While this article is written by a leftie, for the most part it is correct in addressing the utter cowardice of the likes of Arafat and bin Laden - they are willing to send others to die, but unwilling to get in harm's way themselves. Arafat is notorious for "slipping out the back". It speaks largely of the gullability of those who serve their causes - or their outright stupidity. It also speaks loudly of the evil that Arafat and bin Laden represent.
Best Regards, Ivan
their honest pursuit of sovereignty and simple dignity.
They are NOT pursuing sovereignty and they have no dignity.
It nurtures the worst in human behavior.....intolerance, hatred, subservience, slavery.
The Irish hunger strike is another matter. It's not clear whether or not it was suicide, since the Brits could have stopped it at any time. The Brits did, indeed, mistreat their prisoners, many of whom were merely scapegoats rather than real criminals. And it did serve a purpose, because it led the Brits eventually to ease up on their savage treatment of the Irish and start negotiating. The situation in Northern Ireland is still a sorry mess, especially after clinton kicked away the opportunity that he was given, but it's a lot better than it was back then. The same cannot be said about Vietnam.
As long as the Muslim suicide bombers are praised and honored by their people, they will keep doing it. They need that praise, more than they need their reward from Allah. What we need to do is to demonstrate unequivocally that their suicides are NOT productive. We have successfully done that in Afghanistan. You no longer find a bunch of naive Pakistanis running there to join the Jihad. They may be willing to blow themselves up for a glorious victory, but they are not eager to blow themselves up for no purpose, and to have their people curse them instead of praise them afterward--which is pretty much what is happening in Pakistan. Most Muslims in Pakistan think that their Mullahs were villains and fools to send those young men to suffer and die uselessly. And the young men who have returned are treated as stupid fools for having gone, not as heroes. That's the attitude we need to foster in the Middle East.