11. november 2004

Arafat's diagnosis withheld Supporting the theory that Arafat died from Aids, it is most notable that the French hospital, under orders from his wife Suha, refuses to disclose Arafat's diagnosis. The most likely explanation, experts say, is that doctors knew what was wrong with the 75-year-old but weren't allowed to reveal it. There is a slim chance that the leader of the Palestinian cause had simply been too unfit for definitive tests, but some international medial experts say that is unlikely. "Today's machinery and imagery can provide a living autopsy, and his blood and urine is still going to give them the core diagnoses," said New York-based brain expert Dr. Eric Braverman. "I think you can be confident that the doctors have a diagnosis and they are not releasing it." Can anyone come up with a logical reason they should keep back this information from the Palestinian people and the world, unless the diagnosis would be deeply damaging? PS: Whatever was the cause of Arafat's death, Jeff Jacoby gives him the obituary he deserves. More importantly, he remembers some of his innocent victims. 9:26:07 PM    comment []  trackback []

Mourning the terrorist who wanted to be an Arab dictator Bjørn Stærk rounds up the Norwegian reaction to Arafat's death. Make no mistake about it: the few strong voices against Arafat are hardly mainstream. One notable exception, though. The Norwegian who knew him best, UN special enjoy Terje Rød-Larsen, formerly a supporter of Arafat, has recently become more critical, and didn't use his death to soften the criticism and disappointment. A Norwegian article in Aftenposten writes: - One of the reasons for his legitimity being undermined on the Palestinian side was that there were more and more agreement among the leaders and a large part of the Palestinian population that these four years had taken them in the wrong direction. Rød-Larsen remembers a late night when he met Arafat in his Gaza office. Rød-Larsen tried to convince the president to establish democratic processes, like transparancy in economic transactions, and have security forces with human rights as a clear objective. Then Arafat started to laugh, and said. - But, Terje, I am an Arab ruler. According to Rød-Larsen this means he considered such things as nonsense, and that his great ideals were people who were strong dictators, like the great Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Or, as we know, Saddam Hussein. Also: Did Arafat take the secret of his billions of dollars with him to the grave? I am not very optimistic about the transfer of power in the PA. A strong, charismatic leader is surrounded by men who are in their positions because they are good followers, not because they are leaders. Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmad Qorei are not widely popular. On the "Arab street", there is a strong conviction that Arafat was poisoned by the Israelis, despite the lack of evidence for this. By not buying into this, and in particular by not making the futile exercise of insisting Arafat is buried in Jerusalem, the new leaders may well show themselves sensible men, but at the cost of local popularity. Without access to Arafat's money, these men are doomed. The sound you are hearing is the sharpening of a thousand knives. They will give the new leadership a few weeks, maybe months, but then I fear the Palestinian territories will erupt into a fierce and violent power struggle. 9:22:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

Or maybe their dog caught it The Jawa Report has a dramatic blog exclusive of the mighty Islamic Army in Iraq's proud announcement that they shot down an American warplane. Hat tip to Dean's World. 3:41:30 PM    comment []  trackback []

Fallujah hostages freed The US-led forces attacking Fallujah have released four Iraqi hostages who still have their heads on their shoulders. Three of the men were contractors working for the US military, a US marines spokesman said, and the fourth said he was a taxi-driver. All of the men had been beaten and starved and were wearing handcuffs. This assault will not be the end of the insurgency and terrorism, but deprieving them of "save havens" where they can hide, regroup, rest, recruit and butcher innocents is paramount to winning the war. 1:51:36 PM    comment []  trackback []

And meanwhile, in Darfur... The Gweilo Diaries observe: Meanwhile, in Darfur, the United Nations, which promised never to forget the Rwandan genocide, after having promised never to forget the Cambodian killing fields, after having promised never to forget the Nazi Holocaust, apparantly forgot -- quite literally standing by and watching as Sudanese authorities attacked and destroyed a village in Darfur. Okay, that's not entirely accurate. First they ran away to a safe distance, then they stood and watched the attack. A proper formal report in three copies will be sent to Kofi Annan's office, to be filed under "Genocides on my watch." 1:47:20 PM    comment []  trackback []

Arafat is officially dead The godfather of terrorism is finally dead, and now it's official. And pretty close to schedule, as expected. 7:27:17 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.12.2004; 07:25:27.