DEATH OF A PEACE SALESMAN (Ted Rall alert-BARF)

When the Israeli prime minister began demanding that the Palestinian Authority jettison Yasser Arafat as its leader a few months back, even his fans knew he'd crossed the line. Israel was in no position to give the Palestinians this much advice. Sure, Bush had refused to even shake Arafat's hand, but the administration hadn't yet endorsed Sharon's ridiculous bid to beat the Palestinians by turning their leader into an Israeli puppet.

"(Washington) is not an honest broker or a neutral intermediary; it stands completely behind Israel," Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk told Reuters in Damascus on June 10. Then, in a speech seemingly tailor-made to confirm that intifadist statement, George W. Bush dangled the possibility of American support for the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank in exchange for Arafat's ouster: "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born," he said on June 24. Presumably that "new leadership" would be friendly to both American and Israeli interests.

What would you know - our own homegrown Robert Fisk. He's even more shriller than Fisk. Its bad enough we get bashed from a Limey jealous of America; we don't need an enfant terrible the likes of Ted Rall telling us we've grown too big for our britches. Oh well - you can't convince every American on the eve of the Fourth of July to show some appreciation for this country!

Actually, this was an informative article. Its good to know that Hamas has a "politbureau". They've clearly mixed a little communism in with their other political and religous aims. Good to know. Wow. Ted Rall actually provided some potentially useful information. Who knew?

The rest is pure boring, angry, failure talk though. I'd like to know if he has any this crazy stuff we like to call "evidence" that the US government was involved in the attempted coup in Venezuela. I have a suspicion that people like Mr.Cheney know EXACTLY how to make a coup stick in a unstable South American state. It's not like it was hard to see coming. Unpopular marxist leader, unhappy military brass, hard economic times, mass public movements. Sure, they needed external help to bring that mess down. Tons of it. That coup was amateur hour,if the CIA offered anything except interest in the outcome I'd be very surprised.I've seen nothing to support Rall's assertion.

And THAT is pure Rall. Pull a statement right out of your butt based on nothing but your own fevered little worldview and then state them like they're fact. I wish he'd stick with nasty, unfunny cartoons. They require him to put less words on paper and frankly, that's the only positive thing he can possibly offer.

Sorry. Had to vent.:)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.