You probably have heard the old rule from movies like Lethal Weapon or Air Force One: We don't negotiate with terrorists. As a bullet-point distillation of decades of American foreign policy, it's a good idea. Another point of order is that individual citizens do not take it upon themselves to conduct foreign relations without authority. This is not a general rule, but instead is something prohibited by US Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 45, Section 953, under the heading Private correspondence with foreign governments. It is better known by its colloquial name: the Logan Act.
In 1799, Dr. George Logan, an anti-war state senator from Pennsylvania, traveled to France to meet with French officials so that he could tell them of rising anti-French sentiment in his country and to help figure out ways to defuse the situation. When he returned, Congress passed the Logan Act, which outlawed the type of cowboy diplomacy that Logan had initiated. Infamous people such as George McGovern, Jesse Jackson and Stokley Carmichael have all been threatened with prosecution for their travails to Cuba, Cuba and Vietnam, respectively. While only two people have been indicted for violation of the act, it still remains a threat for those who feel the urge to try their hand at diplomacy with our enemies.
Recently, another wannabe diplomat whose actions are contraindicated by U.S. law was added to the ranks: former U.S. president and all-around goofball Jimmy Giant Swimming Rabbit Carter. Carter holds the dubious distinction of being the only U.S. president to have been attacked by a giant swimming rabbit during his term in office. Another of Carter's dubious credentials includes his claim to have seen an alien spaceship; then there is his working relationship with anti-Israel terrorist group Hamas. Carter has been meeting with Hamas for years now, against the U.S. State Department's warnings, trying to stick his finger in the pie and get the halfway-sane faction in Palestine, Fatah, on speaking terms with the crazy faction, Hamas. Never mind the fact that a private citizen, which Carter has been for over two decades now, is not supposed to be jumping into the volatile mix that is Palestine; there's also the fact that Hamas likes working with Carter. Shouldn't there be a red flag thrown up in Carter's mind if a terrorist group says that they like working with him?
As if to add insult to injury, Carter left the Middle East saying that he had convinced Hamas to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state, a stance that is 180 degrees from their previous stance. Being the master of irony that he is, Palestinian Foreign Minister for the Hamas-ruled government Riyad al-Malki said that ' wonder of wonders ' Hamas did not change its policy at all! Is it bad if a member of Hamas has more credibility than an ex-president?
I'm sure that Carter means well and that he really wants to see a peaceful Middle East before he sheds his mortal coil, but is it too much to ask for him to leave the diplomacy to the diplomats? Carter is generally regarded as a nice but simple person, hardly an intellectual by any means. He's also blamed for botching the Iranian hostage crisis, the economy and the nation's energy market, but that's a story for another day. The Logan Act is there for a reason, to prevent bumbling do-gooders like Carter from interfering with the tricky work of international diplomacy. Why can't he just play golf like a normal ex-president?
Jesse Hathaway is a junior English major. Send him an e-mail at jh309105@ohiou.edu.
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Jesse Hathaway
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