Yasser arafat is dead

[Cynic81]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/10/arafat.obit/index.html

 

[PiranhaPlant]

I'm a little bit surprised but it was bound to happen. Kept hearing on the radio over and over, he's alive not dead.

 

[Finch]

its unfortunante he spent his last three years being penned in his West Bank headquarters by Israeli tanks

Quote[/b] ]he saw his influence weakened by the rise of radical Islam in recent years.

So... he was hurt by radicle islam too??

Quote[/b] ]Arafat crisscrossed the globe in his quest for diplomatic support in opening a dialogue with the United States and Israel. In 1988 he formally renounced terrorism, and the peace process was born.

By 1993 Arafat was ready to recognize Israel's right to exist. He signed a peace agreement with Israel which envisaged the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over a five-year period - the foundations for a future independent Palestinian state.

 

[Ozzy]

I think he was poisoned or killed in some other way.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

For every "bad" person dead, theres always a predecessor to take his place.

 

[herenorthere]

It's amazing how recent Israeli governments could behave so badly that a murderer like Arafat ended up looking like the statesman. It wasn't easy, but they managed it. Now Bin Laden is talking the same talk. Let's hope our government's behavior doesn't enable him pull it off too. So far, I'm not optimistic.

 

[Finch]

Quote[/b] ]think he was poisoned or killed in some other way

i dont think so. Before he left he had gallstones and was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Also he had the flu when he went to the hospital

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

one down...
fidel castro, osama, saddam, the lybia guy,the korean guy, etc.. to go

 

[scottychaos]

I heard on the radio that many Palestinians are blaming his death on Israel..
that must be true, because, as we all know, elderly people NEVER die of natural causes!

Scot

 

[ALLOSAURZ]

Quote[/b] (TheAlphaWolf @ Nov. 11 2004,11:06)]one down...
fidel castro, osama, saddam, the lybia guy,the korean guy, etc.. to go

I'd scratch fidel castro off that list. The only majorly bad thing he has done was support the russians during te Cold War and he did that for Cuba. The money he recieved from the USSR went to his war on illiteracy, free universal health care etc. Castro is not a bad leader it is just his views differ with Amercan views so we label him evil. Not all communists are bad.

 

[Cynic81]

And Qaddafi (The Libya guy you speak of) has already renounced Nukes. So there's that at least. Plus, even if he dies he's already groomed his son to take his place.

Although Castro will likely be the next to go. And Cuban communism will likely go with him. o/

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

yeah well.... ...

 

[D muscipula]

Quote[/b] (ALLOSAURZ @ Nov. 11 2004,1:53)]I'd scratch fidel castro off that list. The only majorly bad thing he has done was support the russians during te Cold War and he did that for Cuba. The money he recieved from the USSR went to his war on illiteracy, free universal health care etc. Castro is not a bad leader it is just his views differ with Amercan views so we label him evil. Not all communists are bad.

A reign of terror is never good for the people, no matter how many good things it has on its agenda. I have heard from people who met Castro in person that he's a monster. Obviously that's circumstantial, but there are an awful lot of people who agree with that assessment who lived under his government.

 

[Finch]

demonic regimes are so amazingly abundant throught the record of human civilizations that some historyians consider it a normal state of human rule.

 

[Finch]

well mayby not deemonic, but highy oppresive and amoral

 

[Fygee]

I'm surprised they didn't replace his dying organs with robotic parts. He could've been Cyber-Arafat, savior of the PLO.

At any rate, I shed no tears over his death as he is, at heart, a terrorist. Rather than try to progress his people to a peaceful life in a non-violent campaign for their own nation, he chose bombs, guns, death, and cowardice.

 

[shokuchuu]

Ariel Sharon?

 

[Lauderdale]

Quote[/b] ]Castro is not a bad leader it is just his views differ with Amercan views so we label him evil. Not all communists are bad.

We are fortunate here in the United States that we can express our opinions without fear of reprisal.  However, standing on a corner of Calle Ocho in Miami making that statement would not be the smartest thing you could do.
There is no doubt that Castro is intelligent.  He is the longest lasting dictator in the world.  It is true that he raised the literacy rate to the highest in the Caribbean but the cost to the Cuban people, in both monetary and humanitarian terms, was enormous.
His participation in the drug trade was every bit as bad as Manuel Noriega and he was only marginally less brutal.  I have a personal bone to pick with Noriega…too bad he is in jail.

 

[herenorthere]

Cuba's literacy rate, life expectancy, and infant mortality rates aren't just the best in the Caribbean, they're equal to the US.  I bet they weren't anywhere close when the Miami mafia were in control.  

Now we have the Patriot Act and will soon have an AG who believes in torture.   People attending Bush's campaign appearances were screened to exclude dissent and protests are often restricted to a "free speech zone" out of sight and out of mind.

Looks like Bush has a great deal of admiration for Castro's ways.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Quote[/b] (Fygee @ Nov. 11 2004,8:45)]I'm surprised they didn't replace his dying organs with robotic parts. He could've been Cyber-Arafat, savior of the PLO.

Yes, but people would have also shortened his name to Cyber-fat

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