Carter Rebuts State Department
Apr 24th, 2008 at 7:21 am by Susie
I don’t know why he wouldn’t listen, since they’ve done such a great job in the Mideast:
A day after returning from the Mideast, former Democratic president Jimmy Carter on Wednesday defended his meetings with leaders of the militant Palestinian movement Hamas, and said his visit doesn’t lend the group credence.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Carter said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was “mistaken” and “misinformed” about warnings she says her office gave advising him not to meet with Hamas, which the U.S. government has declared a terrorist organization.
“Hamas was not legitimized by my visit,” Carter said. “They were legitimized by the fact that their people voted for them to be the ruling party in their parliament.”
It was amazing watching the right deal with Hamas. The US, under Bush, refused to negoiate with the Palastinians “until they held free elections.” Free elections were held, the people overwhelmingly chose Hamas and now “we refuse to deal with a terrorist organization.”
There are times when I do some soul-searching and think maybe I’m being too hard on our current leaders. But when I try to think of anything they’ve done well I honestly draw a blank. Not being sarcastic, I honestly can’t think of one issue they’ve handled well.