We had a missionary come to our church recently and speak about his time so far in Egypt (about 18 years).  Egypt is an interesting study.  It has always been, compared to the other middle eastern countries, the voice of moderation.  This was especially true of Anwar Sadat’s Egypt, and his failure to push Israel for recognition of certain Palestinian “rights” gave rise to his assassination.  Mubarak is the same, although much more nationalistic and dictatorial.  Everyone has papers in Egypt: you are Christian or Muslim.  But you cannot change from one to the other.  To be sure, people do become Christian in Egypt, but they don’t even try to have their papers changed.  Proselytizing is illegal.  To proselytize would mean that the “apple cart” had been upset.  Changes are occurring, and change is not a good thing to a dictator.  Radicals like al Zawahiri are imprisoned in Egypt.

So it should have been relatively easy to bring Sadat and Begin together to the Camp David Accords, especially given the humiliation caused to the Arab world from the Yom Kippur war (or the October war).  Why am I going into this?  Because the Camp David Accords did not accomplish much.  While Carter flirted with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, he worshiped Arafat.  Jay Nordlinger comments:

But Carter is a different cat. He ended his memoirs with the boast that no American had died fighting abroad while he was president (omitting Desert One). Because some presidents allow threats to gather, other presidents have to make war—or at least be tougher. Jimmy Carter no doubt rallied Democrats with his speech. He should have rallied Republicans, too.

Carter’s years are marked by “official” peace, along with things like the hostage crisis in Iran, an Iran who would not release them until Reagan came to power.  During these official times of peace, the terrorists became stronger.  Aaron Mannes comments:

…it would not be accurate to say that Arafat was directly behind 9/11 and the growth of al Qaeda. But Arafat’s life’s work was to justify the use of random violence and equip a generation with the means to do so. He helped set in motion the web of alliances that has manifested itself in today’s super-terrorists. This is Yasser Arafat’s terrible legacy. 

The title of Mannes’ piece is “Terrorism’s Godfather.”  It is an appropriate title for both an article and Arafat himself.  Carter enabled him by the talking and negotiating and the endless visits and discussions and calls to world peace.

This is also Carter’s terrible legacy.