Hamas "Spiritual Leader" Meets Allah
 

-- Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has been killed in an apparent Israeli attack on his car, Palestinian sources tell CNN. Watch CNN or log on to http://CNN.com for the latest news.

[this is a "breaking news" e-mail I received just now]

Good riddance!

Terry

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...sin/index.html

Palestinians: Hamas founder killed in airstrike
Car hit by rockets as Yassin left mosque
Sunday, March 21, 2004 Posted: 11:27 PM EST (0427 GMT)

(CNN) -- Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an apparent airstrike by Israeli forces Monday morning as he was being driven from a mosque, Hamas and Palestinian security sources told CNN.

Five others were killed in the strike, sources said.

Yassin's car and the cars carrying his bodyguards were hit by three rockets as they left the mosque after prayers.

Thousands of angry Palestinians gathered around his minutes after the attack, calling for revenge against Israel.

In September, Yassin, who used a wheelchair, was lightly wounded in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City. At the time he vowed "jihad will continue."

Thousands of Palestinian Hamas supporters marched through the streets in support of Yassin after the strike last year.

Yassin founded Hamas in 1987, during the Palestinian intifada. Hamas is a fundamentalist Islamic organization whose military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has carried out attacks on Israeli civilian and military targets. The U.S. State Department and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

An Israeli court convicted Yassin in 1989 of ordering Hamas members to kidnap and kill two Israeli soldiers.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but was freed in 1997 under the terms of a deal arranged by the late King Hussein of Jordan, who asked Israel to release Yassin in exchange for two Israeli Mossad agents, who attempted to assassinate Khalid Mishaal, a Hamas leader in Jordan.

The Palestinian Authority has placed Yassin under house arrest on a number of occasions since his release, most recently in December, 2001, after a series of terror attacks that killed 25 Israelis.

That detention triggered demonstrations and clashes with Palestinian police.

Yassin was born in 1938 in what was then the British mandate of Palestine. His family became refugees in Gaza during the violence that followed Israel's creation in 1948.

On September 15, twin suicide bombings jointly claimed by Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed 10 people in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

Immediately after the terrorist bombings, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon canceled a planned meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei.

The scheduled talks were an attempt to revive the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace.

The plan, backed by the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, calls for steps by both sides aimed at ending the conflict and establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

I was reading on FOXnews.com about how Hamas has directly threatened the US this time.

Has HAMAS ever directly threatened the US before like this or is this just saber rattling due to the loss of their "spiritual leader"?

Does this make our job in the ME easier or harder now?

I just watched a show on the History Channel sunday where the "spokesperson" ( I can't remember his name," for Hamas was interviewed and stated that they never had and never would target Americans on their own ground. 10 seconds later it was revealed that Hamas was encouraging Iraqis to go to America and use suicide bombers to attack Americans.

Maybe they won't do it themselves but it looks like it doesn't stop them from doing it with a proxy. I'll try to find the name of the show.

Is this a good policy of Israel's?

I think so, but I think they need to make arafat the number one target.

As I see it, they’re making the world a much safer place, one dead terrorist at a time!

Wonder why they haven't?

Head of state thing I'm sure. Plus it would most likely kick off a full scale war. Terrorist leader of a terrorist nation, he should have been killed long ago.

I think the Israeli's are divided on the issue, some think he is the biggest obstacle and needs to be removed to make any progress, while others think that will just set off another wave of violence. I think the main issue is what the Team Sergeant touched on, and Israel has only themselves to blame for that. They broke the number one rule, they negotiated with a terrorist and helped him move into the world of legit politics. Once they did that it no longer became a simple matter of killing a terrorist leader, he is now a head of state, one they have sat down and had peace talks with. Hard to change your mind after the fact, when you don’t like how things are going. I don’t buy him as a legit politician, he is still a terrorist scumbag IMO, but they tried to work with him as one and it has turned it into a complicated mess for them. Should have killed him first, and then held discussions with the PA, but I think they thought he was the only one all of the Palestinians would listen to.

I didn't know Palestine was a state

If the Izzies knew what car he was in to strike, I just wish we had actionable intel like that. Hell of a intel system, and fusion with the ops side.

TR

We could do it too if we were fighting the Mexicans or Canadians right next door.

That's like saying...
 

"If frogs had wings he wouldn't bump his ass" or "If flies and mosquitoes had guns, frogs wouldn't touch them"!

Our enemies happen to reside abroad.

OBL was spotted long ago. The past administration didn't have the foresight to strike first; then again maybe they didn't have the intestinal fortitude to undertake such a preemptive strike.:eek: