I agree, handyman, if this is indeed an accurate assessment of the intelligence, he was probably deemed more valuable in place. Certainly wasn't able to operate effectively. He has more value to terrorists as a martyr than he did as an isolated, sick old man.
He'd probably still be more valuable in place, but Obama needed to distract from his second, even phonier, birth certificate. Like Clinton's missiles into Afghanistan and Sudan distracted from Monica's blue dress.
Arafat makes his intentions clear.
He didn't count on Monica and her dress.
How Monica Lewinsky and her dress destroyed the Middle East Peace AccordsWASHINGTON --- Sitting in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel here, the famously quick- tongued Yossi Beilin seemed, for once, almost at a loss for words. What, after all, do Israeli socialists know about cocktail dresses?
One thing, it turns out: that they distract Washington's attention from urgent problems around the world.
"It's simply surreal," said Dr. Beilin, a leader of Israel's opposition Labor Party.
"To think that the greatest power on earth is out of commission because of Monica Lewinsky's dress -- it's one of the most surreal episodes in history."
Last January, when the world first learned of Ms. Lewinsky, the presidential sex scandal triggered a sudden mood swing in U.S.-Israel relations. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had just landed in Washington, expecting to have Bill Clinton read him the riot act for what the Administration saw as foot-dragging on the peace process.
Enter Ms. Lewinsky, and Mr. Clinton was suddenly preoccupied. Mr. Netanyahu had an unexpectedly placid visit and returned to Israel a happy man.
Seven months later, Dr. Beilin was in Washington as part of a four-member delegation of Labour Party leaders. Led by party chairman Ehud Barak, they came in hopes of burnishing their image as a viable alternative to Mr. Netanyahu.
Their prospects seemed bright on the eve of departure. The Knesset had taken a key step towards dissolving itself and calling new elections, handing Mr. Netanyahu one of the worst political reverses of his tenure.
"That means we're here as a group that could come to power in the near future," Dr. Beilin maintained.
To their dismay, they arrived to find that President Clinton, too, had just been handed one of the worst political reverses of his tenure: Ms. Lewinsky's decision to testify about the alleged affair and to hand over a certain cocktail dress. Nobody in Washington was talking about anything else.
"It's depressing," the usually ebullient Dr. Beilin said.
"The news begins and ends with Monica's dress. It feels as though reality has been shoved aside in favor of some virtual reality."
The Labour MS's message was that the Administration should keep pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian deal. Washington has been pressing Jerusalem for months to give the Palestinians 13.1 percent of the West Bank in exchange for a string of concessions.
Israel has resisted mightily. A few weeks ago Washington effectively stopped pushing. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright now says the sides should work things out by themselves.
The Labour people believe the hands-off approach is a mistake.
With nearly half of Mr. Netanyahu's own coalition favoring the US plan, plus the half of Israel that voted against Mr. Netanyahu, the proposal has far more support in Israel than the Premier's spokesmen let on, they argue. Now is the time to push.
www.jewishworldreview.com/0798/jj2.html 
