More Jimmy Carter Awesomeness and More Fun with the UN

Today started off as a nice relaxing Sunday. I slept late and sat down to watch Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer as I ate my bagel and lox. Suddenly, Wolf announces he will be interviewing none other than our pal, Jimmy Carter about Jimbo's meetings with Hamas. You know my thought: awesome!

Wolf begins by playing a clip of a speech from President Bush denouncing Jimbo's meeting with the mass-murdering terror gang. Now, we know "Dubya" isn't exactly Abraham Lincoln when it comes to political oratory, and admittedly, yeah, he fumbled this one. Bush said almost nothing useful and stammered and stuttered about how Hamas would not recognize Israel, refused to endorse the so-called "Two State Solution," and was generally an "obstacle to peace." Of course, the problem with such a statement is that it implies that if Hamas were out of the picture, peace would be more likely to occur. Of course, as you know, faithful readers, this is a position I completely reject.

Carter responded by chortling mightily about how Bush OBVIOUSLY did not understand Hamas's TRUE positions because, dagnabbit, he met with their leaders, and while they seem all tough and musky on the outside, they're really just a nice bunch of guys who enjoy cuddling kittens and grooving to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

See, the Hamas leaders told Carter (after they crossed their hearts and hoped to die) that they wanted a ceasefire. And more important, they would recognize and abide by any peace agreement (including, Carter believes, one that would recognize Israel), so long as it was approved by a popular referendum of the Arabs living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

Wolf, who is not completely oblivious, makes two points. First, Hamas spokespeople vigorously disputed Carter's account of the meetings and what was promised. And second, such statements fly in the face of what Hamas has proclaimed publicly, both to their own people in Arabic and to the West.

Carter's response was, well, Carter-like. He stated these Hamas spokespeople disputing his statements were low-level dudes on the totem pole, while he had met with the "high leaders" of Hamas. Unfortunately, Wolf didn't press Carter any further, and the conversation then moved to the Democratic Primary.

I really wish Wolf had confronted Carter with some of the statements that I have previously documented, along with the many others Hamas has made both disparaging Jews and declaring their unwillingness to recognize Israel.

At the very least, Wolf could have shown Carter the recent statement from Khaled Mashal (one of the leaders Carter met with) that the ceasefire, or "Tahdiah", that Hamas proposed "is a tactical means. It is a step within the resistance and is not detached from it." Mashal went on to say that:

"'It is only natural for any resistance movement, which cares about the interests of its people, to bear in mind the general Palestinian condition. At times, it generates an escalation, and at times, it withdraws a little. It is a process of ebb and flow, going up and down. This is how you run a battle. Hamas is renowned for this.

'In 2003, we began a tahdiah, and later renewed the operations. The same thing happened following 2005. Hamas conducted resistance from within the government, as well as when it was not in the government. This is a method of conflict management.'"

So, yeah, I guess it never occurred to Carter that Hamas might just be utilizing him as a useful idiot to improve their PR in the West.

In other news, there was a lot more fun at this Durban II Prep Session the past couple of weeks. Anne Bayefsky has two recent columns describing what went on. Both are excellent reads.

The April 23 column is especially fun. There, Bayefsky describes how the Arab/Muslim delegations argued that the only way to truly fight racism and oppression is well . . .with more oppression and less freedom (as I keep saying, satire is obsolete):

"The Egyptian representative gave a good summary of most everything wrong with Durban II. He claimed the conference and its preparatory process should focus on criminalizing “racial profiling,” “racism in the media,” “the challenges posed by Islamophobia since the events on 9/11,” and “instrumentalization of democratic processes for racist applications.” In short, racism is an evil Western plot to victimize Muslims, who can only be protected by the undermining of democracy, freedom, and law enforcement."

And then came my favorite part:

"While the European Union attendees stayed in their seats, the assault on democracy carried on. Algeria said “freedom of expression spread[s] hatred and violence and lead[s] to the burning of mosques in ‘advanced’ countries.” Syria ranted about “the crimes that are perpetrated in the name of democracy” and the “killers” that “are countries that advocate democracy . . . and give [a] free hand to perpetrate massacres.” *

Yes, indeed. Freedom of expression leads to mosque-burnings. I mean, what can I really add to that? Jimmy Carter could not have said it better. I fear that as I wrote this note, a child weeps in the distance as a mosque burns.

*Syria is, of course, uniquely qualified to educate the world as to what leads a nation to perpetrate an old-school massacre.