In January a couple stories broke that US development assistance was going to fund Hamas weapons and propaganda. In March a Washington Times investigation uncovered that almost $150,000 of US assistance had gone directly to a single Hamas institution. In April it was revealed that the State Department had deliberately suspended their review process so they could circumvent US anti-terrorism laws and keep funding terrorists (seriously!). Now it turns out - shockingly - that the State Department may be funding Palestinian terrorists:

The U.S. government can't be sure taxpayer money isn't winding up in terrorists' pockets, it admitted recently. According to a recent government audit stamped "Sensitive but Unclassified" obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Agency for International Development can't be sure that some of the billions in aid it distributes annually doesn't go to individuals or groups with terrorist ties, the paper reported. "Although it conducts programs in countries where terrorism is a major concern, USAID has not developed or instituted a worldwide anti-terrorism program," the Tribune quoted from the audit prepared by the USAID inspector general. "USAID risks providing funding or other material support and resources to terrorists or terrorist organizations."... Rep. Mark Kirk, D-Ill., requested the audit after learning that USAID, the nation's largest distributor of foreign aid, had on occasion approved money for questionable recipients, including the Palestinian group Hamas, labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. government... A USAID spokesman told the Tribune the agency was "taking [the report] very seriously."

Yeah, we're sure they're treating it with the highest concern. This report is slightly inaccurate of course - it's not that USAID has never developed an anti-terrorism program. It's that they killed the last one, allowing them to continue funding Palestinian "charities" that funnel money directly to Hamas.

The great thing about this mini-scandal is that even if USAID funds weren't directly going to purchase weapons and propaganda for terrorists, they'd still be going to purchase weapons and propaganda for terrorists. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, the State Department pours money into the Gaza Strip - and somehow that money gets to Hamas. Who could have guessed?

In other news, the Bush administration has decided to give more than $400,000 of new assistance to the Palestinians. No doubt it will be overseen with all of the care that the State Department is famous for when it comes to not funding Palestinian terrorists.

References:
* News Roundup - 2007-01-24 [MR]
* US State Department Has Been Funding Hamas Terrorists For Years. No Kidding. [MR]
* State Department Kills Congressional Instructions, Figures Out Way To Fund Hamas [Video] [MR]
* Feds May Fund Terror, Report Says [ABC News]
* Why "Humanitarian Aid" is a Myth (Or: the Definition of the Word Fungible) [MR]
* US Unviels $410 Million's Worth Of Assistance That Will Shortly Be Siezed By Hamas [MR]

Previously:
* Smug Condescending Sophisticates Admit They've Been Lying Through Their Teeth About Israeli Security II - State Department Admits That Their Fatah Security Assistance Is An Abject Failure
* Dozens Of Fatah Police Officers Defect To AQ (Plus: Israeli "Goodwill Gesture" - 300 Palestinian Policemen To Deploy Around Nablus)
* State Department, UN Make Things Up To Coerce Israeli Concessions, Scapegoat Israel When Plans Fail (Plus: Hezbollah Now Openly Bragging About Using Civilian Human Shields)