Soccer Dad

Training Terrorists

Malka Young e-mailed a couple of items she took off the Ha'aretz news ticker:

Training a new improved Terror Regime:

15:54Italy`s FM says Italian paramilitary police will begin training Palestinian security forces in coming weeks (AP)
The Shin Bet security service said Tuesday they recently arrested a Hezbollah agent who was sent to establish a terror cell in the West Bank. The agent allegedly planned to bomb train tracks and kidnap soldiers to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners. (Haaretz Service)

Sound familiar?
Maybe this will jog your memory:

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.

Or maybe this will:

The best customer service in Israel is offered by Palestinian car thieves. I know. When our Ford Taurus was stolen recently, the thieves very politely offered to sell it back to us.

As upsetting as it was, the episode would hardly merit attention except as a cautionary tale about the seductions of trying to cut a rational deal with criminals. It also speaks volumes about how the Palestinian Authority is governed and how this affects its relations with Israel.

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.

The thieves apparently had no trouble neutralizing the car's coded locking mechanism, two alarm systems, and satellite-tracking device (all required by insurers in Israel). They also managed to evade the many roadblocks with which Israel has tried to encircle Palestinian towns in order to stop car bombs from reaching Israeli cities. These roadblocks, which photograph so well and make such potent television symbols of Israeli oppression, have more holes than Swiss cheese.

If the past is any guide, training terrorists to fight terror will probably result in more efficient terrorists.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at December 21, 2004 07:44 PM | TrackBack