Yasser Arafat has assumed room temperature. In true AP/NYT-style, the original second paragraph had the most astonishing and nauseating bit of moral equivalence that I’ve read in a long time:
Yasser Arafat, who triumphantly forced his people’s plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died Thursday at age 75.
He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes — terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.
It’s toned down a bit in the rewrite version, which quickly replaced the first draft.
By the way, good thing he died in time for his funeral. It would have been quite rude of Yasser to have outlived it.
For a fairer–and by that I mean harsher–assessment of Arafat’s legacy, check out Helle Dale in today’s Washington Times.
The Professor summed up Arafat’s death in two eloquent words: “Good riddance“.
Update: Via Bela The Dog, here’s the original text of the AP copy. I guess the Times replaced it with their own in-house (and only slightly less fawning) obit.
Another Update Obviously, the paperwork was really slowing things down…
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