US "certainly did not give Israel green light" to kill Rantissi: report

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040417/pl_afp/mideast_rantissi_us_040417210810

US "certainly did not give Israel green light" to kill Rantissi: report

1 hour, 6 minutes ago Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo!

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States "certainly did not give Israel any kind of green light" to assassinate Hamas leader Abdelaziz Rantissi, a US State Department official told CNN television.

And Washington "did not have any kind of advance knowledge" of the helicopter rocket attack on Rantissi's car in Gaza City earlier Saturday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The attack also killed Rantissi's two bodyguards.

The Israeli Army claimed responsibility for the assassination, saying Rantissi was "directly responsible for the killing of scores of Israelis innumerous terror attacks."

<snip>

[qanda]

1. Well it certainly did not give Israel any kind of red light either

eom

[Amerpie]

2. US Response

Hmmm, there may be some "We don't endorse this" bullshit but in the end, all we'll do is ship them another rocket to take the place of the one they used to kill the guy.

[maddezmom]

3. the US veto at the Security Council after Yassin's death

equals a green light, IMO.

[maddezmom]

13. White House statement:

Statement Regarding Abdel Aziz Rantisi




April 17, 2004

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

As we have repeatedly made clear, Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks. Hamas is a terrorist organization that attacks civilians, and that claimed responsibility for the suicide attack today that killed one and injured other Israeli guards at the Erez crossing. The United States is gravely concerned for regional peace and stability. The United States strongly urges Israel to consider carefully the consequences of its actions, and we again urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint at this time. This is especially true at a moment when there is hope that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will bring a new opportunity for progress toward peace. All parties should focus on the positive, concrete steps needed now to make the Gaza withdrawal successful.
_________________________________________________________________

:( What will tomorrow bring the Israelis, Palistinians, Iraqis and our troops...

[AlCzervik]

4. didnt Puffy Sharon

get everything he wanted the other day? Is he trying to get more troops killed in Iraq? WTF?

[KissMyAsscroft]

5. Silence is implied consent.

Complete nonsense.

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

6. Hamas Reaction

When do you think Hamas will start "assassinating" Israeli government officials?

[Just Me]

9. Imagine if they actually had the military power to do that!!!

Imagine if any of us actually had the military strength to target and take down the "leaders" we didn't like. Talk about a balancing of powers.

[Turbineguy]

7. Left out:

"and we were also completely surprised at the Palestinian reaction to last week's agreement between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon on how to .........."

(last part left out to preserve "R" rating)

[Malva Zebrina]

8. I remember reading a while ago that Israel was pursuiing a policy

of assassination and that it would extend to the lands of the United States if necessary. It was noted here on DU at that time.

At that time, I do not recall ANYONE telling Israel to stuff it that murder is not accepted in the United States and assassination is murder. We now know that Bush will drop bombs on anyhone he says he thinks is a terrorist--even if it is a two year old child.

NO ONE, as far as I know challenged Israel on this assertion and declaration.

Israel uses assassinaton--we can expect that Bush will also.

[aneerkoinos]

10. Bullshit

US is just as guilty as Sharon.

[gayboy]

11. Guilty of killing a terrorist..

....before he sends more teenagers or 16yr olds to kill other kids in a disco? That guilty?

[Amerpie]

16. Actually

More Palestinian children have been killed in the Intifada than Israeli children.

[peacetalksforall]

12. Set-up! Set-up!

Item x on the Sharon-Bush agenda...

'We're going to take him out, but act surprised when it happens.'

[dfong63]

14. israel has committed over 300 "targeted eliminations" in past few years

and Bush rewards Israel by accepting the existence of settlements in the occupied territories.

[Mari333]

15. Its all about politics and votes and puts our kids in Iraq in a horrible

danger, even worse then before...

The STUPID evangelical christian base Bush is pandering to

the armageddon lobby, who want our troops to die for their delusions.


http://www.againstbombing.com/ArmageddonUpdates.htm

[Nancy Waterman]

17. The "armageddan lobby"

very effective phase.

[madrchsod]

18. i didn`t know

you could pile shit that high. every fuck`n sharon does is planned to incite the arabs/muslims. hamas was sharon`s answer to arafat now he`s killing all his ex-employees. when is he going to murder arafat? he doesn`t have to wait anymore cause the united states goes along with anything he choses to do.

[PfcHammer]

19. most likely next week some time. hits are ok now.

i predict people getting knocked off right and left.