[Diogenesis]

“America’s Shiny New Palestinian Militia
No matter how events play out, this story ends with U.S.-trained soldiers pointing their guns at Israel.
‘The stupidest program the U.S. government has ever undertaken” — last year that’s
what I called American efforts to improve the Palestinian Authority (PA) military force.
Slightly hyperbolic, yes, but the description fits because those efforts enhance the
fighting power of enemies of the United States and its Israeli ally.

First, a primer about the program, drawing on a recent Center for Near East Policy
Research study by David Bedein and Arlene Kushner: Shortly after Yasir Arafat died in
late 2004, the U.S. government established the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator to
reform, recruit, train, and equip the PA militia (called the National Security Forces or
Quwwat al-Amn al-Watani) and make them politically accountable. For nearly all of its
existence, the office has been headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. Since 2007, American
taxpayers have funded it to the tune of $100 million a year. Many agencies of the U.S.
government have been involved in the program, including the State Department’s Bureau
of Diplomatic Security, the Secret Service, and branches of the military.”

[quadrant]

Hussein can do anything he wants to Israel, as he knows he won’t pay any political price. He knows that the vast majority of American Jews will vote Deomcratic, no matter what outrage Hussein commits.