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Middle East
Latest Arafat Diagnosis.....Stomach Cancer
2003-10-09
EFL and Fair Use.....if this is the right diagnosis, he’s in for some suffering. Couldn’t happen to a nicer dirtbag....
Yasser Arafat’s gaunt, fragile appearance during last weekend’s inauguration of an emergency cabinet for the Palestinian Authority has raised hopes for an end to suicide bombings a flurry of speculation over the state of the 74-year-old leader’s health. Palestinian officials on Wednesday denied rumors that Arafat had last week suffered a mild heart attack and explained that Arafat has been suffering from a bad case of the flu or the trots an intestinal infection.
"That’s the last time I eat Fatima’s tabbouleh!"
But according to a source inside the compound, the recent working diagnosis is that Arafat is suffering from stomach cancer.
Pray for mets...
The prognosis for stomach cancer patients depends on the stage at which the cancer is diagnosed and treated, and the size and location of the tumor.
Dear God, if this is right, please make it inoperable, and I promise I won’t ask for anything more this week...
Whatever the state of the cancer, however, such a diagnosis poses a major challenge to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which could require some nimble refereeing by the Bush administration.
Refereeing? Sounds like a job for the NFL’s number one fan, Condoleezza Rice....
The most immediate crisis would involve the need to hurry along the inevitable treat Arafat’s condition. The Ramallah compound in which Arafat has been holed up for the best part of two years is hardly the most conducive environment for invasive surgery. It would, in theory, be possible to erect a surgical suite at the compound, but hospitalization would certainly be preferable from a medical standpoint. Israel has until now insisted that if Arafat leaves his compound, he’d be on a one-way ticket out of the West Bank. If Arafat’s condition proves to be terminal,
God, I really wasn’t kidding about the previous request....
the Palestinians will be forced to answer the long-deferred question of succession, and the running debate in Washington and Jerusalem over the prospects for pursuing a peace agreement without the aging Arafat will have been settled. The question of Arafat’s succession is complicated by the fact that his power derives from the three separate offices he holds: Palestinian Authority president, PLO original gangsta chairman and leader of the group of terrorists known as the Fatah movement. The PA constitution requires that if the president is incapacitated, his post would be temporarily filled by the Speaker of the Palestinian legislature. However, the Speaker’s position is currently vacant, following Ahmed Qurei’s resignation from it in order to become prime minister. Rather than a simple transfer of the mantle of power from one uncontested national leader to another, Arafat’s passing would likely open a protracted period of gang warfare over turf power struggles and realignments in Palestinian politics — and it appears unlikely that all three of his positions would be filled by a single successor.
Why is this a bad thing?
The immediate implications for any peace process will be uncertain, although the Israelis and the Bush administration have long insisted that breaking Arafat’s grip on the Palestinian national movement is a prerequisite for progress.

That's assuming a healthy Yasser. Yasser on his deathbed is a different story. After my initial jubilation wore off — and especially in the case of a protracted illness like stomach or pancreatic cancer or Alzheimers — my thought is that it's better he hang on.

Took your breath away, didn't it? Consider: Given a terminal illness, who's going to actually tell him that's what it is? He'd have them shot. At the very least, he'd have the Praetorian Guard Force 17 bump off the guys he doesn't want to take over. And pain, especially pain coupled with morphine, doesn't make you more discriminating in your actions.

That leaves Yasser in power until the very end, only with his grip on the reins (or reigns, as it were) loosening a bit every day. The backstage maneuvering will have the Byzantines chuckling in their graves, but the coordination of action by the Paleostinians will be choked off. The Israelis will still get hit, but it'll be sporadic. The actual open warfare in Gaza and the West Bank probably won't even wait until the old man's in the grave, unless he goes quickly. I saw one bit of speculation yesterday (can't remember where, though I'd have put it here if it'd been reputable) that it had spread to his liver. Six months? Eight months, at the outside? That's a fairly long period for an area to disintegrate into internal anarchy. We're talking Ein el-Hellhole on a massive scale, without really major damage to innocent bystanders.

Why rush things?
Posted by:Baba Yaga

#11  Let him go to phrawnce and spend his final days w/his wife.

If he had actually built a functioning society the past 10 years, he'd die in the promised land.

