Insanity

{It would appear, the U.S. and Israel are repeating the same old worn out mistakes of the past.

1) US helps Saddam during the 1980's war between Iran and Iraq, alternating between helping Iraq and then Iran and then Iraq. Administration official were divided. Which monster was the greater threat? Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush was in the group which supported Iraq. US administration helped Saddam acquire chemical and biological weapons either directly or indirectly, though the administration knew Saddam was using them on the Iranians and on his own people, the Kurds. (See: "The Secret History of how the White House Illegally Armed Iraq: Spider's Web," Alan Friedman)

Administration publicly condemns Saddam for using these savage methods but reassures him privately through back channels. Saddam becomes a greater monster than he was previously. He invades Kuwait August 2, 1990 during George Herbert Walker Bush's presidency. U.S. intervention to extricate Sadaam from Kuwait begins January 16, 1991. Now the son, President George W. Bush, is bogged down in Iraq, in part thanks to his father's poor judgment.

2) US administration along with our Wahhabi friends in Riyadh (the Saudis) come to the aid of Mujahideen insurgents in Afghanistan fighting Soviets. We provided them Stinger missiles and other advanced weapons. Mujahideen becomes a great monster thanks in large part to our help and repays us for our generosity, September 11, 2001. I guess it's that old saw, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Who is the bigger monster, Hamas terrorists or Fatah terrorists? At least the Hamas terrorists are forthright about their genocidal intentions. Fatah terrorists cloak their genocidal intentions behind a "two state solution." What good purpose is served by inserting ourselves into this internecine feud?}

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200705/FOR20070525a.html

Attempts to Bolster Abbas Could Bring Down PA, Critics Say
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
May 25, 2007

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Amid a fast-deteriorating security situation in Gaza and parts of Israel adjacent to the Palestinian-ruled territory, new voices of criticism were heard Thursday questioning the wisdom of the decision by the United States - backed by the Israeli government - to train, arm and fund one of the two rival Palestinian factions.

They said that while the move may be well-intentioned, it could backfire and end up hastening the demise of the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) itself.

The U.S. and Israel have been backing P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and members of his Fatah faction in its rivalry with Hamas, which won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections early last year.

Fatah joined Hamas in a "unity" government in February in an attempt to break an international financial boycott targeting Hamas and to end inter-Palestinian clashes. But more than 50 Palestinians have been killed over the last week in the latest round of a bloody power struggle between the two in the Gaza Strip.

The U.S. and Israeli administrations consider Abbas a "moderate," because he says he favors a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Hamas wants an Islamic Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and all of Israel.

Washington's special envoy Gen. Keith Dayton is developing a plan to strengthen Abbas' forces, and Congress has agreed to an administration request to give $59 million in large part for non-lethal equipment and training to bolster forces loyal to Abbas.

Israel has already allowed a shipment of thousands of weapons and ammunition to cross the border into Gaza to bolster Abbas' forces, although according to reports it did draw the line at allowing higher caliber rifles and heavy machine guns into the Palestinian area.

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz Thursday reported that Israel has okayed an American request to allow members of Abbas' presidential guard to train near P.A.-ruled Jericho in the West Bank. Others are to receive training in Egypt.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisen, said Thursday the Americans believed that building a force that can be in control in Gaza was a logical step.

The question remained, however, whether such a plan could be implemented, she said, adding that up until now, Abbas had not delivered on any of his promises to deliver security.

Palestinian affairs expert Khaled Abu Toameh said supporting Abbas to enable him to topple Hamas could, in the end, destroy the entire P.A.

"If anyone thinks that [Abbas] is going to wage a major crackdown on Hamas or Islamic Jihad, that's not going to happen," Abu Toameh told a briefing of journalists and diplomats at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) think tank on Thursday.

Abbas has at least 40,000 armed men at his disposal in Gaza and still has done nothing to prevent 100-200 Hamas fighters from launching rockets at Israel, said Abu Toameh, senior Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. Abbas was not doing so, he said, because if he did, he would be branded a "collaborator" with the enemy.

'Under pressure'

Abu Toameh painted a picture of a P.A. under increasing pressure from various quarters.

Elements in Hamas, headed by Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal, had never accepted the P.A. and wished to bring about its collapse, he said.

Another Palestinian element, headed by the still-exiled Fatah figure Farouk Kaddoumi - at one time styled as the PLO's "foreign minister" - disapproved of the way the P.A. has handled matters and wants to return to the military option, he said.

A third factor not helping the P.A., according to Abu Toameh, is the West.

"The U.S. and European attempts to bring down the Hamas government, whether directly or indirectly, will also bring down the entire Palestinian Authority and this is exactly what's going to happen," he said.

The West has spearheaded a boycott of the P.A., because since its election victory, Hamas has refused to recognize Israel, abandon terrorism and abide by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

But Abu Toameh said that if Hamas feels backed into a corner, it will do everything it can to bring Fatah down with it.

The Palestinians don't need more guns, he said - there are enough of those already. What they need is good governance, democracy and freedom.

Abu Toameh said the key reason Hamas won the January 2005 election was because of voters' unhappiness about widespread corruption in the Fatah-ruled P.A.

They would elect Hamas again tomorrow, Abu Toameh said, because nothing has changed in Fatah and because Palestinians feel Hamas has not yet been given a chance to prove itself a better administrator.

When Fatah lost the elections, the international community should have told Fatah that this was a result of their corruption and should have encouraged Fatah to reform, rebuild and prepare a new list of representatives to offer the electorate next time, he said.

Dan Diker, policy analyst at the JCPA, said the U.S. had made wrong choices in the way it deals with the Palestinians - based, he said, on incorrect assumptions.

"The Americans made a terrible error in judgment in backing the so-called moderates," he said in an interview.

The "moderates" were so corrupt that by backing them, the U.S. has "inadvertently" torpedoed the very independence it has been promoting for the Palestinians, he said.

Diker said the problem was not a new one but went all the way back to the 1993 Oslo Accords, which launched the process of setting up the P.A. and providing self-rule to the Palestinians.

The accords were the bad idea of a left-wing Israeli government and had then been sold to President Clinton, who wanted a foreign policy victory and to be seen as a Mideast peacemaker, he said.