[net.politics] The beat goes on.

black@pundit.DEC (America first, without apologies.) (10/08/85)

     Well, here we go again.  Another escalation of Mid-East terror.  There's 
no end to it.  I guess hijacking airliners just wasn't big enough game; it got
"old" very quickly, like going to the proverbial well too often.  They needed 
something bigger this time, something more dramatic.  So they took a passenger 
liner full of tourists.

     Again, we can presume that the demands will be the release of certain 
terrorist prisoners by the Israeli UN Protectorate, or by Kuwait, or by 
[FILL-IN-THE-BLANK].  And again, the government of Whichever will "refuse to 
deal with terrorists."  So we'll go through another nightly session of hand- 
wringing and Yellow-belly Ribbons.  

     The key to the whole situation is that the hostage-takers have something 
they want to bargain for, to wit, live terrorists who have been captured in 
the act and placed in a jail.  If there were no live prisoners taken, there 
would be nothing for hostage-takers to bargain for.  

     The Israeli UN Protectorate was very quick to attack the PLO headquarters 
with combat aircraft, killing several innocent Tunisians in the process.  Why, 
then, are they so reluctant to execute terrorists in their own country who are 
caught literally with smoking guns?   The Israeli UN Protectorate has NO death 
penalty!  (They had to create a special law to allow the execution of Adolph 
Eichmann, and it applied only to him!  Contrast this with the US Constitution,
which authorizes no ex post facto laws.)

     During the Viet Nam conflict, one of the most memorable photographs was 
that of the Saigon Chief of Police summarily executing a Viet Cong terrorist 
who had just been caught throwing a grenade into a public area.  The Chief 
placed his service revolver to the man's head and cut him out a .38-caliber
ear canal.  You can even see the fellow's head bulge under the impact.

     Now, if the world would stop futzing around with terrorists, particularly 
those who are caught with smoking guns, we probably wouldn't have to tolerate 
hostage-taking incidents.


     --Don Black

     "...dec-vax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pundit!black"
      VAXmail:  PUNDIT::BLACK

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.  That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

  --Unamimously adopted in Congress, 4 July 1776

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aer@alice.UucP (A. E. Rosenberg) (10/11/85)

Isn't it awful, Mr. Black, that the nation you call the "Israeli UN Protectorate
" doesn't have a death penalty.

You say you are an Identity Christian.
Ever heard of "Thou shalt not kill" ?

D. Rosenberg ...!ihnp4!alice!aer
-----------------------------------------These *are* my opinions--------------
ATT/BTL uucp: ..!ihnp4!alice!aer

mcgeer@ucbvax.ARPA (Rick McGeer) (10/14/85)

In article <4413@alice.UUCP> aer@alice.UucP (A. E. Rosenberg) writes:
>Isn't it awful, Mr. Black, that the nation you call the "Israeli UN Protectorate
>" doesn't have a death penalty.

Not true.  Eichmann was hung by the Israelis in 1963.  This has been the only
execution in Israel's history: however, I believe that Israeli law provides
for the death penalty in terrorism cases, as well as for genocide.

						Rick McGeer.