Now he'll be like Moses, so close, yet so far.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-10-10 12:14:29 AM  

#10  Raptor - Once cancer metastasizes it's killing its host. The "under 10 months" that Steve mentioned isn't a pleasant time for the victim, and the end stage is agonizing, despite the fact that massive amounts of pain killers are required. Dying quickly would be a mercy...
Posted by: Fred   2003-10-9 10:26:36 PM  

#9  From Allah Is In The House (a deliciously funny satire site, kinda an Islamic "Onion"):
One Sick Fuck
Poisoning, hepatitis, stomach cancer: If you believe the Zionist media, the Chairman's gone and contracted every disease known to man plus a few that haven't been discovered yet. We at Gawker P aren't doctors, but judging from those recent photos it looks to us as though Abu Ammar was way ahead of the Pope's thinking about condoms and lethal viruses, if you know what we mean. But why wonder? We finagled an invite (plus one, natch) to last night's opening of Zyklon, the new club in Ramallah, in hopes of putting the question directly to him. He staggered in around eleven and made straight for the dance floor, where he and your humble correspondent ended up doing the bump and grind to a techno remix of "I Hate Israel." He seemed spry, and was looking much better. "It was the chest, the co-ro-na-ry," he said, his fishy lips quivering. "I am had the pain in the chest, but now, no." He has a heart? Who knew? Wait--did we just say that out loud? "Shut up!" he said, storming off. "Shut up! If there is no heart than what is the pump? There is no snarky without accurately. You must be accurately when speaking to General Arafat!" Sheesh. Needless to say, we decided not to take the bus home afterwards.
Posted by: Frank G   2003-10-9 9:53:14 PM  

#8  Pancreatic,stomach,liver cancer!I don't give a damn,just die bitch!
Posted by: Raptor   2003-10-9 7:37:16 PM  

#7  All of this may explain why Sharon has not gone after Arafat directly. Putting a bullet through a healthy man is one thing; doing the same thing to a dying man.....
Posted by: john   2003-10-9 7:34:10 PM  

#6  any chance of massive inflamed hemmorhoids too? As long as I'm hoping and praying.....
Posted by: Frank G   2003-10-9 7:09:50 PM  

#5  Fred: gastric carcinoma with liver metastases: actuarial survival under 10 months. Things that make survival less likely (poor prognostic signs, as we docs say): advanced age, debility ("poor protoplasm"), liver, peritoneal or distant metastases, involvement of the whole stomach as opposed to just the antrum of the stomach, perforation of the stomach, and the presence of certain tumor markers.

Surgical options if there are no distant mets ("locoregional disease") generally involve resection of all or most of the stomach combined with a drainage procedure to ensure that food and bile move through the small intestine ("Billroth" procedure or a "Rous-en-Y"), plus extended lymph node dissection, plus resection of any evident extension of the tumor. For a man > 70 years old, poor protoplasm, etc., the operative risk would be very high. Even with localized, resectable disease, the median 5 year survival in the US is about 15 to 40%. For distant mets and non-resectable disease, survival is in months.

Chemotherapy generally doesn't work for advanced gastric cancer though that doesn't stop the oncologists. Some protocol drugs do offer some minor life extension at a very high cost in the quality of the remaining life. Chemotherapy also is tougher on patients of advanced years and poor protoplasm.

Liver mets are PAINFUL. Stretching the liver capsule by the enlarging tumor generally creates intense pain that is not handled well by opiates.

I thought this info would help you, er, "sharpen" your analysis of the situation!
Posted by: Steve White   2003-10-9 6:16:40 PM  

#4  Saw this in MEMRI today. Might be a case of prepping for a quick getaway when the pustule (on the ass of humanity) finally crumps.

"THE JORDANIAN MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WEEKLY AL-SABIL REPORTED THAT PALESTINIAN SOURCES SAID ARAFAT'S FINANCIAL ADVISOR MUHAMMAD RASHED, WHO HOLDS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS BELONGING TO THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, WAS USING IT FOR HIS OWN PURPOSES. ARAFAT IS TRYING TO RETRIEVE THE MONEY. (AL-SABIL, JORDAN, 10/8/03)"
Posted by: Mercutio   2003-10-9 5:02:17 PM  

#3  even more reason to build the fence, and make it snappy! A big frigging electrified fence with razor wire all over the place and a moat, filled with sharks, with lasers mounted on their heads....
oh, and Yasser? you can forget about being buried by the Dome in Jerusalem. The Joooos said no, lol
Posted by: Frank G   2003-10-9 4:57:07 PM  

#2  The Israelis need to stick to their position: Arafat can go but he can't come back. The PA is going to whine and moan with special circumstances. If the Israelis let this one go, it will become just another can of worms that the Paleos will use to exploit the situation and more Israelis will die.

The Arafish can live in his Ramallah tank, or he can go to another tank, but he can't have it both ways.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-10-9 4:10:06 PM  

#1  The only problem here is that when the pustule finally does croak, Israel will be in for a rough time. The only measuring stick for leadership the Paleos seem to have is who can boom the most Jews. So instead of just Hamas, IJ and the Martyrs sending over their DumbBombs (TM), there'll be a whole bunch of wannabes trying to "raise their profile with their constituency".

Granted the internecine warfare will be enjoyable to watch (the office pool on number of martyrs per week is my personal favorite), but still, I wouldn't be planning any pilgrimages to the Holy Land anytime soon....
Posted by: Mercutio   2003-10-9 4:06:35 PM  

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