Am I evil for having immediately thought “Good!” when I heard this news:
Yasser Arafat’s gaunt, fragile appearance during last weekend’s inauguration of an emergency cabinet for the Palestinian Authority has raised a flurry of speculation over the state of the 74-year-old leader’s health. Palestinian officials on Wednesday denied rumors that Arafat had last week suffered a mild heart attack and explained that Arafat has been suffering from a bad case of the flu or an intestinal infection. But according to a source inside the compound, the recent working diagnosis is that Arafat is suffering from stomach cancer. Al-Jazeera TV reported Wednesday that two teams of doctors, one from Jordan and the other from Egypt, arrived in Ramallah Wednesday to treat Arafat. Abu Dhabi TV reported on Thursday that following their examination of the Palestinian leader, the Egyptian doctors “expressed concern” about the state of his health. Neither report specified his condition.
If you said that makes me evil, you are going to hate what I thought next- “I hope it is a really advanced case.” And please spare me the “Any loss of human life is a tragedy” nonsense.
TERRORIST. That is what the man is, was, and will always be. A terrorist.
Moe Lane
So, he has cancer – stomach, which I believe is one of the more painful ones – but if he leaves the compound he’ll never be allowed to come back, if he stays he’ll die a horribly painful death and if they try to operate on him there post op infections will undoubtedly do him in.
I guess that Kharma just likes being a stone cold motherfu*ker sometimes. Hey, say hi to Osama for me when you get to Hell, Yassir…
Kimmitt
Any loss of a human life is a tragedy.
Some tragedies are larger than others.
Moe Lane
Well, I’ll be… your response beats mine, Kimmitt.
Andrew Lazarus
A peaceful death for Arafat in the near future MIGHT help matters. A few years ago, I was more confident.
I won’t miss him either.
whatever
Don’t feel bad. When I heard “stomach cancer”, the first thing that came to mind was “I hope it is long and painful.”
Remember this man is a terrorist and has killed countless people either directly or indirectly. He deserves to die like a dog.
David Perron
Still, a quick death might result in the saving of lives that otherwise might be tragically lost. I’m inclined to lean in the direction of mercy on this one.
Mason
The only tragedy in the loss of Arafat would be that he didn’t die sooner.
Andrew Lazarus
I agree with David P. Amazing!
David Perron
So amazing that I’m considering changing my mind :p
tomsyl
Isn’t it just a simple formula you can see in effect around you every day called karmic balance? Yo don’t have to believe in Buddhism or Hinduism (I don’t), or in any religion at all, to know that the universe is always completely balanced at some level. If you screw enough people and do enough bad things, somethig bad will happen to you to balance things out. Remember that guy that had sex with his girlfriend in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC as part of some stupid beer contest? He died a few days ago at 38. Teddy Kennedy let some poor drunken sap drown forty years ago and he’s been the Ancient Mariner of the DNC ever since. How many times have you heard of a would-be suicide bomber blowing his own face off when his ordinace goes off prematurely on his workbench, or an ex-President contracting tertiary syphilis when his ordinance goes off in his pants once too often?
Somewhere a bald ceramic god with a fat stomach is smiling just a little more than he was before everyone got the news about Arafat’s cancer.
Saint Fnordius
The guy is dying a natural death after a relatively long life full of a mixed-bag of achievements. No real karmic balancing of the scales here.
I suspect that once he’s gone, more people will see how he really wasn’t the one behind all the violence after all. It’s like blaming Joschka Fischer (German Green politico) for the actions of Robin Wood (a radical eco-activist group).
I wish him a speedy, natural passage into the Otherworld; not because I like the guy, but because it is less volatile and improves the chances for peace.
Now if only Arial Sharon would get whacked with a cluestick, things might actually improve…
Ryan Waxx
Depends on weather you feel ‘Jew-killing’ is an achievement.
Arafat is not a terrorist… you all are letting him off far too easy. He IS a direct, eyes-wide-open enabler, shelterer and directer of terroists. He IS a armorer of terrorists. He IS a thugocrat, being one of the few people in the teritories with any money, and distributing that money is the source of his political power. Thank you, U.N..
Worse, far worse he is a living example to successful terrorist leaders: Orchestrate enough death, and a kingdom of perverted death-worshippers will be yours to rule. No one will check your accounts. You may lie with impunity, saying one thing in English and another in Arabic, confident that the media will cover for you. If a reporter dares tell the truth, deny him future access (or simply say you can’t guarantee his safety).
All you need to do is be willing to keep thousands of people in thrall to death, and therefore to you.
You are right in only one thing, Saint Headupyerass… history will be far kinder to this monster than he even remotely deserves. Because we already know the ideological bent of the people who will be buying the history books.