Military

DATE=03/23/04

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

NAME=SHEIK YASSIN'S KILLING

NUMBER=6-130307

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

INTRO: The U-S press is filled with foreboding as regards the killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian organization Hamas. We get a [further] sampling now from V-O-A's ____________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Helicopter-fired missiles killed the aging Muslim cleric, a paraplegic, as he was wheeled home in Gaza after Monday morning prayers. His death set off huge, angry demonstrations by Palestinians who vowed revenge against Israel. That is what many U-S papers are afraid of. Boston's Christian Science Monitor writes:

VOICE: Israel killed off more than just the second-most popular Palestinian leader with a missile strike ... Monday. It also finally finished off President Bush's already tattered road map for creating a Palestinian state, a plan that was essential to his vision of a terror-free Middle East. And by assassinating -- rather than simply arresting and trying the Islamic leader ... Israel further erodes its role as a model of democratic and civil principles to the Arab world.

TEXT: A very different tone from a jubilant New York [City] Post, which exclaims:

VOICE: Sheik ... Yassin, the Hamas leader ... was up to his eyeballs in blood. He didn't merely oppose peace with Israel; he actively sought [its] ... destruction -- and ruthlessly targeted innocent civilians as a means to his end. It's hard to see how his removal from the equation is anything but a step forward for peace ... at least in the long term.

TEXT: However in California, The San Francisco Chronicle is worried, warning:

VOICE: No one wins in this exchange. The benefits of Middle East peace are again postponed until political leaders on all sides make a settlement their top priority.... The Bush administration, sadly, lacks the fortitude ... to criticize the self-defeating Israeli policy of assassination in this election year.

TEXT: Making a comparison with another long-sought Muslim terrorist, San Antonio's Express-News worries:

VOICE: With U-S troops in a two-and-a-half year chase to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, it is easy to sympathize with the Israeli desire to be rid of Ahmed Yassin.... But it is impossible to see how Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ... government have created anything other than continuing waves of terror for their fellow Israelis and, perhaps, for Americans.

TEXT: Seattle's [Washington State] Times warns: "If past Israeli assassinations had worked as intended, presumably the country would be at peace. The reality is bloody eye-for-an-eye reprisals that blind all parties." And in the nation's capital, The Washington Post called the killing " ... [an] attempt to radically reshape the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- an initiative that is looking as reckless as it is bold."

However, Middle America's Kansas City [Missouri] Star defends Israel, calling the attack "self-defense" and pointing out:

VOICE: The killing ... has produced a predictable outcry against Israel, which stands accused by much of the world of harming the prospects for peace. It's as if [Mr.] Yassin had been some sort of Palestinian Gandhi rather than a ruthless mass murderer who hid behind a smokescreen of religious piety. Looking at this bloody [Hamas] record, it is hard to see how some observers can argue that [Mr.] Yassin's demise represents a terrible blow to peace.

TEXT: As far as Indiana's Indianapolis Star is concerned the "... assassination of [the] Hamas leader was poorly timed and ill conceived," while Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel says of the Bush government's reaction:

VOICE: White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We are deeply troubled." Well, yes, who isn't? [Mr.] Bush has to do what other presidents have been forced to do: throw the full weight of his office behind an effort for a cease-fire and the start of negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It is as sure as fate that, in the absence of leadership from the U-S and negotiations and compromises by Israelis and Palestinians, the future will see more killing.

TEXT: With that assessment from Wisconsin, we conclude this sampling of editorials reacting to the assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Yassin.

NEB/ANG/KL