Arafat diverted $900 million says the IMF

[Whaleboy]

I dunno, they don't look like twins to me

Ah, you see Blair in that photo is a body double. Probably Rory Bremner. Is that a hickey?

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by elijah
Is that a hickey?

And what does Arafat have that incredibly large grin on his face?!

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar


And what does Arafat have that incredibly large grin on his face?!

If you had just stolen a billion dollars, wouldnt you be happy?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar

And what does Arafat have that incredibly large grin on his face?!

No the clue's in the hickey.

I bet you that you could find a pic of them actually doing it on the web - Blair is terribly promiscuous, I've seen pics of him being shafted by Bush and doing things to John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia.

And his wife's really a man and so is Hillary Clinton.

Just thank god we have the internet so that we can have pics to prove it.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Israel's been saying this all along and I don't think anyone's really disputed them.

*waits for HershO*

[GePap]

Man, his accountants must be crappy, if that is all he got to steal... can;t even get into the top 10 kleptocratcs.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
So you all just ignore this, and still think that Israel is wrong to want Arafat removed?

Yes.

What legitimate grounds does Israel have for even suggesting that?

[Ned]

I agree with the observation that it is literally impossible for the Palestinians to get rid of Arafat. Any who raise their voice in opposition are silenced by bullets or worse. Arafat does not play by the rules of democracy and so long as he, or men like him, rule Palestine, there is no hope for Palestine or for peace.

I say to you, George Bush, "Wake up and smell the coffee. Take a page from your Iraq manual and do to Arafat and his regime of terrorists what you did to Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. It is time to unleash our friend and ally, Israel."

[HershOstropoler]

So PA budgeting has been a mess from 1995-2000, and Arafat is likely corrupt. And this is news... how?

Let's look at what the IMF officials said too:

QUESTION: Mr. Nashashibi, you mentioned more or less in passing that you discovered that some US$900 million over five years had been diverted from the budget to an account, if I understood you correctly, personally controlled by Yasser Arafat. Can you indicate whether there's anything very unusual in this? And are you leaving open the possibility that some of that money has been, let's say, misused?

MR. NASHASHIBI: No, this money was basically, as I said, in a special account. Most of it has been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad. One of the things that the reform process has done is they have tallied all the Palestinian assets by international auditors. It turns out that the PA was involved in 69 commercial activities, both at home and abroad. The tally of this current level of asset is around US$700 million in terms of at today's market prices, which probably in '99 were US$900 million.

So I would say that the large majority of this money has been invested in assets that today are still within the public domain. So I think at least there is a follow-up, there is disclosure. The Palestinian Investment Fund has been set up to manage these assets, and to privatize these operations. I think the objective of the PA is to get out of all these commercial activities.

Turning to, Karim mentioned also the reform program, and the reforms in the fiscal area have been very, very impressive. And they're focused on, amongst other things, on improving the transparency of the whole budget process. And I think it's fair to say that, as a result of these reforms, the level of transparency and probity in the fiscal process of the Palestinian Authority is probably the equal of the best in the region. They've made major progress in that area.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2003/tr030920.htm

Of course, accounting problems and diversion of funds in governments is a crime worthy of deportation and death. That's an excellent idea to get rid of all governments, everywhere.

[Ned]

HO, why are you liberals defending corrupt governments and coddling self-enriching dictators? I thought that was the province of the right?

Oh, I see, now. Corruption is to be ignored so long as the corrupt dictator or government is anti-US or anti-Israel. Right?

[HershOstropoler]

I'm not a liberal in the degenerated american use of the word. And I'm not defending Arafat. It is just ludicrous to have a corrupt monkey like Sharon and a special interest whore like Bush mounting the high horse to condemn Arafat on corruption.

"Corruption is to be ignored so long as the corrupt dictator or government is anti-US or anti-Israel. Right?"

Nope, ignoring pro-US corrupt dictators is US policy. Like your beloved Saudis.

As for my view, Chirac is a rotten idiot who should go straigtht to prison from the Elyssee too, if that makes you feel any better.

[Ted Striker]

Oh my gawd

DONT EVEN

There is a huge crowd over here that wants to nuke the damn Saudis

Ignoring them my ass

[Dinner]

Originally posted by HershOstropoler
to have a corrupt monkey like Sharon

I am wondering on what basis and with what evidence you are accussing the Israeli Prime Minister of corruption.

[- Groucho -]

I don't get it. Everyone seems to be jumping to the conclusion that he stuck the money in his pocket. The guy in the interview seemed to be saying that their accounting oversight sucked and they didn't have any checks on how Arafat spent the money - but it doesn't show that he enriched himself with it. Is there some fact I'm missing? I confess to having read this stuff quickly.

[Whaleboy]

Ok, heres my synopsis before Ned decides to accuse me of being on an anti-us "liberal" agenda..

Arafat sucks. Blair sucks. Chirac sucks. Bush sucks. Sharon Sucks.