Jihad Watch News Editor Patrick Devenny exposes CIA training of Palestinian Arab jihad terrorists in FrontPage:
Last month, NBC News correspondent Lisa Myers tracked down one Jihad Jaara, a veteran Palestinian militant who currently resides in Ireland. Jaara’s career as a terrorist has been a remarkably effective one. As a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – a violent militia tied to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party – Jaara supervised and planned dozens of assassinations and bombings against a wide-range of American and Israeli targets. One of the more reprehensible actions authorized by Jaara was the kidnapping of Avi Boaz, a 72-year-old American architect who was abducted by Al-Aqsa terrorists while he waited at a Palestinian police checkpoint. His bullet-riddled body was found a few hours later, dumped just outside of Bethlehem. Upon being questioned by Myers, Jaara swore that he had renounced such terrorism, a claim that was dismissed by former associates, who identified him as an important interlocutor between Hezbollah and various Palestinian terrorist groups.What distinguishes Jaara from many of his fellow Palestinian terrorist leaders is that he plied his bloody trade while simultaneously serving as an officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a body assigned with combating militants. His official status gave Jaara the ability to travel freely throughout the territories, enabling him to plan his attacks while enjoying the protection afforded to Palestinian officials by the Israelis. While his position gave him some advantages, Jaara was unhesitant when asked what single factor had most contributed to his transformation into a successful terrorist: small-arms training supervised by officers of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The fact that the CIA trained a man such as Jihad Jaara is hardly surprising. For almost ten years, the American government has been engaged in a series of hopelessly misguided endeavors designed to train and fund the Palestinian security services, an initiative which can be deemed, politely, as a dismal failure. Tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars have simply disappeared into the covert bank accounts of corrupt Palestinian officials, while CIA-trainers recklessly lent their considerable combat expertise to fanatics such as Jaara.
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.
Within months of the Wye agreement, the first Palestinian trainees arrived aboard U.S. government aircraft. Their training regimen was rigorous, far superior to the domestic “boot camps” offered by the Palestinian government or terrorist groups. The Palestinian units were ferried to various military installations, where they were given advanced small-arms training on firing ranges normally used by the U.S. Army and special forces units. Additionally, the recruits were taught how to effectively protect high-value targets and “motorcade operations,” skills that could easily be transferred into protecting terrorist leaders from Israeli capture. Many of the former CIA trainees turned terrorists have since praised the CIA course, including Jaara, who made a point to extol the CIA’s “shooting” course. Perhaps most disturbingly, however, was that the Palestinian officers were given “interrogation” training, which, in the hands of those who work in the espionage services of groups such as Fatah, could prove extremely valuable.
American officials reasoned that – emboldened by their new training – Palestinian authorities would immediately and aggressively crack down on terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who were consistently breaking ceasefire agreements during the late 1990s. To the U.S. government’s dismay, many of the Palestinian security officers quickly joined or began aiding the very terrorist groups which they had been trained to combat. Security personnel were also observed transferring arms and their American training to militia groups such as the Tanzim, which was led by convicted terrorist Marwan Barghuti.
Indicative of the Clinton administration’s staggering ignorance over this issue was a class of 18 Palestinians brought to a top-secret location near CIA headquarters in 1998 for a course in “anti-terrorist techniques.” American officials failed to realize, however, that most of the men hailed from cities where militant infiltration of the police forces was acute, such as Nablus. Not surprisingly, as detailed in the San Francisco Chronicle, several of the students went on to become some of the most dangerous terrorists in the Palestinian territories, including the infamous Khaled Abu Nijmeh, who used his CIA training to supervise multiple suicide bombings in 2001 and 2002 in Bethlehem. More than half of the original class of 18 went on to become fighters in the Al-Aqsa brigades.
