After a great deal of arm twisting and lobbying, the Bush Administration got Congress to take the hold off of about $60 million in aid for `Palestinian security' to help out its favorite terrorist, Mahmoud Abbas.
The money will reportedly go to Abbas' presidential guard ( Force 17) and for other security expenses, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
"We are good to go ... we have addressed Congress's concerns and there is good political support for this," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
I'm sure that Hamas and Condaleeza Rice's friends in the the tanzim ( the al Aqsa martyrs brigade) will likewise get their share.
As I wrote earlier, several U.S. lawmakers had held up the money, realizing that a chunk of it would end up going to Abbas' new allies, Hamas.
According to US law, funding Hamas is illegal.
Secretary Rice originally wanted $86 million in aid for these people...but when Congress balked, she submitted a new, pared-down plan to Congress, cutting out funds she feared could have reached the "wrong hands."
So, Madame Secretary - if Congress HADN'T put a hold on this money, you would have been fine with the original $86 million going through and winding up in the hands of terrorists?
Liar. Disgusting, hypocritical, obscene liar.
This is nothing more than another disgraceful attempt to appease the Saudis and the Sunni autocracies. And a failed one at that.
Like the EU, the USA is once again in the position of funding Islamic terrorism against Israel.
Disgusting. There isn't even a quote from any member of Congress in that article justifying this and I'm pretty sure all the concerns from earlier in the year are still present. They were probably reassured that the money would be used properly by Fayyad, who has no idea where any of the aid given in 2006 went. Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why are we funding the presidential guard, when Abbas has never even come close to using his forces to stop Palestinian terrorists. It's like the Bush administration just wants to make it look like they're doing something to help in the region, but if this is their idea of helping, I'd rather they just stayed out of it altogether.