I'm a bit surprised. Even Pat Buchanan has come to the defense of Arafat, albeit circuitously. Arafat was a terrorist and a criminal. Why did the West deal with him? He was the only one to be dealt with. In an extraordinary effort to secure the peace in that part of the world, leader after Israeli leader hoped against hope that maybe he would not lie through his teeth yet again. They were always proven wrong, but you cannot use their foolish efforts as the basis for your conclusion that Arafat was anything but a thug.