Posted on 01/26/2002 10:44:29 PM PST by IcommGen
(8:00) Zinni: PA is a mafia and Arafat is its leader
The Palestinian Authority is a mafia, and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is the leader of the mafia, US special envoy Anthony Zinni said today.
Zinni made his remarks after his planned visit to the region was suspended by US President George W. Bush.
Sources in the prime minister's bureau expressed satisfaction with the decision, saying it will help in the war against terrorism. However, diplomatic sources said it could lead to more bloodletting on both sides.
The US administration threatened over the weekend to impose sanctions against Arafat, from closing the PLO's offices in Washington to totally cutting off relations, if he fails to prove he is making a concerted effort to fight terrorism.
Meanwhile, security forces remain on high alert throughout the country in response to intelligence warnings of planned terrorist attacks.
Police are out in force, especially along the Green Line, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.
Late last night, Palestinian terrorists lightly wounded an Israeli Arab taxi driver in a shooting attack between Peduel and Alei Zahav in Samaria, Army Radio reported.
Now, if he gets apoplectic enough he might go and do something really dumb. And be out of there.
Sad for you, no doubt. Sad for those candy-partyers. Oh well - what goes around comes around, you know ;). And the party seems to be over.
Wonder when all the terrorist-supporting crackpots are going to show up and start howling?
It was a suicide bomber near Sbarros, same block as the last time. So far, over 100 wounded, with the bomber dead. The thread's here
Naw, they won't do that. They'll just post a zillion articles from ArabNews & Robert Fisk on their "own" threads.
An article in yesterday's Miami Herald had this comment:
I think the general's comments reflect a specific intention by the Administration to communicate unhappiness with Arafat. (And Zinni certainly does a nice job of "escalating".)
I hope you are right, but it is asking a lot to take the "SLAM" out of I-SLAM.
Fine. Too bad American Jews still fawn over the Clintons. Meanwhile, Bush does what he knows is right, and forgets about the stink eye he got from American Jews in the election.
Don't forget the free rock concerts at the White House and the celebrity elbow-rubbing.
Every Jewish vote he got in Florida (LOTS of Jews in Florida) helped him win.
Elderly Jews, at least, are creatures of habit. And they mostly all continue to vote Democrat. Come to think about it, most of us are creatures of habit in some way. Politics is the ultimate expression of habit. Many people, once they pick their "team" (i.e., party, philosophy, whatever) never think about it again. Clinton benefited from this, as well as the overwhelmingly liberal press. Its this one-stop mental shopping that allows movements to retain their backers long after they've become the opposite of what they started out to be.
I've often thought about why the press is so liberal, even when it is so obviously against any common-sense view of the common interest. The answer, of course, is that the lowest common denominator is what sells eyeballs, and ratings is what makes the mass media go.
I seriously doubt it's a business decision. The fact that the liberal intelligensia is so at odds with mainstream America goes against media bias being a calculated course. Media, cultural, and educational elites are so used to rubbing elbows with people who believe the same things they do that they simply accept their beliefs as common knowledge, and present them as such to the public. That's why, when presented with evidence to the contrary, they mislable, misunderstand, and discard it (are you listening, "far-right fringe elements", "fundamentalist Christians" and "hard-right conservatives"?).
Cases in point: talk radio and Fox News. Talk radio is predominantly conservative, and immensely popular. Fox News has distinguished themselves by *not* being sold out to the left, and they are kicking tail all over their left-leaning competitors.
I think that when the adults who are supposed to be making sure media outlets are profitable and competitive realize that they will get their lunches stolen if they don't balance their news and commentary, this problem of media bias will go down dramatically.
It's about darned time that sombody besides me stated that obvious analogy. Now, we need to KEEP saying it until the peaceniks get it through their heads.
BUMP for telling the world that terrorist organizations are nothing but organized crime rings.
I wouldn't be going to the Superbowl next Sunday. It's been too quiet too long on the Homefront. Don't have any inside info, just an obvious deduction.
On the other hand, it seems pretty clear to me that Bush has given up trying to negotiate with Arafat. He may very well have delivered an ultimatum to Arafat saying the violence must stop or we'll cut off all contact, etc. In fact, the deadline for such an ultimatum (if it has actually been made) may have passed.
The funny thing is that despite my reservations about how Zinni's comments have been reported, there's no doubt that the statement is objectively true, and that Zinni, along with just about everyone else in America, recognizes it to be the case.
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