Article

2002-09-09 Middle East

Israel sez it's beaten up Hamas on the West Bank...

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Posted by Fred Pruitt 2002-09-09 01:49 pm|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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|| 2002-09-09 14:48:38|| Front Page Top

#2 'Course, from our point of view, it's a dandy sign...

Posted by Fred 2002-09-09 16:33:12|| 2002-09-09 16:33:12|| Front Page Top

#3 It's a sign from Allah!

Posted by Allah 2002-09-09 16:54:35|| 2002-09-09 16:54:35|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2002-09-09 19:46:33|| Front Page Top