Beginning in 1999, Israeli government officials began suggesting that the American training effort be scaled back, in order to better judge its overall effectiveness. In addition, Prime Minister Ehud Barak complained to the White House that Yasser Arafat was using his seemingly close relations with the CIA to bolster his negotiating position, which had become increasingly aggressive. Tel Aviv’s requests fell on deaf ears in Washington, which stubbornly clung to the pipe dream that Arafat’s police forces would – given enough American aid and training – eventually confront the various militant organizations. This expectation was abruptly dashed during the intifada of 2000, in which large numbers of Palestinian police joined militant groups in fighting the Israeli Defense Force. The sight of Palestinian police stripping off their uniforms and engaging in raging street battles with Israeli forces became commonplace. At the same time, the Palestinian authorities failed miserably to curtain the actions of terrorist organizations, who operated with total impunity inside the territories.
Apart from the blowback effect precipitated by the Clinton administration's foolishly training men such as Jihad Jaara and Khaled Abu Nijmeh, the futile quest to prop up a Palestinian security service has been an unqualified financial disaster. All told, the U.S. government has squandered almost one billion dollars in the effort to construct a viable Palestinian state, a large portion of which has gone into building a Palestinian security force. Despite this massive amount of funding, the Palestinian services have shown little signs of progress, as detailed in a July 2005 report compiled on behalf of the U.S. government by the consulting firm Strategic Assessments Initiative (SAI). The SAI report stated that, even with millions of American dollars and years of CIA training, the PA police were wholly ineffective, wracked with divided loyalties and inferior equipment. Many of its officers, charged the SAI analysts, were active or complicit in terrorist attacks or organized crime rings.
Recent events have provided ample evidence of the overall program’s failure. The ongoing chaos in Gaza and the current inability of the Palestinian Authority to enforce its own disarmament provisions with regard to Hamas should serve to prove the utter futility of “reforming” the Palestinian security apparatus. The latest example came on Tuesday, when Palestinian police officers brazenly stormed the offices of the national legislature, complaining that they lacked the basic resources to confront the heavily-armed militant groups. Their lack of weaponry or funding suggests that the tens of millions of dollars in Western aid which was specifically earmarked for arming the police had been directed elsewhere, a violation of the agreed-upon protocols.
Regardless of these past failures, the Bush administration seems determined to follow a similar path, as training the Palestinian security services remains at the heart of President Bush’s efforts to keep the Palestinians involved in the negotiation process. Earlier this year, while visiting London, Secretary of State Rice suggested, "There will need to be some international effort, and the United States is prepared to play a major role in that, to help in the training of the Palestinian security forces and in making sure that they are security forces that are part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
Echoing the Secretary of State’s words was President Bush, who – while meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in May – pledged to “reform” the PA’s security services through a $50 million dollar aid package, assigning an American general to oversee the process. Just two weeks ago, American officials in Ramallah proudly announced the transfer of three million dollars to the Palestinian security services, for the “enhancement of their capabilities.” Additional measures have been approved by the President, chief among them a CIA-run effort which would give the Palestinians a supplementary $300 million dollars for security operations.
These recent overtures are the latest example of our government’s puzzling willingness to pour additional millions into anonymous Palestinian coffers, all in the name of highlighting our “even-handedness” with regard to the peace process. As we have already witnessed, however, any American initiative to reform the Palestinian security services is doomed to fail so long as no credible Palestinian government or judicial systems exists in the territories. Yet – desperate to accrue some sort of good will from our erstwhile Arab and European allies – the Bush administration sees fit to throw such considerations by the wayside, disregarding our security – not to mention Israel’s – in favor of overseas image management.
This is insanity. Forget about stubbing our toe on the same rock. This is slamming our heads into brick wall or handing our enemy a sword or gun with an invitation to use it on us.
Do our leaders understand the consequences of what they are doing?
... all in the name of highlighting our “even-handedness” with regard to the peace process.
How does that stand in light of Bush's "... those who support terrorists yadda yadda yadda" ?
One would have expected in light of his rhetoric and Abbas visibly employing terrorists in his security services that there would have been no US training of those persons.
Imagine the outrage if the boot were on the other foot.
Unfortunately it becomes all too aware for any thinking individual, and that includes those opposed to the US in Iraq, be they Saudis, Iranians or whatever, that whatever emanates from the Whitehouse is not to be taken at face value.
Is Bush's claim to want peace and the implementation of the "Roadmap" just an American aplication of taqyia?
