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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (36241)	3/23/2004 3:09:59 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793958

Some good commentary from Mideast on Target: Killing the Sheikh by Elliot Chodoff The elimination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has drawn the anticipated condemnation of much of the European community, and, as an afterthought by the US administration as well. Decrying the Israeli strike as “extra-judicial killing,” the European leaders have essentially declared that terrorist leaders should be granted immunity from military action against them. Further, the leaders have reiterated their fears that killing Yassin would trigger an escalation of terrorism and make the resolution of the conflict more difficult. The killing of terrorist leaders cannot be considered extra judicial unless one believes that all military killing falls into this category. The terrorists who, in effect, have declared war on Western society are combatants in that war, and as such are legitimate targets at all times in all places. Sheikh Yassin had been considered by Israel to be a spiritual and ideological leader of Hamas for many years and as a result was not targeted until last year, when it became apparent that he was an integral participant in planning terrorist attacks. The distinction between an ideologue and a terrorist is a fine one, but Israel has held to it throughout the recent fighting. To argue that Yassin’s death will encourage terrorism motivated by revenge is to utterly ignore the fact that Israel faces some 50-60 daily specific warnings of terrorist attacks. While an increase in individual revenge-based motivation is possible, the terrorist organizations are already operating at close to their full potential. The low number of terrorist successes is due, as always, to the effectiveness of the IDF and other Israeli security services. More likely, the Yassin killing will have a disruptive effect on Hamas and other terrorist organizations. A power struggle within Hamas, or a fragmenting of the organization as new leaders emerge, is certainly a real possibility. Yassin was the founder and chief ideologue and the movement will be hard pressed to replace him. In addition, the Israeli strike proves yet again that Hamas, like the other terrorist organizations, is penetrated by informers who are willing and able to mark high quality targets such as Yassin. This will have a positive effect as loyalties will be questioned and investigated, and leaders now in hiding will be forced to reassess the security of their situations. The Hamas leadership, which has dedicated almost all its resources to survival over the past year, will now be forced to spend even more to evade Israeli attacks. This will leave little time and energy for planning terrorist attacks. Sadly, the US administration, which had reacted with understanding at first, later changed its approach to condemnation as protests poured in from the Arab world. According to the NY Times an administration official said, "When you see thousands of people all over the Arab world coming out into the streets, it's hard to ignore that. It's hard not to say anything about it." Does the administration believe that if it succeeds in killing Osama bin Laden the news will be greeted with joy in the Arab world? Fighting terrorism is certainly not going to be well received among a large segment of the population of the Middle East and we contend that it would be preferable to consider and face the ramifications of widespread support for international terrorists in the Arab street rather than bend to its pressures. The alternative, unfortunately, is to watch the celebrations on that street as were seen in the aftermath of 9/11.