Jimmy Carter Defends Meeting With Hamas

Former President Carter said he feels "quite at ease" about meeting Hamas militants over the objections of Washington because the Palestinian group is essential to a future peace with Israel.

Carter, interviewed Saturday for ABC News' "This Week," airing Sunday, also said he would oppose a U.S. Olympic boycott and hopes all countries will join in the Beijing games.

He spoke from Katmandu, Nepal, where his team of observers from the Carter Center monitored an election that appeared likely to transform rule by royal dynasty into a democracy with former Maoist rebels in a strong position, judging by incomplete returns.

Several State Department officials, including the secretary, Condoleezza Rice, criticized Carter's plans to talk in Syria this week with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and the group. Carter said he had not heard the objections directly, although a State Department spokesman said earlier that a senior official from the department had called the former president.

"President Carter is a private citizen. We respect his views," Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, said Sunday on ABC.

"The position of the government is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't negotiate with terrorists. We think that's a very important principle to maintain," Hadley said. "The State Department made clear we think it's not useful for people to be running to Hamas at this point and having meetings."

Carter demurred.

"I feel quite at ease in doing this," he said. "I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process."

Although he said the meeting would not be a negotiation, he outlined distinct goals.

"I think that it's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians, maybe to get them to agree to a cease-fire - things of this kind," he said.

The State Department says it advised Carter twice against meeting representatives of Hamas, which Washington considers a terrorist organization.

"I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace," Rice said Friday, after reports of the planned meeting surfaced.

Carter said he'd be meeting Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudi Arabians and others "who might have to play a crucial role in any future peace agreement that involves the Middle East."

Asked whether it was right to meet a group that has not renounced violence or recognized Israel, he said, "Well, you can't always get prerequisites adopted by other people before you even talk to them."

Pressure to drop the meeting has come from his own party. Democratic Reps. Artur Davis of Alabama, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California and Adam Smith of Washington state wrote a letter to Carter saying the meeting could confer legitimacy on a group that embraces violence.

"I've been meeting with Hamas leaders for years," Carter said.

The Carter Center said his "study mission" was taking him to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week.

Good for him. At least there's one sane public figure out there with principle, and the fortitude to back it up.

The State Dept and the politicians are the real terrorists.

No one wants to be confronted with the real reasons why these people are so pissed off at us and Israel. They sleep much better at night simply believing they "hate us for our freedom."

Who cares? Carter is a joke anyway. No one that matters takes this retard seriously anyway. He was one of the worst Presidents ever in American history and he is still proving he is an ineffective dumbass.

Originally Posted by Libre

No one wants to be confronted with the real reasons why these people are so pissed off at us and Israel. They sleep much better at night simply believing they "hate us for our freedom."

I've said that about Jimmy carter for years. Glad to see at least one agrees with me. Jimmy carter & his "people" have never met a terrorist they don't like.

Originally Posted by Ronster

Who cares? Carter is a joke anyway. No one that matters takes this retard seriously anyway. He was one of the worst Presidents ever in American history and he is still proving he is an ineffective dumbass.

Jimmy Carter labeled by "some" people a anti-semitic and yes, one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Who made this old coot king of the fucking planet?

It would be nice if our former Idiot President (no, he's still an idiot, but not our president) would say that we shouldn't boycott the Olympics because it's not fair to the athletes and besides, when he boycotted the Olympics in 1980 it didn't do anything to stop the invasion of Afghanistan, so Olympic boycotts are basically a stupid idea.

No, he's saying it because there isn't a murderous dictator on the planet whose rectum he hasn't licked in the name of making the United States look bad.

Here's why Carter is the Perpetual Idiot:

Carter demurred.

"I feel quite at ease in doing this," he said. "I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process."

Until Hamas, and their owners in Iran, formally surrender their demand that the Isrealis be wiped from the face of the earth, they don't deserve a place at a negotiating table.

If Carter wasn't stupid, or if you claim he's not stupid, then he's corrupt, he would acknowledge this.

Originally Posted by Freedom for All

Here's why Carter is the Perpetual Idiot:



Until Hamas, and their owners in Iran, formally surrender their demand that the Isrealis be wiped from the face of the earth, they don't deserve a place at a negotiating table.

If Carter wasn't stupid, or if you claim he's not stupid, then he's corrupt, he would acknowledge this.

Until Isreal stops illegal settlements on occupied territory, they don't deserve a seat either. So great no-ones sitting at the negotiating table - that will help things!

Since when did people have to be deserving to sit in negotiations? Who makes that decision?

To be able to negotiate, all you have to have is a position that is different to the person siting opposite to you. Then you, err, negotiate!

Originally Posted by bla bla

Who made this old coot king of the fucking planet?

He did, with help from hamas.