Do you think Arafat was poisoned?... but by whom?

[lonewolf0507]

The illness came on all of a sudden with him going into a coma. The last picture of him getting on the helicopter, he looked well and then that was it. I believe someone in the Palestinian organization could have poisoned him.

[proudbluestater]

1. He was 75 years old

I think he just became more sick and died. They were unable to properly diagnose him, but that's not unusual. Perhaps there was an autopsy?

[GregD]

2. I heard that rumor somewhere the day they took him to France

Then it turned up again after he died. The original rumor was Israel.

[hollowdweller]

3. My theory

is that he was an alcoholic and died of liver failure due to cirrohsis but since alcohol is frowned on by Islam they don't want to make it public.

[RebelYell]

5. I'd be an alcoholic too

if I wasn't allowed to leave my compound for 3 years.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

10. You have a compound, too?

Cool. :crazy:

[Maple]

4. His doctor thinks he was

but who by, is certainly the question.

The likeliet suspects are either the Israelis or some ambitious Palestinian.

He had the same illness last Ramadan, and it was also put down to the 'flu.' He recovered then, but this time it was fatal.

[rwheeler31]

8. Crap we could getis junk on tv

You are better than that

[Maple]

11. Pardon me?

It was a simple statement about his doctor's opinion, and a naming of the two obvious suspects.

And you have a problem with that??

[jdj]

15. it wouldn't surprise me

but then again about the only thing that would surprise me is if the republican congress had an attack of congress and impeached Bush. the shock from THAT might kill me. Anyting else, same old, same old.

[mrbassman03]

No, he was sick and old...

I don't think there has to be any shadowy figure in this one, although many wanted Arafat dead, including already murderous IDF types.

[iamsofnsorry]

6. Poisoned by Bad Karma

many leaders will suffer the same fate

[Gyre]

7. Who cares?

I know he had his accolytes, but after all of his false alarms I could understand why someone would want just want him to STFU.

Sorry, if this sounds cold, but I also thought he was in league w/the Mossad because they could've offed him anytime they wanted, and he was such a good Terrible poster child for the Palestinian cause in the US media. Circumstantial evidence you know. :tinfoilhat:

Gyre

[Cleita]

9. Poison rumors abound.

But it isn't useful to ask if he was poisoned unless an autopsy is performed. If he were, what makes you think it was Palestinians? Arafat seems to have had many medical problems. One of the points made when Sharon bulldozed Ramalah, was that Arafat couldn't get his medication. Sharon agreed he would make sure Arafat got his pills. Do I have to go further? Why couldn't it be Israelis, particularly since Sharon has publically said he wanted to kill him?

So I think both camps are suspicious if it's proved he was poisoned.

[Warpy]

12. Well, they knew his blood wouldn't clot

because his platelets wouldn't adhere, and that means poison. I don't know of any acute disease process that has that effect. I'm sure the French have toxicologists working on whatever the substance might have been, and I'm sure they will announce it when they figure it out.

As to whodunit, we may never know that. It sounds like something that probably accumulated in his system over a period of time.

He'd become more a liability than an asset, a personality cult figure around which most of the Palestinian Arabs rallied, but who wasn't really doing any of them much good and was acting as a lightning rod for Israeli wrath. My guess is that the dull, wonkish types who were doing all the real work had the most motive to get rid of him.

We'll never know for certain, of course, because nobody in his right mind would admit to it. Maybe 50 years from now one of the inner circle will mumble the truth into his pureed lamb at an old folks' home, but that's the only way we'll ever know for certain.

[dweller]

16. blood platelet, shutdown of vital organs

and i've read there were several organs, not just liver, rapid onset of conditions all point to poisoning.

not that i'm suprised. With the first news and reports of his 'illness' cropped up, i thought of possible poisoning as well, and wasn't suprised to see it speculated.

then i hear today Crashcart is rushed in...and released.


so :shrug: what do i know?
dp

[Bluzmann57]

13. Do I think Arafat was poisoned?

no.

[SouthPasadenaDem]

14. No, he was old and had been

in seriously failing health for years. I mean have you seek the way he had been shaking for the past few years? If anything, it seems likely that they were keeping him on full life support for most of the time he was in France while everyone else in his organization got all the ducks in a row to prevent a power vacuum. No. I suspect he would have been dead a week beforehand but for modern life support.

[Maple]

17. His symptoms

originally were vomiting and diarrhea, then they did blood tests, then it went to liver failure, and finally coma and death.

So it wasn't likely from old age, or alcohol or AIDS as has been suggested.

I'm sure the doctors know what did it, but it's up to his wife how much information is given out.

And I'm sure announcing poison would be a bombshell in the ME right now.

[phillysuse]

18. What disease did Arafat have?

I tend to think he had Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic purpura.
This is an uncommon disorder with fluctuating neurologic signs,
fever, weakness, decreased appetite. It can be triggered in a previously
healthy person after a viral illness, can occur in the setting of HIV
or in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
It is characterized by low platelet counts and changed mental status progressing to coma. Kidney and liver failure and anemia are associated.
The pathology occurs when small blood vessels are occluded by clots (thrombi).
The newspapers reported him as having a low platelet count, losing weight, not eating. They mentioned that he was getting platelet transfusions. That is the wrong therapy for this disorder and makes
it worse. That's like feeding fuel to a fire.
It is treated initially by infusions of normal plasma or by plasmapheresis (removal of the patient's plasma) to normalize the situation.
I think he was initially mismanaged in Ramallah.
In my opinion, he would have been better off going to Israel for his medical care.

[Maple]

19. Well his doctor

is a neurologist, and he didn't have either a fever or a viral illness.

And had he gone to Israel, he certainly wouldn't have survived, and Israel would be blamed.

[Deja Q]

20. Entropy is the poison that kills us all...

75 is not a young age to die.

ODB died at 35.

Chris Farley died at 32 (early 30s if I recall)

John Ritter at 54.

Christopher Reeve at 52.

John Nathan-Turner at 54.

I could dig up lots of names, but people can go into comas or die without the need of external influence. :-(

This time I really doubt there's any big conspiracy, and I can be prone to believing any number of theories. O8)

[Spazito]

21. An autopsy must be done by a non-'aligned' body ...

for anyone to KNOW what occurred. Speculation based on political biases serves no purpose, imo.

[ploppy]

22. Perhaps

it was his lovely wife - the Anna Nicole of Palestine!