It wasn’t enough that Hamas captured American-made (and paid for) weapons when they pushed Fatah out of Gaza. The Bush Administration is going to continue to train and equip Fatah, even as effort after effort fails, and the weapons (and sometimes trained soldiers) fall into Hamas’ hands.
The United States will continue financing the Palestinian Authority’s presidential guard, which is loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, despite the force’s disappointing performance in the Gaza Strip, officials in Washington said.
According to a US State Department spokesperson, General Keith Dayton, who is responsible for training the Palestinian forces, will continue his work after a reassessment of the situation. The training will likely be transferred from Gaza to the West Bank, the spokesperson said.
Dayton heads the training program for Abbas’ security staff, which protects the Palestinian top brass as well as strategic sites in Gaza and various border crossings.
Although Dayton praised the performance of the forces just a few weeks ago, the troops failed to stand up to Hamas forces in the past few days as they seized control in Gaza.
Isn’t it grand to have an administration that never, ever, EVER admits a mistake? Because it’s not like American-trained terrorists don’t turn on Israel or anything. Oh. Wait. Yes, they do.
Actually, they won’t admit that they are training Hamas. The reason Fatah does not stand up to Hamas is because they intended to work with them from the beginning.
Did Fatah intend to be defenstrated by Hamas, too? It could happen (the “omelettes and eggs” approach has been amply demonstrated by both sides’ reliance on suicide bombers), but I’m not so sure the guys getting tossed off rooftops saw that as a desirable outcome. Keeping an eye on who Hamas chooses to execute and who they merely beat up might be helpful in identifying who in Fatah was helping them.
Anyhow, as for the American weapons, they’ll probably only be used for disguises, rather than actual attacks. US weapons are like US people: they can do astounding things when they work, but are so fussy and high-maintenance that only Americans can make them work. The weapons we gave Fatah are probably all in Iraq right now, being used by teams of Al-Qaeda troops disguised as American troops, raping children for Al-Jazeera’s cameras.
In all honesty, this is just to protect Abbas. Given that he’s the most palatable of the many bad options, I don’t see how having him dead will help the US or Israel.