Over the years there have been those who noted the consequences of upgrading the skills of murderous thugs.

In "The Stolen Car Process," Daniel Doron noted:

The saga began one night not long ago, when thieves picked two fairly sophisticated locks on our house and came in without a rustle while we were still awake. They took car keys, credit cards, cell phones, and other valuables. We later learned that operatives from Arafat’s personal security guard, Force 17, were seen driving our car and had been involved in the theft. They’d reportedly been trained in sterile break-in techniques, sniper shooting, and other such skills by the CIA. The idea was to make Arafat’s forces better able to fight terrorism, but the Palestinians are putting their know-how to other purposes.

An anonymous solider, Moshe X wrote in a letter nearly 4 years ago:

The vineyards that we destoryed were venues for the PLO sharpshooters which George Tenet’s CIA trained to shoot Jews. You know George was so busy with his Middle East plan that he forgot that the CIA was successful in its sniper schools in Virginia. The vineyards don’t exist anyome in Khan Yhunis because of our terrible action that night.

Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA noted:

Israel Radio military correspondent Carmela Menashe reported this morning
that a preliminary IDF investigation finds that a single Palestinian sniper
murdered 9 Israelis this morning at an IDF roadblock north of the West Bank
city of Ramallah, near the settlement of Ofra.

The sniper positioned himself at location that looked down on the roadblock
and shot a total of 25 bullets from a carbine. The carbine (not automatic)
was damaged by return fire and the sniper escaped.

It should be noted that as part of the Oslo program, the CIA as well as
Israel trained Palestinian snipers.

I suppose that these are not the only example of this foolhardy program of the CIA, but has anyone in the media even bothered to re-consider this problem and figure out its (high) costs and (dubious) benefits.

Fortunately, there's an alternative media, willing to look at stories that the MSM ignores due to laziness or because these stories don't fit their pre-conceived agenda. Patrick Devenny has filled in many of the details of this great CIA "success" in "Training our Enemies," Front Page Magazine:

The misguided attempt began in 1996, when the CIA led an effort – engineered by then deputy director George Tenet – to train the Palestinian authorities in anti-terror tactics. The initiative was secretly authorized by President Clinton, who later signed a Presidential order sanctioning the expansion of the program to include chaperoned tours of the CIA and FBI headquarters buildings for Palestinian security chiefs. The covert training and funding operation continued over the next two years, existing wholly outside of the public’s view.

In 1998, President Clinton – anxious to cement his legacy as Middle East peacemaker – pushed for an expanded and formalized security assistance effort which would be included as a provision in the Wye River agreement. While the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was initially reluctant to accept such an idea, Clinton managed to browbeat the Israeli delegation into compliance, an acquiescence which ensured the continuation and growth of the formerly covert training program. In doing so, the President ignored the warnings of several veteran Israeli counter-terrorist officials, who repeatedly warned their American counterparts that several high-ranking Palestinian terrorists such as Al-Aqsa Brigades leader Nasser Awis were simultaneously serving as senior security officials in the Palestinian Authority, with responsibility for conducting counter-terrorist operations.

Where are the intrepid reporters who are so interested in trusting the CIA when it opposes President Bush? Is it possible that they didn't know about this? Even Jim Hoagland, a believer in a Palestinian state noted that getting the CIA involved in the Palestinian nation-building was problematic:

On a visit to Washington a year ago, Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub proudly showed off an armor-plated limousine that he said the Central Intelligence Agency "always provides me when I am here." Last week on the West Bank, Rajoub was running for his life from Israeli troops seeking to eliminate the territory's "terrorist infrastructure."

The CIA helped Rajoub make his way out of his fire-gutted compound in Beitunia and arrange the surrender of dozens of his operatives as Ariel Sharon's siege intensified. The American agents were doing what comes naturally in their profession -- protecting assets, however troublesome those assets may become for others.

Rajoub's plight points up the exposed position into which U.S. intelligence officers -- and U.S. policy -- have been dragged in the new Israeli-Palestinian war. The Palestinian militias that the CIA has been building up under presidential order are the primary recipients of Sharon's wrath and firepower. Sharon intends to conquer, or destroy, what the CIA hath wrought on the West Bank.

(Interestingly, Hoagland asserts that Tenet was against such CIA involvement. Devenny writes that the policy was initiated by Tenet. I find the latter view more likely.)

Technorati Tags: Israel, Palesitnian Authority.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.