Amira Hass argues that the Israeli political and military leadership got it wrong in believing that intifada was organized top-down by Arafat. She echoes instead the Palestinian popular view that Arafat and the PA
did not have the political and public strength to stop the popular uprising when it broke out as a revolt as much against the Palestinian leadership and its policies as against the Israeli occupationThe bottom line is that the PA organized some of the violence and was powerless to stop the rest. Which is still a very good a reason to destroy the PA militarily and to let something else take its place. But that wasn't Hass' conclusion.
Qatar's Foreign Minister says he is opposed to a war against Iraq, concerned such a war "might destabilize the entire Middle East" (Of course, many people, like me, think that destabilizing the entire Middle East would be a good thing). The Qatari minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, might be speaking under duress. Der Spiegel reports that Saddam Hussein recently threatened al-Thani that if he allowed U.S. forces to attack Iraq from the al-Udeid air force base, then Qatar would be "completely destroyed". Al-Thani said that the United States had not asked Qatar to use al-Udeid for a strike on Iraq. He declined to say whether Qatar would agree to such a request. That the U.S. will use its forces at al-Udeid to attack Iraq is almost a given. Whether the U.S. will actually ask Qatar's permission to do so will probably be left for future historians to argue about.
Cluck-cluck Diane E has the definitive response to those who whine "chickenhawk".