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| Middle East |
| Israel sez it's beaten up Hamas on the West Bank... |
| 2002-09-09 |
| Israel says its has rounded up or killed nearly every known member of the military wing of Hamas operating in the West Bank. Time magazine's latest issue cited in its report Israeli intelligence officials as saying 98 percent of Hamas fighters "known to them" — or a total of 70 men — had been either killed or arrested in the area since the launch in late March of the Israel's West Bank offensive, known as Operation Defensive Shield. That's great news. Unfortunately, I consider Time to be only 1.5 tads more reliable than Debka... With the Israeli army still in or around every West Bank town, it's no longer possible for cells to organize across different areas. Don't go getting cocky. Those bastards can surprise you... They also claimed that many Hamas activists were calling for a temporary halt to suicide attacks, fearing their group could be wiped out as a political as well as a military force. Wouldn't that be pleasant? However, Time said other Hamas leaders, particularly those based outside the West Bank and Gaza argued that it was now more important than ever to show Israel that the movement had not been neutralized. It's so much easier to be bloodthirsty when you don't have to face the explosives yourself. It's also usually pretty stupid: "Tell Paulus to fight to the last man, the last bullet..." The internal debate could turn into a full-blown power struggle if the health of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin — a unifying figure for moderates and hardliners — continues to decline. Time quoted top Hamas officials as saying Yassin, a quadriplegic, had been hospitalized last week with lung and bowel problems. Now that is good news! When they can't breathe anymore and they poop themselves, death's door usually isn't far beyond... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #4 Harry emails me that the comments link is busted... Something browser-specific? He raises a good point: 70 -- count 'em -- 70 Hamas militants! Getcher terrorists right here before they're all used up! Is this meant to be serious? 70 guys, give or take, are terrorizing two nations and a whatever the PA is, with nearly 10 million residents? All by themselves? What they've been booming and rounding up have been the controllers, not the cannon fodder. As I've commented on a number of occasions, the cannon fodder's cheap and easily replaced - just find somebody stoopid, fire 'em up, and send 'em out. The controllers and the runners are the core of the organization, the "true believers." Once they've been wiped out, the organization's gone because there's no one to hold it together. The gunnies end up holding up liquor stores or working in the food service industry. I think we'll find that all of these organizations, with the possible exception of al-Qaeda, have a core of around a hundred members. (The November 17th bunch in Greece had 14 members when I stopped counting the arrests, and they might be up to 20 now, but not much higher. They were unusual in that the controllers and the snuffies were the same.) I also suspect we'll find that most of the groups are essentially family businesses, except for the ones run by sovreign governments like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Also not counted in the terror organization is the political front, which is larger, and which'll reconstitute the gunny wing - but they'll need time, and they'll be under the Israelis' eyes as they're doing it. But if Sheikh Yassin's at death's door that leaves only three members of the politburo to do the job... |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-09-09 19:46:33 |
| #3 It's a sign from Allah! |
| Posted by: Allah 2002-09-09 16:54:35 |
| #2 'Course, from our point of view, it's a dandy sign... |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-09-09 16:33:12 |
| #1 Quadriplegics typically have these problems on multiple occasions, so being in the hospital doesn't necessarily mean that the end is near for Yassin. Of course, it's not a good prognostic sign. If he has a tracheostomy and is on an assist ventilator, then it's a really bad sign. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-09-09 14:48:38 |