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Hamas: Carter to meet Mashaal in Syria
It's official...DAMASCUS, Syria - Former President Carter will meet the exiled leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas during a visit to Syria next week, a senior Hamas official said Thursday. The Atlanta-based Carter Center did not confirm the meeting. The senior Hamas official in Syria told The Associated Press that Carter sent an envoy to Damascus earlier, requesting a meeting with the militant group's officials, including exiled leader Khaled Mashaal. Ah'll bring mah own kneepads. And vaseline... Hamas "welcomed the request," said Mohammed Nazzal, who said the meeting would take place April 18. Yes, yes. It will be an honor to meet the most useful idiot of them all. Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed that Carter planned a trip to the Middle East at the end of the week but could not "confirm any specifics." Is there a plane crash planned, beacause that's the only specific I wanna know about. A press release from the center said the former Democratic president was to lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as part of his "ongoing effort to support peace, democracy and human rights in the region." The statement said the visit would take place from Sunday until April 21. "This is a study mission, and our purpose is not to negotiate, but to support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East," Carter said in the statement. "Our delegation has considerable experience in the region, and we go there with an open mind and heart to listen and learn from all parties." Sure ya do, Jimmah. I trust ya. You ain't like the others... Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work in mediating conflicts, including the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel while he was in the White House and his humanitarian travels for the Carter Center since. Yes. So many successes. So many successes... In Washington, the State Department said it twice advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas. "U.S. government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interest of our policy or in the interest of peace to have such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding that Washington would do nothing to facilitate Carter's talks with Hamas. He said the message had been conveyed directly to Carter in a phone call by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch. Do y'all know who ah am, peon? "If he decides to travel to Syria, we will provide full support befitting a former president of the United States," McCormack said. "One thing we will not do, however, is have the Department of State, in any way, engage in any sort of planning related to a meeting with Hamas." Fuck him. Give him nothing. A Carter-Mashaal meeting would be the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and Hamas officials. In 2006, the Rev. Jesse Jackson met Mashaal during a visit to Syria. Why doesn't that surprise me? Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-10 |
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