Former President Jimmy Carter may soon regret his ill-advised embrace of Khaled Mashaal, terrorist and Hamas leader in exile. But it won't be because he suddenly understands that appeasing murderers only encourages them to kill more innocents, or because he decided to respect the foreign policy of the United States, which prohibits contact with that group. No, Jimmy Carter may have to learn the hard way.

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., has asked the State Department to revoke Mr. Carter's passport to keep him from abusing the privileges it bestows in order to traffic with terrorists. President Carter is entitled to his distortions, inaccuracies and hostile opinions, but not to a passport, or so the reasoning goes.

Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., has introduced the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act (the CARTER Act), that would prevent the federal government from giving taxpayer money to the Carter Center, which has received more than $19 million since 2001. "America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies," Mr. Knollenberg said. The act further stipulates that the money instead would go to U.S. victims of terrorism.

Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Johnstown, has introduced a resolution stating that Congress "disapproves of former President Jimmy Carter's freelance diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, which contradict the stated foreign policy position of the current administration." It calls on Mr. Carter "to cease all diplomatic efforts with recognized terrorist groups" and catalogs the long list of Hamas atrocities.

There are even calls to indict Mr. Carter under the 1799 Logan Act, which bans private citizens from unauthorized negotiation with foreign governments.

Mr. Carter counters that he was merely on a "fact-finding mission." However, all reports of his visit clearly indicate that he tried to usurp government powers and broker diplomatic deals regarding Syrian peace negotiations with Israel and a Hamas cease-fire.

With any luck, Mr. Carter will start to wonder if his Middle East meddling was worth the trouble. After all, he could have used his stature to effect change in many distressed parts of the world where his presence would not violate American law or bring censure on himself. Instead, he chose to reward an Islamist, Iranian-backed terror group which has killed hundreds of people, including Americans, over the last 20 years with a major PR coup. In return for eroding the boycott of Hamas at the international level, Mr. Carter managed to achieve ... nothing.

Hamas continues to refuse Israel's right to exist, to renounce violence or to honor previous agreements between the Palestinians and Israel. What exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal agreed to in Damascus, which is being touted as a Carter-brokered breakthrough, is nothing more than a one-sided grand slam for Hamas -- a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, a return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel and a 10-year cease-fire, during which time Hamas would arm itself to the hilt in preparation for the next round of violence from its much improved strategic positions.

This is no achievement. It is a blueprint for the destruction of Israel militarily and demographically. In the highly unlikely case that any real peace plan were to emerge between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it is significant to note that Mr. Mashaal also told Mr. Carter that Hamas would retain veto power, thereby assuring the demise of any such agreement.

Hamas even rejected Mr. Carter's proposal for a unilateral, month-long cease--fire. That's 30 days without targeting the civilian populations of Sderot, Ashkelon and the western Negev with military-grade rockets that land in their homes, businesses, playgrounds and schools every single day. Over the course of just one week, while Jews the world over were preparing for Passover, the Israeli army thwarted five attempts by armed terrorists to infiltrate southern Israel. Thirty days apparently is too long for Hamas to stop trying to kill Jews.

Mr. Carter is not the trailblazing peacemaker the media make him out to be. Egypt and other Arab countries already had tried and failed to get Hamas to accept the same offers it rejected when made by Mr. Carter. He should also have foreseen that his visit would be exploited for propaganda purposes. Indeed, Hamas official Mushir Masri, in a fiery speech to thousands of Hamas supporters in Gaza, said the meetings with Mr. Carter were proof that Hamas was not a terrorist group but a national liberation movement.

Even though Mr. Carter said his visit was a personal one, having a former American president speak unconditionally with Hamas is tantamount to recognizing the organization as a legitimate political movement. In negotiating with Hamas officials, as opposed to simply communicating with them, Mr. Carter sent terrorists everywhere the message that violence will achieve their goals and elicit concessions from a weakened West.

The Bush administration and the Israeli government have wisely taken the position that there can be no negotiations with Hamas until it stops attacking Israel. By defying his own government, Mr. Carter strengthened an avowed enemy of the United States and its allies, undercut the Israeli and American governments and hurt our diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. Most importantly, he failed to convince Hamas to forsake violence and turn its attention to governing responsibly for the good of the Palestinian people.

Let's hope Congress can set him straight.