Just for the record, let's remember the sort of man Ariel Sharon really was. Prior to 1948 he was a terrorist, attacking British forces in Palestine, and participating the murder of civilians and massacre of villages. A lot of Israeli politicians from that era were. But after 1948, he kept on killing. He ran a special army group, Unit 101, which targeted civilians and conducted operations outside Israel's borders. One of these operations, Qibya, resulted in the massacre of 69 women and children, and enough outrage inside and outside Israel that the unit was formally dissolved. In 1956, it appears that during the Suez Crisis, Sharon executed 40 captured Egyptian Prisoners of War, that's a war crime. In both 67 and 73, Sharon was active in theatres where Prisoners of War were murdered, though its not clear whether he was doing it then. He helped to pioneer the Settlement Policy, which created the settlements in the occupied territories, resulting in displacement and disenfranchisement, and often outright killing of Palestinians. He was the architect of the invasion of Lebanon, itself a war crime, and therefore of the 18 year occupation. The Siege of Beirut and the Sabra and Shattilla massacres, both war crimes, can be laid at his door. His deliberate actions triggered the second intifada, and then through use of assassinations and raids on refugee camps, he ensured that the pot would keep boiling every time it seemed to be settling down. Politically, he was well served by the fear and terror brought about by the second intifada. Although he demanded that the Palestinian Authority control its territory, he undercut their ability to do so at every turn. Finally, although this must be considered the least of his sins, it appears that his recent political career involved major bribery and influence peddling, a developing scandal cut short by his stroke.

Ariel Sharon spent a lifetime murdering and brutalizing women, children, civilians, noncombatants and the helpless. He committed war crimes. Every step he took was drenched with blood.

I am not attacking Israel. This is not about Israel. This is about a man who massacred villages and refugee camps, who committed atrocities.

He was a monster, and frankly, there are too many monsters in this world to spare him pity or compassion. Monsters are not an endangered species, not even in Israel or the middle east. If he believes in God, he will have to answer to that God for his actions.

Very disturbing that Sabra and Shatila is simply glossed over and lumped in with "past sins". So this is the idea? Vote in hardline wackos and criminals, cross your fingers, shut your eyes and hope for the best. Lucky us. Well lets get it over with and get Bibi in there.

I'm very glad Sharon took the direction he did and his strong leadership was a valuable asset but I can't help but feel we're making a deal with the devil by collectively forgetting such a great deal of sin and foolishness.

Far be it from me to defend Ariel Sharon, but I must inform the board that Mr. G. Wagner's quote: "don't worry about American pressure, we the Jewish people control America" isn't at all true. Sharon never made any such comment. It was fabricated by Islamic Association for Palestine in 2001. Regardless, I don't quite like the tone of Mr. Wagner's letter. Should we be free to criticize Israeli policies? Yes. Should we also forget Sharon's acts of brutality in Lebanon because of his recent actions in the West Bank? No. Does every criticism of Israel always disguise feelings of anti-Semitism? Not necessarily. However, Mr. Wagner's letter bothers me. I do not like how he appears to paint ALL Israelis, ALL Zionists, and ALL Jews with the same tarbrush. Are there people who use the Shoah irresponsibly as a weapon against criticism? Of course, and those individuals must be resisted; yet, in the same vein, all attempts to tarnish all of Israel, all of the Jewish community in all its many facets, with the tawdry acts of the few must also be criticized and rejected. After all, repeating anti-Semitic nonsense and fabricated quotes is not going to ease the suffering of the Palestinians OR the Israelis any sooner.

Ideally to a country with a warrant out for his arrest for his extensive war crimes. Sabra and Shatila? Act as if you've never heard the names.

If any other country had perpetrated half the atrocities that I$rael has done there would be an unprecedented outcry from the rest of the world, but somehow the blood just runs off the I$raeli teflon.

Without an endless flow of US "aid" money, I$rael couldn't stomp the indiginous people of that area as flat as they have been doing. Yet the concept of reducing (or eliminating) "aid" is unspeakable, invoking that splendidly crafted smokescreen/shell game of "Jewish" and "Zionist" and "I$raeli" and the thermonuclear trump card of "The Holocaust"(tm) -- the cornerstone of an industry.

Ariel Sharon? As braindead as Karen Ann Quinlan. That was news on Wednesday. But our beloved "mainstream" media once again withholds the truth so that behind-the-scene scuttling can take place and the next cockroach can seize the controls.

My favorite Sharon quote: On October 3, 2001, I.A.P. News reported that according to Israel Radio (in Hebrew) Kol Yisrael an acrimonious argument erupted during the Israeli cabinet weekly session last week between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Peres warned Sharon that refusing to heed incessant American requests for a cease-fire with the Palestinians would endanger Israeli interests and "turn the US against us. "Sharon reportedly yelled at Peres, saying "don't worry about American pressure, we the Jewish people control America."

What did George Washington say about entangling foreign alliances..? Oh, I don't know -- it was so long ago! It probably wasn't anything important...

Nothing original here, necessarily; I just want to reiterate that Ariel Sharon is still alive, and to speak of him in the past tense (his "passing"..?) is, in my humble estimation, kind of a sin. To the author: Your apparent left wing bias, which for the record I more or less share, is quite blatant. It's cruel to speak of someone who is dying as having already died, regardless of whether you share his/her political leanings or not.

If the idea was to speak of Sharon's "passing" simply in the sense of a passing of his political and public career, in plain English: You blew it.

"His past sins were all but forgiven". Obviously, not by you. Your article reads more and more like an obituary, and you've simply no right.

Shalom Aleichem, and G-d bless Sharon, his family, Olmert (probably the next in line, as it were), and while He's at it, all the inhabitants of Israel and Palestine.