Double Standard

So I know this is sort of a lame first post, and I, by no means, wanted to start things off this way. However, I couldn't pass this story up. I would also like to note as a disclaimer that I am in no way a proponent of anyone aside from an elected or appointed official having any meetings with terrorists.

If my memory serves me correctly a president of the United States is in no way above the law. He is, however, a person responsible for foreign relations. And when he leaves office, he is just a normal citizen like you and me (except he has guys following him around ready to take a bullet).

Let's have a hypothetical here. Say I was to make plans to go overseas and visit Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of Hamas now living in Damascus. I would fully expect that the FBI, CIA and other unnamed government organizations would be at my doorstep the next morning. And I would probably end up in Gitmo the day after that.

And yet, when another ordinary citizen of the United States, who just happened to be a former president, decides to go it's ok. And Jimmy Carter at that. The world renowned negotiator with terrorist nations (I would like to bring to your memory 1979-1980 when around 70 Americans were taken hostage in Iran for 444 days). I also remember a few years ago that Jesse Jackson visited Lybia. Both countries on the State Department's "foreign terrorist" list. Must be nice, I guess, to be an unelected official to represent our nation.

What are they even going to discuss? The Nobel Prize? I'm certain if that were the case Al Gore would have to be on the same trip.

click here for the story