What did Yasser Arafat die of?

You'd think that in the days of modern interactive media and the blogosphere, that would be a rather straightforward story, but now I hesitate even to use the word ra^ther.

Or how about CANARD? No, really:

The Canard story said doctors realized soon after Arafat arrived that he had "what is called mechanical cirrhosis," or a severity of cirrhosis that made liver function difficult.

"The most likely scenario is that there were multiple causes of death," the story said. Arafat's coma "was caused by the aggravation of the cirrhosis, and the result of that was a hemorrhage."

Welcome to the new era of peace and cooperation in news-gathering, where the official sources and the blogosphere work tirelessly to make sure that no truth is left un-canarded.

Sorry to sound sarcastic, but I'd just like to know what the hell the man died of. For my own curiosity, OK? While it outrages me that this grandfather of modern terrorism was appeased and enabled for most of his career, and I think that giving him the Nobel Prize made about as much sense as it would have to have given it to Hitler, still I think a question as basic as the man's cause of death ought to be verifiable.

Of does the Arafat myth-making machine continue after his death? If so, why?

I keep reading stories like these speculating Arafat died of AIDS. Without question, death from AIDS is considered the most disgraceful, morally tainted death one can die. It's fully understandable that Arafat's enemies would want him to have died of AIDS because it furthers his disgrace. But if it's untrue, it's hardly fair to the many good AIDS sufferers to promulgate the idea that AIDS is a disease so associated with truly bad, truly villainous, people. (While Arafat's bisexuality has been well known for years, that neither proves he had AIDS, nor that he died from it.) And if AIDS is so bad that propagandists will go out of their way to give it to someone who might not have even had it, how does that advance modern medicine or science, or help Third World countries deal honestly with the problem?

But the emerging story right now is cirrhosis of the liver -- also not a "good" disease, especially for Muslims.

Allegations that Arafat was a heavy drinker - forbidden in Islam - would have clouded the mourning that began Nov. 11, when the 75-year-old died.

The report that Arafat was suffering from cirrhosis was bolstered by an article in another French newspaper, Le Monde, which said Arafat had suffered from "intravascular coagulation," a blood-clotting condition that can be a sign of late-stage liver failure and can be consistent with cirrhosis.

Le Monde, citing "very good sources," reported that doctors could not make an indisputable diagnosis, however, since the blood abnormality "is not a disease as such, but the symptom of a pathology, which in a patient of his age is either of infectious origin or of cancerous origin." Doctors found no evidence of cancer.

The government stood by its refusal to provide any details, despite speculation among Palestinians that Arafat was poisoned by Israel and a request for more information by Palestinian leaders. Israeli officials deny poisoning him.

Because the French are not stupid, the world may never know the truth. Why, they're so bad, they might even be able to hide the truth by telling the truth! Example: for the many years during which infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele was hiding in Brazil, the world believed he was being hidden in Paraguay. Why? Because Paraguay's dictator (Alfredo Stroessner, a known Nazi sympathizer with every reason to help Mengele) stated in a very guilty manner that Mengele was NOT in Paraguay! Naturally, he was lying. Or so they thought.

Can the blogosphere ever get to the bottom of this? Or might it be one of those situations where everybody gets to spin his own canard?

I think this calls for an official Yasser Arafat Death Canard-O-Matic.

If anyone has a better explanation, I'm all ears!

UPDATE: While I'm still puzzled over the official cause of Arafat's death, I'm delighted to discover an official explanation for all the new visitors. Thank you, Glenn Reynolds, for kindly linking this post. Welcome everyone!

I'm honored to be mentioned in the same post which links to these thoughts on Arafat's real legacy by Austin Bay. It's a must read, as are these insightful posts by Israelpundit on Arafat's death and the Mideast's "shifting sands" approach to homosexuality. (I'm reminded of the sick sheikh's sixth slick sheep or something..... May Allah forgive me!)

UPDATE: Link added to last update for purposes of clarification.

MORE: Glenn Reynolds' question about whether credit should be given Mad Magazine made me recall the origin (in the blogosphere at least) of the Canard-O-Matic. When I'd been blogging for just a week, I borrowed the idea from one of the first bloggers to blogroll me, the very talented Mike Silverman, who had applied Mad Libs technology in adapting Stefan Sharkansky's Canard-O-Matic, originally designed for CanardMeister Robert Scheer.

(Which is the most factually accurate history up with which I can come right now.)

UPDATE: It occurred to me that some of the readers might not be able to (or want to) read the above link to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which requires a subscription. So here's more about Le Canard -- a French satire magazine.

So, why is the cause of Arafat's death considered satire, anyway?