Jimmy Carter, Hamas and Anwar Sadat... A Lesson Lost in Time

Former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer recounts meeting with Sadat and the lesson he learned about Islamists that President Carter had to have learned from Sadat at Camp David. Surmises why former President met with Hamas.

(Issues Wire / PRWEB) April 25, 2008 -- The controversy between Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Former President Jimmy Carter may be raising questions of memory retention as well as truthfulness. It may well be the former rather than the latter that is in question says author James J. Heaphey who directed political development programs in Egypt.

Legerdemain: The President's Secret Plan, The Bomb and What the French Never Knew

"During the Camp David Peace Accord thirty years ago," Heaphey said at his office in Paphos, Cyprus "President Carter obviously asked President Anwar Sadat about the makeup and temperament of the Muslim population in the middle-East, a necessary understanding any peacemaker would have to have to pave the way for peace in that area. Sadat surely apprised President Carter of the endless difficulty in dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist forerunner to Hamas," Heaphey said. " President Carter must have had this knowledge and one can only wonder why he chose to walk into an impossible situation knowing the Islamist temperament and goals of Hamas. It could only result in failure and an awkward embarrassment."

James Heaphey, a onetime Intelligence Officer for the United States Air Force had a lengthy meeting in 1952 with Anwar Sadat when Sadat was the Public Relations Officer for President Gabel Nasser of Egypt. In his book "Legerdemain,"which Heaphey wrote in narrative style, Heaphey describes the meeting detailing Sadat's explanation of the mindset of the radical Islamist and forewarning him of the problems the world would encounter with the radicals.

"It is very possible that former President Carter forgot everything Anwar Sadat told him," Heaphey said, "just as he may have forgotten any warning he may have received from the State Department. I am sure President Carter was well-intentioned, however, for future events he would do well to recall the words of Anwar Sadat, as we all should. The goals of Hamas will never change."

James J. Heaphey, Professor Emeritus of the State University of New York, was a former United States Air Force Intelligence Officer who was sent to the middle-east as an undercover operative in "Operation Camelback " authorized by President Truman. He directed political development programs in several countries including Egypt, Cyprus and Lebanon. He is currently in Cyprus working on the history of the Turkish invasion of that island nation. His book "Legerdemain: The President's Secret Plan, The Bomb and What the French Never Knew" (9781933909363) is currently in bookstores nationwide.

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anwar sadat jimmy carter condoleeza rice hamas legerdemain islamists operation camelback harry truman egypt.cyprus

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