NoPajamas.com

Let's be clear--Yasser Arafat was nothing more than an arab version of a Mafia don, and one with very little "honor" or "respect." He began in the gun-running business, grew his gang, took over gangs via murder and internecene warfare, and then skimmed off billions in aid money while continuing to inspire murder, terror, and hate. The fact that his sub-dons, having waited a few days in order to line up their own succession conflicts and settle who gets the turf AND hope to track down his hidden zillions, have finally thrown the switch on the machines that kept the old bloodsucker alive is hardly news. It is to be hoped that his removal from the scene will allow for peace progress...but that can only come from realism about who he was--not a hero to anyone, even his own people, but a crook, a scavenger, a thief, a murderer, and a liar. Statesman? Hardly. As the Israeli interior minister explained when telling reporters why he would not be allowed to be buried in Jerusalem, bluntly, : "Jerusalem is where we bury Jewish kings, not Arab terrorists." Good riddance.....and by the way, there are VERY strong reasons to believe that his cause of death was, in fact, AIDS due to his well-documented sexual habits. Sic semper tyranis indeed.