“Isolating Hamas” is not the Bush Doctrine, It is Long Standing US Policy

This is an important clarification to the Guradian article on possible Obama administration talks with Hamas. From Andy McCarthy at the Corner:

The principle of “isolating Hamas” is not “George Bush’s doctrine.”  It is the longstanding policy of the United States.

Hamas (whose history I recounted in broad strokes here — and the Treasury Dept provides more here) was first designated as a terrorist organization in January 1995 in an executive order by President Clinton.  That order, issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (among other statutes), made it a crime for anyone within U.S. jurisdiction to transact business with, or provide material support to, Hamas and several other international terrorist groups.  The Clinton administration followed this up in 1997 by formally branding Hamas and its operatives ”specially designated global terrorists.”  That made it a felony to provide Hamas with material support (the material support crime having been prescribed for the first time by Congress in the 1996 overhaul of federal antiterrorism law).  [Read More]