Jimmy Carter and the “so-called terrorists”

In a stunning display of idiocy, former President Jimmy Carter – in an interview with CNN – referred to the terrorist group Hamas as “so-called terrorists.” Via the Jerusalem Post:

Former US president Jimmy Carter expressed optimism Friday over Hamas’s participation in next week’s Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Carter told CNN in an interview that although Hamas were “so-called terrorists,” so far “there have been no complaints of corruption against [their] elected officials.”

He conceded that “there is an element within Hamas who deny Israel’s right to exist,” but compared the current situation to negotiations with the PLO, which was still outlawed as a terrorist organization during his presidency.

He drew an additional comparison with Menachem Begin’s rise to Israel’s premiership in the seventies. “The Irgun, to which Begin belonged, was also characterized as a terrorist organization,” he noted.

In other words, this terrorist organization isn’t really a terrorist organization to Jimmy Carter because, to him, it has similiarities to Menachem Begin’s rise to power. This kind of reminds me of Chris Matthews’ comparison of the Iraqi ‘insurgency’ to US Revolutionary War heroes and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin’s rejection of the term “riots” when used to describe the French riots that happened late last year.

Terrorism isn’t really terrorism, riots aren’t really riots, and there is little difference in the Iraqi ‘insurgency’ of today as compared to the Revolutionary War ‘insurgency’ – if you listen to the mediots and officials in higher places who should know better.

Sigh.

Hat tip to Jonathan R. at GOP Bloggers, via The Political Teen.

Read more on this from Chad at In The Bullpen, who points to comments from British Prime Minister Tony Blair in which he point blank states that if Hamas is granted a role in the Palestinian government and still refuses to renounce terrorism that the UK will not conduct any negotations with the government there.

Update: How could I have forgotten this? Read that, and then marvel out how he can classify the US policy at Gitmo as “disgraceful” yet take issue with calling Hamas a terrorist organization. Unreal!

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