Terrorists take 40% of the vote in Palestinian elections

It's a little hard to take this seriously when they dress up 6 year old kids in suicide bomber outfits and run training camps for little kids. It's the same repulsion I get when I see little kids dressed up in KKK gear. I'm sure they see themselves as "freedom fighters" also.

 

For you to pretend that you know the feelings and thought process of the majority of Palestinians is beyond arrogant. The fact is that the majority of them are peace loving farmers. They are peace loving farmers who live under laws that discriminate against them, and deny them opportunities that others have simply because they are different nationality.

That isn't born out by my guessing. It is born out by the fact that most of them don't participate in suicide bombings.

Hamas is certainly a terrorist organization, but I doubt that is why most people vote for them. It could be their work with the homeless, orphans, and giving education to the poorest of Palestinians. It is wrong that they also commit terrorism, no doubt. I would wager that if they were just a terrorist organization they wouldn't be getting 40% of the vote. It would be far better if a peaceful organization had the funding to go in there and take care of the poor, the homeless, and the orphans. If a group could do that and was peaceful, they might well capture 40% of the population as well.

 

Are you repulsed at seeing presidents dressed up as soldiers?



Look at that package!!!

 

he looks like exactly what I think of him

 

Thousands have been killed due to recklessness, and tens of thousands due to negligence. Not sure how many were deliberately - but it was probably many who were killed by shell shocked or sadistic soldiers/contractors/etc. When you blow up a power plant in order to "shock and awe" people, you blow up whoever works there. When you fly a tomahawk missile over a residential area, people are at risk.

You're the one who's employing moral relativism here. If you think life is sacred, you wouldn't be differentiating levels of murder based on degrees of criminal intent.

 

The US spent money on Fatah. REligious fundamentalism can be a very motivating political force. See the USA.

Never forget that in the early days of Hamas, they were bankrolled by the Israelis who wanted to combat the secular PLO. The Israelis hoped that by encouraging fundamentalist concern with the Muslim relligion they could keep the minds of the Palestinians off of worldly matters like their land and independence. Support for Hamas was seen as a way of weakiening Arafat. When Hamas took a political turn, the Israelis were not happy.

Talk abut blowback. You have to wonder if this will happen eventually with the wealthy ocntrollers of the GOP and our fundamentalists.

 

No matter how repugnant the US may be to some of you, it is still miles ahead of these wretched monkeys:

 

It is strange, the NYT shows Hamas winning the election and defeating Fatah. Fox shows the opposite. Now on this matter the NYT is not particularly friendly to the Palestinians either.

I saw news reports of an independent presdiential candidate Bharghouti? claiming that heavy handed tactics by the US and Israel were driving voters into Hamas" hands.
#########
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, and his government submitted their resignations Thursday as the radical Islamic faction Hamas appeared to have scored a major upset and defeated the ruling Fatah party in parliamentary elections.

Palestinian supporters of Islamic Hamas waving flags and holding weapons during a rally in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Younis.

However, no official results were expected until Thursday evening.

Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for decades, was favored in Wednesday's election and exit polls released after the polls closed projected Fatah as the winner by a narrow margin.

But on Thursday morning, Hamas leaders claimed their own count showed that the group was winning an outright majority in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council. Sixty-seven seats are needed for a majority, and Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader, said the group expected to at least 70.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/i...&en=f67f7af1f6172983&ei=5094&partner=homepage

 

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

 

This is very true, It may well be a hopeful sign that the real opposiiton and not the one dominated by the Israelis is in power.

 

Wnes, you are kidding?

 

"His [Clinton's] policies are responsible for killing more Iraqis that George Bush."

Cindy Sheehan

 

This is true. Sanctions killed an estimated 500, 000 Iraqis while Bush's war has so far only killed about 100,000,though this could escalate greatly if a larger scale civil war breaks out.

I did not suport the murderous sanctions. It is a very evil thing Clinton did. In the later days of the oil for food program there were fewer Iraqi being killed by the sanctions, so the great upsurge in deaths starting with our invasion and occupation are still morally disgusting new cause of mass deaths.

It is strange that all of a sudden you care about killing Iraqis. Also of course, the usual suspects including you and the Bushes approved of Clinton's policies of sanctions at the time.

 

I think the Sinn Fein comparison is spot on. Terrorism usually only exists when people perceive themselves as having nothing to lose. If I were Israel, I would do everything I could to bolster these guys - the more privileges they have to lose, the less they'll do to jeopardize those privileges. That includes tolerating terrorism by fellow Hamas members.

 

The Brotherhood in Egypt would've likely done the same if there was a fair and free election there. Islamists are coming to power everywhere democracy springs up (some in very moderate and progressive forms like in Turkey, and this is the other extreme in the occupied Palestinian territories)...

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Mideast_Conflict/

Like it or not, we've set out on a road and made a global promise to promote democracy wherever it may take place. The Palestinian people have spoken and elected to kick our the corrupt Fatah party, and the only other choice that they felt at least had their interests at heart were Hamas, who're much more than just a militant organization (that's only one wing of that movement).

The question is this: are we going to be hypocrites and immediately denounce these democratic elections just because we don't like the results?

I will give this credit to the Bush administration: they've kept their promise so far that they're going to spread/promote democracy in the Middle East. The Lebanese had democratic elections, the Egyptians had somewhat of democratic reform (although not nearly free and fair just yet), the Iraqis had elections, the Afghanis, and even the Saudis had free and fair local municiple elections.

However, this is the toughest test yet to the Bush administration's commitment to democracy in that region.

 

No doubt, there, basso. You're spot on. Those who view Clinton as a 'pacifist' are seriously misguided.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/26/palestinian.election/index.html

hummus wins in a landslide.

 

I love hummus, don't knock it

 

i know many of us like to live on our high horse moral vacuum but these groups exists and theres a reason why they exist.

they can't be compared to al qaeda. hamas has certainly engaged in terrorism and it should be condemned for it...but in the past year it has abided by a cease-fire of sorts and now that it is in power it will definitely moderate. it already said it would let abu mazen stay at the helm because it doesn't want to create too much controversy. it has said it would negotiate and negotiate better with israel. give them a chance and see. you can't have democracy where you choose who gets elected. thats what iran does...and its not democracy.

 

It's WOT made easy, glynch.