by Dr. David Lazerson
The crazy world of politics.
It has often been said that in the world of sales, any form of publicity, including bad, is far better than nothing. As a kid, I remember driving to Florida from Buffalo during the wintertime with my grandfather. As we hit the warm southern states, there were a whole bunch of signs along the road that openly declared
some restaurant to have the “worst water in the world.” I was amazed when, after a good hour of driving, we passed the place - and the parking lot was packed to the gills.
In the crazy world of politics, one often finds “leaders” (the quotation marks are deliberate) doing anything to grab a headline. This is particularly true for ex-leaders who simply cannot carry on without being in the spotlight. And it might be even more so for ex-US presidents, who go from having every word and cough covered in the mass media to retirement obscurity on some speaker’s bureau. Kind of like professional ball players after leaving the limelight of the game and media worship; many go through some serious withdrawal symptoms and psychological issues.
Fitting this profile rather well is none other than our own former president, Mr. Jimmy Carter, who once again hits the media with yet another wacko endeavor. It’s not too surprising that good ol’ Jimmy has recently come out with all sorts of anti-Israel nonsense, including his recent book. After all, his organization, the Jimmy Carter Center, receives huge funding from Arab sources. But this time he may have gone a tad bit too far. His most recent trip to Syria and meeting face-to-face with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was something more appropriate perhaps for a Fellini movie. No, let’s make that The Three Stooges.
While under “normal” circumstances, this might not seem like such a bad idea at all. By normal, I mean of course, that things are good - people are communicating, sharing ideas over a cup of tea; governments are working together for the betterment of humanity; people are going “green,” helping to save Mother Earth. You get the picture.
Hamas, however, is a far cry from such noble efforts. This group has gotten the official State Department designation as a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for the murders of thousands of people and for much destruction across the globe. Their track record reads like that of the worst serial killer. One thing about Hamas - it does not try to hide its intentions. Their honesty should send a chill down the spine of any decent human being. Hamas seeks to not only destroy Israel, the only truly democratic country in the entire Middle East - no, this would be a small feather in their cap - like the other Arabic terrorist groups, Hamas seeks a much bigger prize: to destroy America and all of Western civilization, and replace it with a new world order of Islamic rule
This time, Mr. Carter, you may have bit off more than you can chew. Make no mistake about it, we are at war. Despite the fools who believe America is always at fault, we did not start this war. Militant Islam’s war against us has nothing to do with our lack of understanding or love. In the USA, we do not teach our kids to hate. We don’t raise our kids to strap bombs on themselves and become “martyrs” by blowing up people in hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. And, unlike Hamas, we don’t celebrate the murders of others.
Hamas has declared war, a global jihad, against all “infidels.” Unfortunately, Hamas’s actions speak louder than words. Yes, it’s true that not all Arabs are terrorists. But almost every terrorist is an Arab with some pretty direct connection to an Islamic fundamentalist group, Hamas included. It makes no difference whether you call ‘em al-Qaeda, Hizbullah, al-Aksa, Hamas, or whatever new gang of Islamic hoodlums is out there, their agenda is one and the same.
And so we have the unbelievable and embarrassing scenario of a former US president paying respect to a country that sponsors terrorism and meeting with a leader of a terrorist organization that has openly declared war on the United States. If we let our guard down, there’d be a 9/11 event every day.
Mr. Carter said that he went to Syria not as a former president, but as the head of his organization, the Carter Center. He may fool himself, but he certainly isn’t fooling anyone else - especially not the Syrians or Hamas. Hamas itself has now declared that they have achieved a new level of legitimacy due to one huge booster shot; Jimmy Carter’s visit and actual physical embrace of a Hamas leader. They've got to be drunk with joy at the thought of bribing a US president. Now that’s a mighty lovely (eagle) feather in their war bonnet.
So, what’s to be done here? First, we need to take a good look at the Carter Center’s books and see where his funding comes from. We may all be in for an eye-opening surprise. Secondly, There has to be a law against visiting with an enemy leader of a designated terrorist organization during a time of war. Seems to me that Carter’s passport should be put on hold until he behaves like a responsible citizen of this great country of ours.
Thirdly, we better do the hard thing while it’s not impossible; and that means taking care of Syria and Iran before they get their hands on nuclear weapons. If that happens, we can kiss each other and planet Earth goodbye. The window of opportunity is shrinking, but still open. These decisions aren’t easy, but in this situation there’s no luxury of reacting after-the-fact. There’s only some slight room to be proactive. The US, perhaps together with Israel and other democratic nations, needs to stop the Iranian nuclear effort now. It’s beyond words and idle United Nations blabber. Only military action can stop this God-help-us scenario of terrorists with nuclear capabilities.
Fourthly, I suggest we offer Mr. Carter another trip to Syria. The sooner the better. Only this time, we should make it a one-way ticket.
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