by Frank James
Who to believe? On one hand, as we heard on National Public Radio yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter says he wasn't told by the Bush Administration that he shouldn't meet with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist and political organization.
On the other, we have the State Department and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that Carter was told in no uncertain terms not to meet with Hamas.
Actually, that's not what Rice seems to have said as she travels through the Middle East.
The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Rice pushed back against Carter this morning in Kuwait City in language that seemed far from declarative.
Rice, attending a regional meeting on Iraq's security and future, contradicted Carter's assertions that he never got a clear signal from the State Department. Rice told reporters that the U.S. thought the visit could confuse the message that the U.S. will not deal with Hamas.
"I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice said. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help" further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Actually, Rice is creating plenty of confusion here, intentionally or not. Her statement does anything but clarify the matter.
Suggesting to Carter that the administration's opinion was that his meeting wouldn't help is different than her telling Carter that the administration didn't want him to meet with Hamas, period.
And if were that important to the administration, one might've thought President Bush would have gotten on the phone with his Oval Office predecessor.
Small wonder, then, that Carter may have gotten the impression that the Bush Administration wasn't telling him not have the meeting.
At a stop in Bahrain yesterday, Rice actually punted on a question about the divergence between Carter's version of events and the State Department's:
As to the comments of President Carter, I haven't seen them. I'm not going to try to take them out of context. I'll just say the following. Hamas can do several things. They can release the Israeli Corporal Shalit. They can stop rocketing Israeli citizens in Sderot and Ashkelon. They can stop holding hostage the people of Gaza with their own coup d'état against the legitimate governments of -- legitimate governance structures of the Palestinian Authority. And they can accept the longstanding obligations of the Palestinian leadership to a number of steps, including those that Yasser Arafat even undertook more than a decade ago.
So the -- it seems to me that what Hamas needs to do is pretty clear. Renouncing violence would be a good step toward showing that you actually want peace.
Thank you.
Granted, at the time she made the above statement, she may not have heard or read a transcript of the National Public Radio interview where Carter made his assertions. But surely she was familiar with what she and her deputy, David Welch, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs told the former president.
(AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)
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Comments
Secretary Rice is not there to create confusion, she is there to maintain confusion!! That is the staple of this administration, confusion, it goes hand in hand with its incompetence!!
Former President Carter did the world and the Palestinian- Israeli debacle a great service, in his diplomatic initiative to Hamas. I would like to nominate him for another Nobel Peace prize, he deserves it. History will tip its hat to this great American and President!!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | April 22, 2008 11:46 AM
Yep...Rice would be perfect for a VP candidate. She will continue the secretive, misleading ways of the right.
Posted by: bill r. | April 22, 2008 11:56 AM
What Rice said was and is clear, though perhaps much too subtle and polite.
Posted by: Bruce | April 22, 2008 12:35 PM
Can someone show me a Secretary of State who has been less relevant than Rice? The only time she seems to be visible is when she's toting this administration's dirty water.
Posted by: Steve J | April 22, 2008 12:44 PM
Well Condi was trying to be nice to Carter. Because if the State Dept had specifically told him to butt out and not tlak to Hama; Carter would have been violating US Law.
Really since Clinton, Obama, and Bush have all agreed that Carter's talks are ill advised, the State Dept. should just revoke his damn passport! Then he he could travel w/o US recognition.
Posted by: VultureTX | April 22, 2008 12:57 PM
Secretary of State Rice is worried that former President Jimmy Carter just might accomplish something in the Middle East that doesn't involve bombing Iran or invading Iran. In other words, her FAILURES as SofS come shining through loud and clear, and she doesn't want President Carter to show how inept she is at everything she touched in this administration.
Posted by: BC | April 22, 2008 2:30 PM
Only Frank James, the left wing propagandist, can write that Rice's comments only confuse the situation. Anyone with a brain, Frank, can clearly see that Rice and the Bush administration did not want Carter to meet with Hamas. But we also know from history that PeanutBrain will do what he wants no matter what.
Back in the mid 1990s, Bill Clinton was incensed that Carter got himself involved in the North Korean situation. There was a war of words between the two, but PeanutBrain went ahead and did what he wanted. Course, we all know how that well that turned out.
So, now we have PeanutBrain say Hamas says it will recognize Israel and play nice with the Isrealis. Within hours of that PeanutBrain declaration, Hamas says contradicts PeanutBrain.
PeanutBrain: the worst president the U,.S. ever had AND the worst past president the U.S. ever had.
Posted by: John D | April 22, 2008 2:39 PM
I cannot criticize Jimmy Carter's desire to improve our relations with Hammas, I can state that I don't believe he really understands the depth of their hatred for the Israels and everything they stand for including their friendship to the United States and its people. I remember when Jimmy Carter was president and the Iranians were holding Americans hostage for demands by them.He didn't have a clue what to do except make a lot of noise which he is good at. Fortunately his term ended and Ronold Reagan took over as president and the Iranians imediately released our people. I suspect Carter has some kind of guilt complex and is trying too show the world he is the man and not just some old guilt ridden peanut farmer from Plains Georgia.
Posted by: John's Son | April 22, 2008 3:22 PM
"CONDI SPEAKS"
YES, I TOLD HIM PRINCE!
YES, I TOLD HIM DICK!
YES, I TOLD HIM GEORGE!
HE IS A FORMER PRESIDENT. I TOLD HIM!
WE SAID NO DIPLOMACY, JUST "OIL RECONCILIATION"
YOU ALSO SAID, DO NOT READ PRESIDENTIAL BRIEFINGS ON MONDAY MORNINGS!
YOU ALSO SAID YOU GOT THAT. YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD CALL HIM. DICK SAID HE WOULD CALL HIM.
GEORGE SAID HE WOULD CALL HIM.
I KNOW YOU TOLD ME THAT IF ANY INTERFERS WITH YOUR "OIL RECONCILIATION" THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM AUDITED AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THEIR KNEES.
BUT HE WAS A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON A URGENT DIPLOMATIC MISSION BECAUSE THE REGION IS IN SUCH AN UPROAR, AND LIMBAUGH STYLE "CAOS" IT WAS ONLY MATTER OF TIME, BEFORE ALL "DEAD PRESIDENTS" GO TO THE REGION.
AMERICA IS GOING BROKE, WE GET IT.
JUST DO BETTER NEXT TIME!
"NO DIPLOMACY IN THE REGION" NONE!
YES MR. PRESIDENT!
JIMMY, JIMMY, JIMMMMMMY!
Posted by: Roger Morris | April 22, 2008 3:28 PM
John D - I agree with you. Carter should have just stuck to the Bush administrations tactics/policy with regard to the Middle East. Just look how well they've turned out.
Posted by: The Bubba | April 22, 2008 3:31 PM
It is unfortunate to see the depths to which some Americans will make disparaging remarks concerning the Office of the President, to make a meaningless point. I can't begin to tell you what I would like to tell you about my opinion of certain men that have held that Office, but out of respect for the Office, I will refrain! I would be showing my stupidity by making personal attacks on former Presidents, with whom I didn't agree. I must be in the minority, for not only have the Republicans succeeded in " dumbing down America ", they have succeeded in " dumbing down " the Presidency!!! Thanks, Republicans, America really needed that!!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | April 22, 2008 3:46 PM
I agree with BC. Carter, the statesman, is contrasting way too much with Rice--who's best shot is to mock and call al Sadr a "coward" in apparent attempts to START more wars.
Posted by: Vivian | April 22, 2008 4:51 PM