What always astonishes me, is that none of the poor misguided idiots who strap on the old C4 never ask themselves - how does one become a leader of the 'Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade?
The very funny comment just above, funny for its truth, should be translated into Arabic and somehow smuggled onto various recruiting websites of terrorist groups.
"Training our enemies" is not limited to the training of "Palestinians" or, for that matter, to those in the army or police. Every time a Muslim pilot is trained in the Western world, that is one more pilot who, even if trained to fly civilian aircraft, may turn his learned skills to other uses, on civilian or military aircraft. Every Muslim graduate student trained in chemistry, in biology, in physics, in the universities of the Western world, could turn his skills -- and many have turned their skills -- against the interests, and physical security, of the Infidels. Every Muslim student now working in a laboratory, deeply trustworthy as it seems, may turn into a potential A. Q. Khan, stealing secrets, or a "Dr. Germ," the lady in Saddam Hussein's employ. The Muslim states lack the ability to train people at the level required, thank god, but they have been able, over the past three decades, to receive training of all kinds in the West.
No doubt many are innocent of any sinister plans. But so what? We do not know what will happen to them, what they will decide to do, what life-changes will cause them to change their attitudes toward Infidels, or what immutable anti-Infidel attitudes may come to the surface? Did anyone suspect the kindly avuncular looking (even as a young man) bespectacled Pakistani, Dr. A. Q. Khan, working in a Dutch laboratory?
And if that nice Dr. Khan did not turn out as expected, what of those who are genuinely nice, and genuinely to be trusted? There must have been some among those young Iraqis who, in the 1960s (before Saddam Hussein) or in the 1970s or even 1980s, received scientific training in, for example, the universities of the United Kingdom, and then returned to Iraq, where - perhaps aaginst their will in some cases -- they were enrolled in the weapons projects of Saddam Hussein. In other words, it is not even a case of whether or not this or that Muslim student is to be trusted, because he (or she) may later be forced to put whatever knowledge is acquired to sinister anti-infidel use.
And even those Muslims who are born, and grow up, entirely within the West, like the bombers in London, if they remain true to Islam, and to that which runs through all of Islam, the strict division between Believer and Infidel, or if they are unaware of that part of Islam, become aware of it, and may choose to act on uit -- even or perhaps especially these must be watched lest they acquire certian skills.
This is not the kind of thing people wish to think about, and certainly not to talk about. They would reather remain immune to criticism than to discuss real, not imaginary, present and future threats to the wellbeing, to the safety, of Infidels everywhere.
There are times when one should be polite: offering one's seat to that woman, holding packages, not starting to eat until the hostest does, trying to figure out how to both hold the chair and properly push it in without doing the would-be sitter damage. But there are matters for which not Emily Post, but Machiavelli, is a better guide. Machiavelli, and Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira. This is one of those matters.
Anyone catch this from the other day: Guess who's coming to Palestine? Russian advisers arrive, missiles to follow.
So something’s also definitely afoot with the Rushkie’s. While I hardly trust Putkin, I’d certainly trust him far more than I would the German’s or the Fwrench….
Yet who knows what the newspaper-clipping idiots of the Certifiable Imbeciles Association are up to? From past history, probably teaching the PA how not to stab themselves while using round-nosed, plastic scissors. That whole damned place just needs to be swept clean(applicable to both the CIA & the Terror-tories; no restrictions or time constraints - other than quick - apply).
Further to my post above, I was searching for this, where Al-lah's apostle explains how he would personally love to be martyred - but...
Plus ca change...
It's very disturbing to think about the special forces training we are affording the Iraqis in an effort to get them to "stand up..." While it is possible and madatory that we are reaping some valuable assets in the heart of the Muslim/Arab world, as our pet military project, surely the Iraqi forces will be the recipients of state of the art training and technology. This is all done with the hope that they will use such largesse to do the right things with it... Perhaps there is no other way for us to engineer our eventual withdrawal.
