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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (36244)	3/23/2004 3:42:59 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793963

The "Militant" instead of "Terrorist" in the lead tells you the news service that is reporting. Israel Says All Militant Leaders Marked for Death 58 minutes ago By Megan Goldin JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said all Palestinian militant leaders were "in its sights" Tuesday and put its security forces on high alert to meet any retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. Reuters Photo Reuters Slideshow: Mideast Conflict A day after the assassination, Hamas appointed a supreme leader and a new chief for the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) to replace Yassin, sources in the group said. Both are known as hard-liners opposed to any accommodation with the Jewish state. New supreme leader Khaled Meshaal, believed by Israel to be in Syria, heads the fundamentalist Islamic group's politburo. Gaza-based Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi has long acted as Hamas's spokesman. Both have both survived Israeli attempts on their lives and Israel has accused them of directing attacks on its citizens. "Everyone is in our sights," Israeli Internal Security Minister Tsahi Hanegbi told reporters. "There is no immunity to anyone." White House spokesman Scott McClellan, commenting on the Israeli threat, urged all parties to "exercise maximum restraint." Hamas has pledged to avenge Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli missile strike outside a Gaza mosque Monday. Israel said the wheelchair-bound cleric and Hamas spiritual leader masterminded suicide bombings. "We will fight them everywhere. We will hit them everywhere. We will chase them everywhere," Rantissi told thousands of mourners in Gaza's main soccer stadium. Previous assassinations triggered waves of suicide bombings on buses and cafes that killed scores of people in Israel, which put its security forces on high alert after Yassin's death. ARAFAT NEXT? Israel's army chief hinted that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah could also end up on the hit list, though security sources said there was no immediate plan to kill either. "I think that judging by their hysterical responses (to Yassin's assassination) it appears they realize it is getting closer to them," General Moshe Yaalon told reporters. Aides quoted Arafat as telling them after hearing that Yassin was dead: "I could be next." A statement purporting to come from an al-Qaeda linked group and published on an Islamist Internet site vowed to attack Israel's ally the United States, which unlike many countries did not condemn the assassination. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade claimed responsibility for the Madrid attack on March 11. U.S. stocks and the dollar plunged as news of Yassin's death added to market fears. Sentiment remained fragile Tuesday. Israel stepped up strikes on militants after suicide bombers killed 10 people at Ashdod port last week. Sharon has ruled out peace talks with Palestinians until attacks on Israelis stop. The killing of Yassin appeared to be part of Sharon's bid to smash the most potent Palestinian militant group to prevent it claiming victory if he goes ahead with a planned pullout of 7,500 settlers from Gaza, home to 1.3 million Palestinians. Under a go-it-alone plan if a U.S.-backed peace "road map" remains stalled amid violence, Sharon has also threatened to draw a "security line" in the West Bank that would leave the Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state. Many Israelis steered clear of crowded places Tuesday and embassies abroad were told to tighten security. But the head of military intelligence suggested militants could do no more than they were already doing to carry out attacks. In a demonstration an Israeli cabinet minister said widened a rift between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, several thousand Israeli Arabs, chanting "revenge, revenge," marched in the biblical town of Nazareth in tribute to Yassin.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (36244)	3/23/2004 5:43:47 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793963

American Thinker - Europe Stands Shoulder to Shoulder with Hamas By Michael Morris The Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has provided another opportunity to witness the alarming double standards displayed by the EU in regard to the war on terrorism. Their theory of Terrorist Relativity is based on the idea that one man’s “terrorist” is another’s “freedom fighter.” Of course, you can guess to which category they believe the late “spiritual leader” of Hamas belongs. Having financed the Palestinians to the tune of four billion euros over the last ten years, the EU has, in effect, sanitized suicide bombings when the victims are Israeli civilians. Part of that EU money is reaching the operational level of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas, so from Europe’s rather twisted perspective, Palestinian terrorists aren’t as bad as the Al-Qaeda mob. They may both massacre innocent civilians, but that’s just a coincidence. For young brainwashed suicide bombers, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin acted as a motivational speaker on how to achieve more in the growing wholesale murder industry. Causing carnage from the comfort of his wheelchair, this old poison-breath pushed the buttons of the demented youngsters sent out to sacrifice themselves to the altar of Hamas. Naturally, EU statesmen are awfully cut-up about his departure from the realm of the living. They’ll miss the old devil. As stated by Jacques Chirac, Jack Straw and a collective EU statement, Europeans think the Israelis were jolly rotten to do such a nasty thing to a defenseless old man in a wheelchair. They’ve made more condemnations over Yassin’s assassination than they ever mustered for the hundreds of terrorist victims for which his “spiritual” instruction was ultimately responsible. How odd then; that only a few hours after having expressed outrage at Israel, and upon leaving another EU meeting on terrorism, Jack Straw came out with this gem: “What we need is action”. Of course, what the EU means by action is anyone’s guess, though Israel’s type of direct action is obviously out of the question and far too effective. The Europeans still haven’t managed to implement the previous set of anti-terrorist policies they decided on the last occasion they got together. Again, it’s all relative to the Europeans, just like terrorism. Deciding on action takes an insufferable amount of time because the process of moral justification along each bureaucratic step of the way needs to be weighed so very carefully. There is an insane paranoia that the fight against terrorism might just infringe ever so slightly on someone’s human rights, and that would be the real catastrophe – unlike the slaughter of innocents. In the European Theory of Terrorist Relativity, self-defense ceases to be a reasonable excuse for taking direct action against terrorists who are known to be planning atrocities. In the case of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, there can be no doubt that had he remained breathing, a new litter of suicide bombers would soon be ready to deal out more death and mayhem in the cafes and pizzerias of Israel. But let’s concentrate on Jack Straw, the British Foreign Minister, who deserves special treatment for being the epitome of hypocrisy. His government is currently involved in all sorts of special operations with the US, in which ex-judicial killings are a fact of life. British SAS forces wouldn’t blink twice if they had the opportunity to assassinate Bin Laden. So how can this pompous fool of a man even dare to criticize Israel for the type of successful operation which led to the removal of Yassin? Perhaps it’s only to please his European colleagues – a convenient compromise of buffoons. Or maybe he really is a pathetic as he sounds. The other fact that seems to have escaped Mr. Consistency is that all the other Europeans were mouthing off about the illegality of the Israeli assassination in much the same manner as they’ve been accusing the British government for waging an illegal war in Iraq. The British have always moaned about past IRA funding activities in the US, and rightly so. Unfortunately it took 9/11 for many Americans to understand that the mass murder of innocents is terrorism no matter how you look at it. Consequently, Bush came down hard on IRA activity in the US and in places such as Colombia. So nowadays, it’s not the Americans adopting double standards but the British and Europeans. There go the fools that will never learn – wave them au revoir. Michael Morris is our London Correspondent Michael Morris