Slightly off-topic, but today's NYT contains an analysis so perversely agnostic on the subject of Arafat's linkage to terrorism I thought it ought to be widely disseminated, for purposes of ridicule if nothing else.

Written by Gregory Myse, the Times man on the ground, it insists, for starters, that "(t)he precise Israeli case against Mr. Arafat is seldom laid out in detail." Myse is apparently too lazy to compose a simple google search, which would undoubtedly have led him here, to Shark's translation of the Die Zeit article, Arafat Bombs, Europe Pays. And had he gone to that source, he would have quickly seen that this linkage may be, and indeed actually has been, laid out in detail.

But to bring this back to present concerns: If Myse addresses Arafat's defalcation of funds at all, watch for him to say something like, "The precise Israeli case for Arafat's corruption is rarely laid out in detail." Poor Myse can't really seem to decide for himself -- Is Arafat really corrupt; is he really a terrorist?; such tough questions, especially if you're hardwired not to ascribe fault to the Palestinians in any respect -- which makes it much better to simply throw up your hands and say, Well, maybe there's a case, but maybe there isn't, and it's not my fault if Israel hasn't laid it out in precise detail.