Posted on 04/08/2002 11:19:35 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
About 58 percent of Americans now believe Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is a terrorist, up seven points from a separate poll taken recently.
Last week, 51 percent said they thought Arafat was a terrorist, compared to just 17 percent who thought he was not, according to pollster Scott Rasmussen of ScottPolls.com.
"Apparently, Israel's aggressive actions have not created a backlash of sympathy for the Palestinian leader," he said.
According to the poll, which was conducted for Fox News' "Fox and Friends" morning program April 5-6, 64 percent of men say Arafat is a terrorist while 52 percent of women share that view.
Politically, the GOP more identifies him as a terrorist than Democrats. Some 73 percent of Republicans surveyed called Arafat a terrorist while only 49 percent of Democrats did. Fifty-one percent of unaffiliated Americans said he was.
More Americans also blame the Palestinians for the worsening violence in the Mideast. According to Rasmussen's survey of 1,000 adults, half say the Palestinians are responsible for the violence while just 16 percent blame the Israelis; 24 percent say both sides share responsibility.
A narrow majority of Americans – 46 percent – say the U.S. should let Israel and the Palestinians work out a resolution to the current violence, while 40 percent said the U.S. should impose a solution and force both sides to make concessions.
Most feel President Bush is handling the crisis well. Fifty-six percent say Bush is doing a good or an excellent job while 23 percent say fair and 17 percent said poor.
Bush's approval numbers were the same in last week's survey.
Meanwhile on Monday, two more Israeli Defense Force soldiers were killed and three wounded in the Jenin refugee camp, shot dead by Palestinian gunmen, Israeli reports said.
The Palestinians were members of the Islamic Jihad group, Israeli military officials said, adding that some 30 Palestinian gunmen had been killed since the invasion of the Jenin area began Friday.
WND should not become Reuters
A narrow majority of Americans – 46 percent – say the U.S. should let Israel and the Palestinians work out a resolution to the current violence
46% is not a majority!!! no more than Clinton got a majority of 43% in 1992.
=o)... its off my chest
Oh... the fairer sex at it again... Okay, I suppose I understand why the women cut Slick Willie some slack... but ARAFAT? Are they turned on by the rag on his head or that studly Harrison Ford-like five o'clock shadow?
Arafat IS a terrorist.
Regarding the wave of anti-American/anti-Israeli protests sweeping Europe and Asia, the media coverage has been nothing short of orgy-like. Television viewers are endlessly bombarded by scowling images of venom-spewing, militant anti-Semites "protesting" Israeli incursion into the West Bank in her campaign to rout out terrorists.The ulterior purpose behind the media fixation on "protests" is as plain as the nose on your face: Prevail upon Americans the notion that Bush is botching foreign policy, big time -- and drive his job approval ratings -- still hovering at or near 80% -- southward. Instead, the incessant pro-"Palestinian" "news" slant has backfired, with surveys showing Americans backing Israel in overwhelming margins over the media's beloved "Palestinians".
According to a CNN/USATODAY/Gallup poll out tonight, Americans stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel: 50% say their sympathies are with Israel, while only 15% side with the "Palestinians". Moreover, despite the non-stop pro-Arafat media barrage, a whopping six out of ten Americans consider Yasser Arafat an enemy of the United States.
Another dubious facet of media reportage I've found singularly amusing: The cryptogram behind the comparative body count totals. To hear Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings tell it, since the "Palestinian" side has racked up the higher casualty count, ergo "Palestinians" are the 'good guys' -- not the Israelis.
By this twisted, cockamamie "logic", the Nazis were morally head-and-shoulders above the allies -- the former having sustained the higher casualty count. From media ding-a-lings, among whom sympathy for Arafat runs high, this moral inversion is par-for-the-course, however.
Meanwhile, any doubt America was still serious about Saddam Hussein, the weekend Bush-Blair joint-press conference in Crawford will have laid such doubts to rest.
To Democrats and their Big Media accomplices, the roiling Mideast crisis looked like a godsend at first.
The hope was that the Bush administration, now 'mired' in the thorny thicket of the Mideast, would have no choice but to 'back-burner' Iraq. Any plans for imminent military action -- or any military action this year, for that matter -- was now utterly out of the question, or so went their wishful thinking.
For Saddam, it would have been the 'mother-of-all' victories, a remarkable return on a paltry investment. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how turmoil in the Mideast works to his advantage. It keeps the U.S. distracted and complicates Washington's efforts at coalition-building, particularly with moderate Arab states. Pouring gasoline on a flame, Saddam instituted a system of lucrative payments to families of suicide bombers -- recently upping the anty to $50,000 per bomber. With each new suicide attack, Hussein would rub his hands in glee.
