Arafat to Go Free?

CNN.com - Siege at Arafat's compound appears near end - April 29, 2002

I can't believe they're going to let this rat go. The "man" is a terrorist, plain and simple. He gives the orders for suicide bombings, he signs the checks, he procures the weapons, how else are you going to define "terrorist leader"? Yasser Arafat is more closely and personally involved with the suicide bombings than Osama bin Laden is/was with Al Qaeda attacks. How much longer will the world continue to pretend that Arafat can be dealt with? Why, oh why, does the US government continue to act as if he is the key to peace? There will be no peace until there is a winner and a loser. We cannot allow the "Palestinians" to be the winner.

On a related note, why is the world still pretending that the monks and nuns and so forth being held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in the Church of the Nativity are anything but hostages? Despite all the pleas for help, despite the statements from escaped priests, the world and the media continue to act as though they are helplessly trapped there by the Israeli military. The truth is they are being held as hostages by the terrorists inside. Even the Vatican refuses to acknowledge their status. As a Catholic, that angers me greatly. I can only assume that it is some aid to the Pope and not the Holy Father himself who is perpetrating this nonsense.