Carter: Rice Is Fibbing, Didn't Nix Hamas Meet

Secretary of state and former president at odds over warnings
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2008 3:00 PM CDT
Carter: Rice Is Fibbing, Didn't Nix Hamas Meet
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.   (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)

Jimmy Carter continued a war of words with Condoleezza Rice today over whether he was officially warned against meeting with Hamas leaders last week—insisting through reps that, “perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true.” The Secretary of State said yesterday a top diplomat counseled Carter against the summit—but the ex-president begs to differ, Reuters reports.

Said a Carter Center statement, “No one in the State Department or any other department … even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President Assad or leaders of Hamas.” Carter had a “very pleasant discussion” pre-trip with a State official who “never made any of the negative or cautionary comments” Rice has been outlining. (More Jimmy Carter stories.)

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