Jimmy Carter Again Plays 'Useful Idiot' for Islamic Terrorists

The Morning Journal reports "Being made a fool by enemies of the United States and damaging our national security interests is a role that former president Jimmy Carter continues to embrace, long after his disastrous presidency.

Carter was in Syria yesterday, where he got cozy with the exiled leader of the Hamas Palestinian terrorist organization.

Carter's arrogant, misguided attempt at freelance diplomacy was in direct defiance of American foreign policy, and went against the advice of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and members of Congress.

Carter asked Khaled Mashaal to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and to start talking to the Israeli prime minister about a prisoner exchange.

Not surprisingly, all Carter got in response was word that Hamas would get back to him with a reply ''in the coming days.''

But Hamas got what it wanted from Carter --Êa former U.S. president begging its favor. Carter only helps to validate Hamas' claim to legitimacy as a player in Mideast. After the meeting, a Hamas spokesman told The Associated Press, ''Political isolation (of Hamas) by the American administration has begun to crumble.''

In short, Hamas made a monkey out of Carter, just as Ayatollah Khomeini did in 1979 when Carter was president and allowed then-U.S. ally Iran to be taken over by hostile Islamic radicals. Carter went on to let the radicals dance on his face for more than a year as they held 52 U.S. embassy staffers hostage. Not until Ronald Reagan brought common sense and an iron will to the White House were the hostages released.

Carter's impotence as president emboldened the Islamists and we're still dealing with the lethal consequences of Carter's failure.

Somebody shred his passport, please."