Posted on 03/16/2005 7:33:30 AM PST by SJackson
"there may have been people elected that may have been members of Hamas, but they weren't terrorists. They were people who advocated the importance of improving the quality of life for people in the region, people in the Territories. And they were businesspeople, they're professionals. "
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room - The White House 15 March 2005
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050315-5.html
...
MR. McCLELLAN: ...in terms of Hezbollah, nothing has changed in terms of our views. You've heard from administration officials over the weekend; you heard from the President earlier today...: Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Our view has not changed when it comes to that. And 1559 also calls for all militias to be disarmed. And we want to see 1559 fully complied with. ...if they renounce terrorism, in your question, and if they disarm, well, then that does change -- change the dynamic.
...organizations like Hezbollah have to choose, either you're a terrorist organization or you're a political organization. They remain a terrorist organization. The President spoke about their past atrocities and their past terrorist acts in his remarks earlier today.
Now, we've seen, when I talk about experience shows that people tend to choose leaders who are committed to improving their own livelihood, that are committed to improving their own security, that are committed to improving their own -- or expanding prosperity for those people, and one example is elections that took place in the Palestinian Territories. And you saw that there may have been people elected that may have been members of Hamas, but they weren't terrorists. They were people who advocated the importance of improving the quality of life for people in the region, people in the Territories. And they were businesspeople, they're professionals.
...Q Scott, an apology if this has been covered already, but one of the President's comments today with the King of Jordan has made a bit of a splash in Israel. It's a comment, "Israel must withdraw from the settlements," not specifying which ones and where. Did the President really mean all settlements?
MR. McCLELLAN: I thank you for bringing that up. What the President was referring to was the withdrawal plan that is being pursued by Prime Minister Sharon, as well as the unauthorized outpost, which the road map calls for Israel to remove. So that's what he was referring to, what our position is.
The semantic game with Hezbollah is in full swing in the print MSM. They are consistently called a 'militant' group.
I'm sure another clarification will be forthcoming. Or perhaps al Qaida will field a slate in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
They are a militant group. They are terrorists too.
I have no doubt that the media uses the word militant to soften the group's image. I believe to the average reader, the use of the word militant to describe a group is ambiguous.
Hamas is first and foremost a terrorist group. If militants are those who are engaged in warfare, then Hamas does not qualify as militant in my view. Terrorism is their weapon of choice.
It is pretty disgusting to watch America debase itself with terrorists. When will the State Department learn that nobody respects a whore, not even her customers?
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