But has the US Military and CIA considered what will happen downstream with this priceless training and technology...? Isn't it possible that we are simply accelerating by decades or even centuries the sophistication and abilities of our fascist enemy to fight against us more effectively? I have been a supporter of this Iraq war, but I am increasingly ill at ease as I see the ruinous costs associated with fixing this hopelessly broken Arab culture. It is possible that the quarter TRILLION we have spent so far, and the priceless blood we have shed will look like a cheap down payment if these investment boomerang on us and the Arabs prove unworthy of our efforts. History isn't an encouraging guide. Arabs and Muslims betray us at every turn, at every opportunity. AQ Khan from our 'friends' the Pakistanis... UBL, the Taliban and the various Arab oil embargoes from 'our friends' the Saudis, Kuwaitis, UAEs, Qataris, Iranians... Refusal of access to N. Iraq from 'our friend' Turkey for the 4th ID in the leadup to the latest war... Endless treachery and betrayals by the non-Arabs -- The Malaysians, the Indonsians, the Sudanese... On and on and on -- their backstabbing is LEGION... Muslims seek to overthrow our manmade laws and enact their loathesome Islamic laws on us -- the seek to rob us of everything we hold dear ...
Lastly, I see no evidence that the Islamic underpinnings of those broken backward malignant Arab cultures will ever reform ... Despite what Daniel Pipes says, or Irshad Mangy says, or George Bush says -- THERE IS NO EVIDENCE that Islam will ever be anything but a fascist supremacist nightmare... Our best consideration should be given to the idea that ANYTHING we share with them will most likely be turned into a weapon against us... We must imagine that they will use anything we offer them harm us, undermine us, and possibly even defeat us if we continue to aid them in their war with us...
It all seems to come down to being able to define the enemy, do we have a clear vision of who he is beyond the 17 to 40 year old muslim male? Does he wear a uniform? How steeped is he in the fundamental teachings of Islam? (Now that is a tough read!)-- Unfortunately his miltant ideology is cultivated in him through the teachings of Islam in almost any place on the face of the planet.
Our government agencies obviously are not getting the absolutely necessary training to understand the motivations of fundamental Islam. Do they understand the 6 pillars that each muslim is supposed to reach? Do they understand the practice of deception (taquiya),or Kitman (half truths) as muslims deal with us infidels? Do they read and understand the motivations of the 36 articles of the Hamas Charter when dealing with the Palestinians? Do they understand the history and the motivations of jihad especially in this modern technology era? When will they reach a clear and concise definition as to who the real enemy is on this war on terror? Osama Bin Laden clearly understood the implications of 9-11 and all the other terrorist attacks.
Will we ever wake up and commit to the words spoken by President Bush ; "either you are with us, or against us"-- Sooner or later a line may have to be drawn in the sand, the enemy will have to be more clearly defined or the impact we will have on ourselves is enormous if we don't stop supporting this enemy either through financial or the wrong kind of educational training. Can you imagine giving financial support and training to the Nazis' in WWII while we are in the middle of fighting them ? --I see pretty much see the same correlation.
Americans are very naive when it comes to identifying their enemies as they never had an empire. They trained the Mujahideen in Afghanistan with every know how at their disposal, including giving them sophisticated stinger missiles and now once again we train the Iraqi Muslims, the Afghans, Palestinians and so on. Eventually these morons who are loyal only to Islam will turn around and attack the west. When will America learn that there are no good Muslims. All Muslims are one and the same. All Muslims are anti-West and very anti-American including the ones that live inside the US.
Do not give any sophisticated training to any Muslim. Period.
Oh yoo-hoo! Hugh? Are you there? Who does the CIA work for: Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, or Kennedy?
Who's dad "used to" run the CIA?
Yes, yes... I saw the fact that Clinton started it... but that was before the "Current Intifada" and WELL before 9-11 and the "War on Terror". I thought "9-11 changed everything"? Well, maybe it didn't.
Funny that frontpagemag would run a story all about Clinton helping the "palestinians" but forgot to mention Reagan's generous funding of the Mujahadin in Afghanistan. Especially considering the damage done to America by the Jihadis of Afghanistan (9-11 e.g.). Why it's almost as if frontpagemag.com had an ulterior motive...