Last week, the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat reported that former President Jimmy Carter was planning a trip to Syria for mid-April, during which he would meet with Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, on April 18. That is a terrible, terrible idea.
A former head of state meeting with Hamas affords the terrorist group the kind of legitimacy that even Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas has sought to deny them. While Carter continues to express his belief that there is a "good chance" that Hamas could become a nonviolent organization, it seems irresponsible (and, frankly, obtuse) to meet and commiserate with a group that continues to actively work for the violent destruction of Israel.
This isn't the first time that Carter has caused frustration in America. He raised protests when he visited Cuba in 2002 and was photographed shaking hands with Fidel Castro, and he earned the wrath of Presidents Bush I, Clinton and Bush II due to his freelance diplomacy with North Korea. In August 2006, Carter criticized former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being "subservient" to the Bush administration, and later that year he publicly called Bush's presidency "the worst in history." He also offered to negotiate with the terrorist group ETA, a Basque separatist group primarily located in Spain, and, just a few days ago, provoked outrage by laying a wreath on the grave of Yasser Arafat.
It's the kind of idealism that would be almost endearing if it weren't giving ulcers to every Democratic candidate in America who will be forced to denounce or disown the former president or be pummeled by attacks from the right, left and center.
That's not to say that Carter hasn't done some good things. As president, he brokered a 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt at Camp David-an effort that helped earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. Through his work at the Carter Center in Atlanta, he regularly does good work abroad by monitoring foreign elections. The former president has also gained international plaudits through his work with Habitat for Humanity International, providing low-cost housing to people in need.
So Jimmy Carter likes to help people. But his brand of help in this case is worrying; it seems to consist solely of trying to show the world that these murderous terrorists aren't so bad after all.
To call him a lightning rod for controversy is imprecise, since a lightning rod attracts dangerous electricity in order to prevent harm to others. Rather, Carter appears to stand on top of a roof with a coat hanger during a storm, handing it off to an innocent bystander the moment before the lightning strikes. In short, his visit will almost certainly ensure that someone gets hurt and the rest of us will have to clean up the mess.
While we at the Daily admire Carter's energy and enthusiasm, we join the majority of America in respectfully asking the former president to please, and with all due haste, put a sock in it.
