When asked whether he'd ever meet with Al Qaeda, Carter replied, "No, of course not."But in defense of meeting with Hamas, Carter pointed out a Ha'aretz poll from February that said that 64% of Israelis supported direct talks with Hamas in order to free Gilad Shalit as well as the fact that Hamas was elected by the Palestinian Arab people."I don't see any redeeming features of Al Qaeda at all," he said.
But what Fox didn't ask him afterwards was, if Carter was so enamored of Hamas because of the poll and because they were elected, why he tried also to meet with Islamic Jihad which had none of those distinctions?
The fact that Carter wanted to meet with Islamic Jihad - a pure terror group - shows that his rationalizations to Fox News are just after-the-fact attempts to stave off criticism, and not deep-felt convictions.
Or perhaps he can enlighten us of the "redeeming features" that he feels that Islamic Jihad has?