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Originally posted by Penske_Account
Not really. Those groups both came out internal struggles. Arafat was outside of Israel, and attacked from outside. One was a civil war. Teh arab-israeli conflict is not.
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Arafat would say he came from inside Palestine. You don't have to agree with everything he said to see some truth in that. Ask Spanky.
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I still believe that there are lots of justificiations. None of them are that Hussien is a terrorist. He supported terrorists. He also had WMD programs. Refused to cooperate with UN inspections., TRried to assassinate our ex-President.. etc etc OK City.
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The terrorism and WMD rationales don't withstand the light of day. He actually let in the UN inspectors, but you and President Bush remember it differently.
I asked you the other day to explain what "terrorism" means as a category. You appear to attach great significance to the fact that some brutal applications of violence are state-sponsored, but others are not. If both Arafat and Hussein were brutes, why does it matter that Hussein had a country and Arafat only had the PLO?
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I disagree. Israel was forced tod eal with him becaseu to kill him would sent the Euros and the UN through the roof, and Israel was trying to play by some rules. I imagine we leaned on them too, as the Euros leaned on us and we needed them in the Cold War.
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Imagine what you like, but those were never the explanations I saw. You can try to reduce the larger of problem of Palestinian nationalism to Arafat's particular character flaws, but if it wasn't him it would have been someone else.
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For that I criticise us and apologise to Israel. Reagan, for one, should have had more principle. Bush did, and cut him off. Another reason I admire Bush.
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Reagan supported a lot of unsavory characters. We were fighting the Cold War.
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No schtick on this one. Why can't you denounce him without watering it down? I think that is absurd. SEriously.
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Seriously. What have I said that makes you think I don't denounce him?
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And maybe we shouldn't. Maybe principle should be more important, but none of the nations or individuals you cite above are solely terrorists who gain their traction as legitimate political axctors from acts of terrorism.
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Nor did Arafat. Unfortunately, Palestinians saw him as their leader.
