Robert Fisk: The gloves are off in terror war, and everyone is at risk

The (UK) Star ^ | 3.23.04 | Robert Fisk

[mhking]

London - It doesn't take an awful lot of courage to murder a paraplegic in a wheelchair. But it takes only a few moments to absorb the implications of the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin yesterday.

Yes, he enthusiastically endorsed suicide bombings - including the murder of Israeli children. Yes, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword, in a wheelchair or not. But something went wrong with the narrative of the news story yesterday, and something infinitely more dangerous - another sinister precedent - was set for our brave new world.

Take the old man himself. From the start, the Israeli line was simple. Yassin was the "head of the snake" - to use the words of the Israeli ambassador to London - the head of Hamas, "one of the world's most dangerous terrorist organisations".

But then came obfuscation from the world's media. Yassin, BBC World Service Television told us at lunchtime, was originally freed by the Israelis in a "prisoner exchange". Then, later in the day, the BBC told us that he had been freed "following a deal brokered by King Hussein".

Which was all very strange. He was a prisoner of the Israelis. This "head of the snake" was in an Israeli prison. And then - bingo - this supposed monster was let go because of a "deal". So let's remember what the "deal" was.

Yassin was set free by no less than Benjamin Netanyahu when he was prime minister of Israel. King Hussein wasn't a "broker" between two sides.

Two Israeli Mossad agents had tried to murder a Hamas official in Amman, the capital of an Arab nation which had a peace agreement with Israel.

They had injected the Hamas man with poison, and the late King Hussein called the US president in fury and threatened to put the captured Mossad men on trial if he wasn't given the antidote to the poison and if Yassin wasn't released.

Netanyahu immediately gave in. Yassin was freed and the Mossad lads went safely home to Israel.

So the "head of the snake" was let loose by Israel itself, courtesy of the then Israeli prime minister - a chapter in the narrative of history which was conveniently forgotten yesterday. Which is all very odd.

If the elderly cleric really was worthy of state murder, why did Netanyahu let him go in the first place? It was not a question that anyone wanted to ask yesterday.

But there was something infinitely more dangerous in all this. Yet another Arab had been assassinated. The Americans want to kill Bin Laden. They want to kill Mullah Omar. They killed Saddam's sons. Just as they killed three al-Qaeda men in Yemen.

The Israelis repeatedly threaten to murder Yasser Arafat. It's getting to be a habit.

No one has begun to work out the implications of all this. For years, there has been an unwritten rule in the cruel war of government-versus-guerrilla. You can kill the men on the street, the bomb-makers and gunmen, but the leadership was allowed to survive.

Now all has changed utterly. Anyone who advocates violence - even if they are palpably incapable of committing it - are now on a death list. So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?

The top guys are now in the firing line. Let us not say we didn't know.

[mhking]

Where's that photo of Fisk after his a$$ was kicked?

[mhking]

You had to figure that Fisk would moan about Sauramon's demise yesterday. Anybody wanna take on the rest of the bilge he's spewing?

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[prion]

So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?

The other side recognizes rules? What would those be, exactly?

[Guillermo]

"Fiskal responsibility -- it's always the Great Satan's fault." - Mark Steyn

[dirtboy]

Now all has changed utterly. Anyone who advocates violence - even if they are palpably incapable of committing it - are now on a death list. So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?

Fisk, you ****le, al Qaeda planned to fly hijacked airliners into the White House and the Capitol. And Saddam tried to asassinate former president Bush in the Nineties.

The started targeting our leadership years ago. But your despot-butt-kissing self conveniently ignores that, doesn't it?

[Betaille]

So let me get this straight. Because Israel showed Yassin mercy 7 years ago... they have no right to defend themselves now?

[Asclepius]

You can kill the men on the street, the bomb-makers and gunmen, but the leadership was allowed to survive.

What a stupid rule. Thank God we abandoned it. You should always begin with the leadership and then work your way down the ranks leaving a trail of freely rolling heads. Decapitation works.

[Rutles4Ever]

Fisk=Lunatic

[johnfrink]

What the heck is his point? That because Yassin was freed some time ago he should not have been killed now? By that logic once someone is released from prison in the US they should never again be charged with a crime. Even by Fisk's standards this is a horribly incoherent article.

[richardtavor]

What an ass Fisk is.....

[Constitution Day]

Where's that photo of Fisk after his a$$ was kicked?

[Betaille]

"So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?"
First of all... he seems to be promoting or at least justifying the idea of assassinating our democratically elected leaders. For this he should be arrested and executed(okay I added in the executed part myself).
Secondly, since when were the terrorists fighting with their gloves on? It is only our side that has yet to take off its puffy mittens. Its time to hit them with a solid fist... and if that doesnt work... some brass knuckles.

[OpusatFR]

"Now all has changed utterly. Anyone who advocates violence - even if they are palpably incapable of committing it - are now on a death list. So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?"

Who the heck cares? This is a war. It's time the rest of the world figured that out. ~Especially the French, before that September ban on Headscarves takes effect.

[Monty22]

"For years, there has been an unwritten rule in the cruel war of government-versus-guerrilla. You can kill the men on the street, the bomb-makers and gunmen, but the leadership was allowed to survive."

Exactly, fisk, and that's why we got 9/11..

Perhaps we should change up the plans a little, eh?

[Celtjew Libertarian]

The top guys are now in the firing line. Let us not say we didn't know.

And the problem with this is what, exactly? Better the top guys in danger, what with their security and so forth, than everyday citizens.

[Wolfhound777]

London - It doesn't take an awful lot of courage to murder a paraplegic in a wheelchair.

But it takes all kinds of courage to walk into a restaurant on a holiday,blow yourself up and kill innocent civilians.

[plain talk]

late King Hussein called the US president in fury and threatened to put the captured Mossad men on trial if he wasn't given the antidote to the poison and if Yassin wasn't released.

Who was President then? Clinton? maybe it's all his fault he was released. Not sure. But it sounds good to me.

[redwolf00]

Pardon my ignorance, but who kicked it, when and why? [Looked like a good start!]

[RichInOC]

It doesn't take an awful lot of courage to murder a paraplegic in a wheelchair...

...true enough, Bob. Does the name Leon Klinghoffer mean anything to you?

[mylife]

Fisk you ingnorant slut! Yassin was imprisoned and released long before Hamas existed!