…can only be explained by their vicious hatred of America, for daring to prove that freedom trumps socialism. The perfect example of this is the Left’s veneration of Yasser Arafat. American communist-sympathizers like President Jimmy Carter, as well as cadres of the International Left (the French, the UN, etc etc), treat Arafat like a man of peace.

This despite (because of?) his undeniable affection for suicide bombing and Islamofascist martyrdom. As long as he is targeting Jews and, secondarily, Americans, the anti-semitic Left heartily approves.

What is puzzling is the fact that Arafat’s evil past is so often ignored in media reports about the “Head” of the “Palestinian Authority”. This article in the Wall Street Journal Online, by former Romanian Intelligence Chief Ion Mihai Pacepa, is stunning in its scope.

(Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for noting it.)

Some excerpts:

The Israeli government has vowed to expel Yasser Arafat, calling him an "obstacle" to peace. But the 72-year-old Palestinian leader is much more than that; he is a career terrorist, trained, armed and bankrolled by the Soviet Union and its satellites for decades.

Before I defected to America from Romania, leaving my post as chief of Romanian intelligence, I was responsible for giving Arafat about $200,000 in laundered cash every month throughout the 1970s. I also sent two cargo planes to Beirut a week, stuffed with uniforms and supplies. Other Soviet bloc states did much the same. Terrorism has been extremely profitable for Arafat. According to Forbes magazine, he is today the sixth wealthiest among the world's "kings, queens & despots," with more than $300 million stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

...

In 1972, the Kremlin put Arafat and his terror networks high on all Soviet bloc intelligence services' priority list, including mine. Bucharest's role was to ingratiate him with the White House.[...] In April 1978 I accompanied Ceausescu to Washington, where he charmed President Carter. Arafat, he urged, would transform his brutal PLO into a law-abiding government-in-exile if only the U.S. would establish official relations. The meeting was a great success for us. Carter hailed Ceausescu, dictator of the most repressive police state in Eastern Europe, as a "great national and international leader" who had "taken on a role of leadership in the entire international community."

What a surprise:

(A) Arafat was supported by the Communists

(B) Carter is an idiot

Needless to say, both Carter and Arafat are Nobel Peace Prize winners.