Arafat Dies

A man who betrayed his people and slaughtered thousands of innocents, all the while enriching himself and inflating his ego. Truly, the Che Guevara of the Arab world. What more needs to be said? (Actually, Jeff Jacoby summarizes it well enough.)

The French sent Arafat's corpse off with ceremonies befitting a head of state. Well, of course they did. He killed (mostly) Jews; I'm surprised they didn't declare a day of national mourning and pin the Legion of Honour to his chest.

President Bush, upon earlier, premature reports of Arafat's demise, said, "God bless his soul." I suppose nothing more could be expected from someone as intellectually muddled, ideologically confused as George Bush. The proper U.S. response should be a pointed silence.

Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, practically fell over himself to eulogize Arafat. "He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful symbol and forceful advocate. Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland," Mr. Carter said in a released statement. No surprise here. Jimmy Carter's presidency demonstrated the man's moral and geopolitical incompetence; during his post-White House career he has traipsed about the globe eagerly sidling up to every Third World mass murderer willing to pose with him for a photo-op.