Big Hugs At Carter-Hamas Meet

Check out Scarface in the foreground. How many Israeli women and children do you think he's killed in his career as a "Palestinian militant?" How do you think he felt, witnessing a former US president hugging a leader of his political party terror group?

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter embraced a leading Hamas figure Tuesday, according to participants in a meeting that infuriated Israeli officials already upset by Carter's freelance Mideast peace mission.

Carter also laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, whom the Bush administration and many Israelis blame for the breakdown of peace talks seven years ago and the violence that followed.

The recipient of the Carter hug was Nasser Shaer, a senior Hamas politician, who told reporters:

"He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception. Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel ... and I told him the possibility for peace is high."

How can the possibility for peace be high? Is Hamas going to stop firing rockets into Israel? Is it going to recognize Israel's right to exist? Of course not.

The media is referring to Shaer as a Hamas moderate, which is sort of like talking about a chaste whore. As Hamas' education minister, he is responsible for a system that indoctrinates young Palestinians with hatred, hopelessness and victimization, or put another way, he does all he can to ensure that the possibility of peace will be low for at least another generation.

Scrappleface got it right:

As former President Jimmy Carter meets this week with Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Syria, sources at the State Department say President George Bush will soon honor Mr. Carter’s decades of freelance diplomacy by appointing him as the first U.S. Ambassador to Hell.

“Bush just wants Carter to go there,” said an unnamed State Department source, “and to set up an embassy, and try to be a good listener, open a communication channel, find common ground.”