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March 19, 2010

The Folly of America Training the Palestinian Army

Fairly authoritative sources have noted that Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. Army general responsible for training Abu Mazen’s Palestinian security force/army, has become increasingly marginalized by the Fatah government. Last summer his staff was reportedly no longer directly involved in training or planning and had been “expelled” from the Palestinian Authority (PA) “Strategic Planning Department.” Then came news that American DynCorp International’s contract for training and mentoring Palestinian forces had not been renewed. Now, another shoe has dropped.

According to Janes’ Defence Weekly as reported by wire services, the PA has drafted a plan to end American training and supervision of the force entirely. “Dayton’s role would be limited to bringing money and equipment for the security forces. He would not deal with PA operations or deployment,” a Palestinian official was reported to have said. “Officials said the PA leadership…determined that U.S. intervention was hampering security force development and undermining the legitimacy of the regime.”

We suspect that Lt. Gen. Dayton would retire rather than be in that position, but that would suit the PA as well. He has already done the job they wanted done. He’s built their army and now they want to use it as they see fit.

We don’t blame the Palestinians.

For years JINSA has pointed out the folly of U.S. military funding and training for the nucleus of a Palestinian army. American military sources with whom we discuss the issue generally give us two oddly linked responses:

* A well-trained army would be loyal to the “State,” and; in the meantime,

* It would protect the current Fatah regime from the Hamas regime that wants to unseat it in the West Bank as it did in Gaza.

Israelis, too, have told us that since Hamas is essentially at war with Fatah as well as Israel, training Fatah soldiers to fight Hamas means that the IDF doesn’t have to do it. “The more they kill, the fewer we have to kill,” said an IDF officer.

This is a temporary answer at best and a foolish one as well. There is no Palestinian state and if, despite the best efforts of rational actors, one emerges on two sides of Israel, Hamas will be as much a part of it as Fatah, and entitled to some say in the disposition of the army.

The United States arms and trains the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in the belief that the Lebanese state will use the LAF to control Hezbollah and maintain a peaceful border with Israel. A JINSA delegation in Israel recently heard a presentation on Israel’s belief that with Hezbollah officials in the Lebanese government cabinet, the Lebanese government is, in fact, a “state sponsor” of terrorism against Israel. “The state apparatus is the face to the world and brings in aid, including American military aid. Hezbollah is the actual security force of the country and will determine whether there will be peace or war.”

What the Israelis clearly understand about Lebanon should be understood about the Palestinians as well-and understood by the United States in both cases. Giving military skills to young men with no understanding of or control over where they will use those skills is not in the U.S. national security interest-particularly when they fire our general.

Posted by Ted Belman @ 10:48 pm | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to The Folly of America Training the Palestinian Army

yamit82 says:

March 19, 2010 at 11:34 pm

Were I to become prime minister of Israel the Sirst thing I would do is to fire every military officer above the rank of

colonel.

They are all politicized and corrupted by America.

Then I would close the Israeli Supreme Court.

We almost lost the Yom Kippur War because of built in group think, we called conceptia (conception) Now we seem to have

reverted to that kind of stasis in thinking again.
BlandOatmeal says:

March 20, 2010 at 12:00 am

It makes sense for the US to train the Pal army, because the US has abandoned Israel as an ally and plans to replace it with the Pals at the earliest opportunity.
Michael Sunstar says:

March 20, 2010 at 2:11 pm

Reminds me of Janet Reno’s excuse under the Clintonian regime: “We wanted to give money to Hamas so we could track how they spend their money!”

Dummy. Dumb. Dummies. Now that an Islamic president Obama is in charge, it’s worse than ever for the dumb, dumb, dumbocratic party!
ayn reagan says:

March 20, 2010 at 5:54 pm

Hitlery Clinton:

At a time when elements of the American Left embraced the Palestinian cause and condemned Israel, Hillary was telling friends that she was “sympathetic” to the terrorist organization and admired its flamboyant leader, Yasser Arafat. When Arafat made his famous appearance before the UN General Assembly in November 1974 wearing his revolutionary uniform and his holster on his hip, Bill “was outraged like everybody else,” said a Yale Law School classmate. But not Hillary, who tried to convince Bill that Arafat was a “freedom fighter” trying to free his people from their Israeli “oppressors.” (1)

Of course Hillary’s feelings about the PLO and Israel are only one aspect of her character, often a person’s true nature is more closely revealed in a more intimate setting. In an early showcase of Hillary’s diplomatic skills Christopher Anderson relates an experience that she and her future husband had during a trip to Arkansas in 1973.

It was during this trip to his home state that Bill took Hillary to meet a politically well connected friend. When they drove up to the house, Bill and Hillary noticed that a menorah-the seven branched Hebrew candelabrum (not to be confused with the more common and subtler mezuzah)-has been affixed to the front door.

“My daddy was half Jewish,” explained Bill’s friend. “One day when he came to visit , my daddy placed the menorah on my door because he wanted me to be proud that we were part Jewish. And I wasn’t about to say no to my daddy.”

To his astonishment, as soon as Hillary saw the menorah, she refused to get out of the car. “Bill walked up to me and said that she was hot and tired, but later he explained the real reason.” According to the friend and another eyewitness, Bill said, “I’m sorry, but Hillary’s really tight with the people in the PLO in New York. They’re friends of hers, and she just doesn’t feel right about the menorah.” (2)

In a conference call to the Israeli consuls general on Saturday night, Michael Oren (Israel’s ambassador to the United States) informed his diplomatic colleagues that relations with the U.S. were in a state of crisis not seen in 35 years. What should have been a minor incident between trusted allies has been used by the Obama administration for their own political purposes. The Jerusalem Post reports .

THERE ARE now ominous signals that to obviate their failures, White House strategists are cynically distancing themselves from us in order to curry popularity by capitalizing on the anti-Israel hatred which has engulfed the world.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been busy escalating a perceived insult to Vice President Biden (the poorly timed announcement of the approval of new homes in Ramat Shlomo) into a stinging rebuke of Israel’s commitment to the peace process. For an administration which coddles dictators and reaches out to rogue states it is troubling to watch their treatment of our closest and most reliable ally in the middle east.

That Hillary should treat Israel in such an undiplomatic way should not really come as a surprise. In his book American Evita, Christopher Anderson writes.

At a time when elements of the American Left embraced the Palestinian cause and condemned Israel, Hillary was telling friends that she was “sympathetic” to the terrorist organization and admired its flamboyant leader, Yasser Arafat. When Arafat made his famous appearance before the UN General Assembly in November 1974 wearing his revolutionary uniform and his holster on his hip, Bill “was outraged like everybody else,” said a Yale Law School classmate. But not Hillary, who tried to convince Bill that Arafat was a “freedom fighter” trying to free his people from their Israeli “oppressors.” (1)

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/hillary_and_israel_you_cant_te.html