Abbas May Be Straw That Breaks Arafat

LA Times ^ | April 17, 2003 | Barry Rubin

[mewzilla]

Earth to the Beeb...

[jdege]

if he is brought back to the United States and prosecuted,

He's already been convicted in Italy, and they've asked to extradite him.

Since the Italians have such a good claim to him, I suggest that we bring him back to the US, give him a fair trial, sentence him to death, execute that sentence, and then extradite him to Italy.

[ImpotentRage]

I like the way you think!

[snooker]

LA Times, the last news organization to find out all these terrorists are joined at the hip. They differ only in name.

[shhrubbery!]

Did you hear the question some press-twerp asked General Brooks about the Abbas capture at the Centcom briefing yesterday?

It went something like this: Given that Abu Abbas has committed no terrorist acts for many years and has renounced terrorism, why are we arresting him now?

UNbelievable.

[Aquinasfan]

I suggest that we bring him back to the US, give him a fair trial, sentence him to death, execute that sentence, and then extradite him to Italy.

I agree. ""Damn the delays - let's give him a fair trial and then hang him!" -Judge Roy Bean

[shhrubbery!]

That question bothered me so much I just decided to look up the transcript (dated 4/16/03 on Centcom's website). Here it is:

Q[uestion:] General, Paul Adams, BBC... on Abu Abbas, I'm just wondering why you found it necessary to devote time and energy to arresting a man who, for the last dozen years or so, has not been involved, to the best of anyone's knowledge, in any acts of terrorism, who's actually renounced terrorism and condemned 9/11; is, in effect, a has-been.

And here is General Brooks's answer

Gen. Brooks:...Abu Abbas is a terrorist. He was a terrorist. He remains a terrorist. And he will be viewed as such. Notwithstanding any declarations that have been made in recent years, his role in terrorism, his links to terrorist organizations, are abundantly clear.

[Mister Baredog]

Arafat is overdue to choke on a chicken bone or something similar. Can you imagine the day there are statues of this moron all over the West Bank?

[1Old Pro]

LA Times, the last news organization to find out all these terrorists are joined at the hip. They differ only in name.

Good point, which is why we needed to get rid of Saddam.

[Beck_isright]

My idea of a sound execution of policy.

[SJackson]

It went something like this: Given that Abu Abbas has committed no terrorist acts for many years and has renounced terrorism, why are we arresting him now?

Only if you give him a pass on recent events like the following

+The murder of Jerusalem teenager Yuri Gushchin in Ramallah in July 2001
+The bombing of a checkpoint junction in Haifa which injured five
+The planting of a bomb near Um Safa
+The attempted bombing of a military bus near Jenin
+A conspiracy to carry out attacks at Ben Gurion Airport and in Tel-Aviv

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[Grampa Dave]

Start giving Abu Abbas IV Versed and Morphine. Then have a video cam on to record his answers to questions that Americans and Israelis have for this killer!

Then arrest or kill all of the contacts Abu Abbas talks about. Repeat the IV Versed and Morphine on those arrested and ask the good questions again re who was/is responsible for Islamofascist/Kazi terrorist acts in Israel and around the World.

[Paleo Conservative]

Perhaps Abbas involuntarily will do more to bring peace and Palestinian independence in paying for his crimes than he ever did committing them.

This is an L.A. Times article? It looks more like an article I would expect in the Washington Times.

[browardchad]

This is an L.A. Times article? It looks more like an article I would expect in the Washington Times.

It's a "Commentary," or opinion piece -- the crumbs that the liberal press throw to non-liberals to prove how "fair" the liberal press is. The L.A. Times has not had an epiphany.

[twigs]

I DID hear that question. Without a doubt, among some of the most bitter, poisoned, vitriolic questions I've ever heard at press conferences, this one led the pack without a close second for being stupid, as well as malicious. Quite unbelievable!

[bert]

Which is to say, The speculation about charges or guilt in relation to the Klinghoffer murder might be irelevant if there are plenty of other possible charges. The press is very nearsighted and unable to see the big picture.

[Fitzcarraldo]

It went something like this: Given that Abu Abbas has committed no terrorist acts for many years and has renounced terrorism, why are we arresting him now?

Proof that IQs have dropped significantly in the reporting profession.

[kevao]

Given that Abu Abbas has committed no terrorist acts for many years and has renounced terrorism, why are we arresting him now?

Maybe there's a statute of limitations on killing an American citizen.