Post-9/11, would we pass up a chance to kill Osama Bin Laden in a similar manner to that Israel used on Yassin? I don't think so.

Though terrorist efforts may increase *temporarily*, in the long run the elimination of Yassin will upset Hamas' leadership and violent capabilities, and serve as an essential deterrent to ongoing Palestinian terror. His elimination will serve peace *in the long run*. He was personally responsible for all the most dreadful attacks in Israel. He was a dangerous extremist Islamic ideologist. What Bin Laden was to 9/11 and many other terrorist operations, including last week's in Spain, Yassin was to the Palestinian terror murders committed in Israel. Yassin directed dozens of heinous terrorist attacks, his hands were drenched in Israeli blood.

Yassin continually called for suicide terrorism as a "religious obligation," and even said about himself that "the day in which I will die as a shahid [martyr] will be the happiest day of my life." (Al-Quds, July 26, 1998) I suppose Israel has made him happy.