He’s way ahead of you, Jimmy.

CAIRO – Former US President Jimmy Carter has urged the US Administration to support Egypt’s Islamists, stressing that this support will be in the interests of democracy, freedom and stability in the region, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Thursday.

“What has happened in Egypt boosts democracy and freedom,” Carter was quoted by CNN as saying.

He added that Egypt now has the opportunity to form a democratic government elected by the people; it also has the same opportunity as free societies to achieve freedom and human rights.

Carter said he considers the US objections to the Islamists’ win in Palestine – referring to the Hamas movement – to have been a mistake, stressing that this mistake won’t be repeated with Egypt.

“I think it was a big mistake. Maybe we would now have peace in the Middle East if we had recognised a new, elected new government and supported and worked with it,” he commented, adding that this what we have learnt now in Egypt.

“We are now behaving differently, by giving the Islamists the chance to rule,” he commented.

Carter met about a week ago with Mohamed el-Morsi, the Chairman of Egypt’s new Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Muslim Brotherhood, at the premises of the party in Cairo.