Training Terrorists

Hasn't worked at all so far so, in typical government fashion, they're going to do it all over again.

American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the “success” of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun.

“I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings,” a senior officer of President Abbas’s Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said.

Let that sink in for a moment- they're openly admitting that US provided training has helped terrorists to slaughter innocent people. Was was it that Bush said about being "with us or against us"? And, despite the fact that Abbas has called on Hamas to come join him, the State Department is going to carry on training terrorists so that they can continue to attack Israeli civilians more effectively.

America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services.

This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory.

Take note- "to bolster Abbas against Hamas". Right? Now remember this from only a few days ago-

Just days after promising US lawmakers that his Fatah movement would not reconcile with Hamas, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is inviting the Islamist movement to kiss and make up.

Abbas called on Hamas to “return to national unity” following his meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso Wednesday. "The split that happened as a result of Hamas's coup is temporary and will be removed," Abbas said. Hamas welcomed Abbas’s statements and invited him to negotiations in Gaza.

Now, I'm no foreign policy expert in Washington but it seems to me that if Abbas wants to get friendly with Hamas again then there isn't actually any need at all for the US to train his troops to fight Hamas- especially when they are announcing to the world that this US training is aiding them to kill civilians from a US-ally state. But maybe that's just me.