(Absurdly, liberals still debate whether Saddam is a terrorist or not. Hardball host Chris Matthews has become a veritable apologist for Iraq, labeling anyone who dares disagree a "neo-con". As Matthews sees it, Bush is but a marionette puppet of those devilish "neo-cons". He's surrounded by them. For some, however, the phrase itself carries ugly, anti-Semitic overtones).
For Saddam, then came the 'bad' news on Saturday.
At the Crawford press conference, Prime Minister Blair was as adamant as Bush that Iraq will not be allowed to continue developing weapons of mass destruction. He said "you cannot have a situation in which he [Saddam] carries on in being in breach of the U.N. resolutions and refusing to allow" weapons inspectors back in.
"We will hold Saddam Hussein accountable for broken promises", Bush warned ominously. If Saddam banked on the two leaders being overly distracted by Mideast events, he sorely miscalculated. Iraq -- not the Mideast -- is "what a lot of our discussion over there at the Prairie Chapel Ranch has been about", said Bush.
Memo to Hussein: Sorry, Charlie. Your diversionary ploy didn't work.
News that Tony Blair was still on board with U.S. plans to topple Hussein sparked a callow conniption fit among British lefties. The Mirror's Paul Routledge went on a rampage. He denounced Blair bitterly as a "whimpering poodle" -- Bush's "whimpering poodle". The zany writer dubbed the Crawford Ranch a "Texan poodle parlour."
Memo to Routledge: Wanna see a real poodle? Stand in front of a Mirror, no pun intended.
The Independent belittled Blair to "regional salesperson for a policy already decided by the President". The Guardian reported "disquiet from [Blair's] own backbenchers over his new hardline approach to Iraq."
"George Galloway", according to the Guardian, "accused the prime minister of 'needing his head examining' for wanting to open up a 'second war' in the Middle East."
But if you think these Saddam Hussein groupies are in a tizzy now, boy, just wait till the bombs start to drop.
Meanwhile, the Kabuki dance continues, with Powell expressing the hope that Israel's initial pull-back from the "territories" augurs "the beginning of a full withdrawal". Secretary Powell landed in Morocco on Monday on the first leg of his 'let's-give-peace-a-chance' mission that will take him to Israel either on Wednesday or Thursday.
Of course, this "peacemaking mission" is nothing but a charade, as are U.S. calls for Israeli withdrawal. (wink, wink). Team Bush is cleverly setting the table for Arafat's final downfall. By now, everyone (and his sister) knows Arafat will never make peace with Jews -- he's an Arab Nazi, after all. Illustrating this point lies at the heart of this trip.
'Setting the table' involves three phases:
Phase #1) Give Israel a face-saving pretext to withdraw (but enough time to gather intel and deal terrorists a major blow).
Phase #2) Allow Arafat to fail to reach an agreement with Israel.
Phase #3) Once the suicide bombings resume, all bets are off -- it's showtime. Israel gets the green light to crush Arafat once and for all, while the U.S. and her allies move on to Iraq.My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
To Tom Daschle (alias: *HOLE*), this is a majority and the the offending minority (the 56%) should have to pay double their taxes if they don't like it.
| SHUNNED! |
I'm still waiting for the press, during one of the endless depictions of riots from the unifiedArab street, TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE ORIGIN OF BLACK SEPTEMBER COMES FROM WHEN THE PALESTINIAN's ARAB BROTHERS IN JORDAN BOOTED THEIR PALI A$$es OUT OF JORDAN in 1972.
So much for Arab unity.
MIDDLE EAST ACCORD: ANOTHER BID FOR PEACE
... PLO out after a bloody clash in what is known as Black September. Arafat moves his
headquarters to southern Lebanon, from where the PLO is strategically poised ...
www.cbc.ca/insidecbc/newsinreview/dec98/middle/homeland.htm - 20k - Cached - Similar pages
LET'S TALK WAR CRIMES
... in the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum. They were killed by Black September, Arafat's gunmen,
after President Nixon refused to release Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian ...
www.netanyahu.org/lettalwarcri.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages
USCFL - Frequently Asked Questions
... to move against King Hussein. That bloody day was known as Black September. Arafat
fled to the unsuspecting and friendly arms of the Lebanese people. Lebanon ...
freelebanon.org/faqs.htm - 55k - Cached - Similar pages
November 6, 2001
... from their own Arab brethren. Do you remember the consequences of "Black September",
Arafat's failed attempt to seize power from Jordan's King Hussein in 1970 ...
www.law.mcgill.ca/students/quid/11-06-01/11-06.html - 78k - Cached - Similar pages
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.