President Bush is set to apply new pressure to Israel. He's afraid of looking like a lame duck so he's showing up to "take action and achieve results." And what better way to achieve results than by funnelling millions of dollars into a incipient Palestinian army via abject failure and US Security Coordinator Keith Dayton:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked Congress to approve an increase of $25 million to create a new battalion that would be trained in Jordan. U.S. General Keith Dayton will be in the charge of the program. Training of the PA's first battalion, which consists of more than 700 members, commenced a month and a half ago... Dayton's objective is to form five new battalions for the PA under Abbas' control in the West Bank. Battalion members have undergone security screening to prevent Hamas agents from infiltrating their ranks... the Washington Post reported a serious shortage in the first battalion's equipment. In addition, it mentioned obstacles imposed by Israel on supplying bulletproof vests and vehicles.

Do you think that this will be more like the time that Hamas took US weapons and openly bragged about it or like that other time that the Fatah leaders promised to fight on Hamas's side anyway? Who knows? Could go either way. Although Abbas did just get done declaring that new US security assistance will be turned against Israel - which PA soldiers have been doing for months anyway. So that's probably kind of a hint.

Either way it'll definitely be like the time that Dayton said that Nablus was his and Fatah's first real test - which they then flunked. Which was right after everyone said that Gaza was his and Fatah's first real test - which they then flunked.

And not that it matters, but did the new members also undergo security screening to prevent Al Qaeda agents from infiltrating their ranks? Because that's historically been kind of a thing.

References:
* Bush to push Israel, PA for progress before his May visit [Ha'aretz]
* U.S. gov't asks Congress to okay plan to boost funds for PA police [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas Using US Weapons To Kill Israelis [MR]
* Fatah: We're Going To Use Our New US And Russian-Supplied Weapons To Fight With Hamas Against Israel (Plus: Hamas Upgrades, Stockpiles Their Qassams) [MR]
* Abbas: Good Chance We'll Use Our US Security Assistance To Go Back To Killing Israelis [MR]
* PA Police Officers Rolling In Millions Of New US Aid, Murdering Israeli Civilians [MR]
* Fatah Weapons Champion, Abject Failure Keith Dayton Said Nablus Was Fatah's "First Real Test" How's That Going? (Plus: Dozens Of Fatah Soldiers Building Rockets, Targeting Israelis) [MR]
* Abject Failure Keith Dayton Moves Goalposts To Justify US Security Assistance, Lets Abbas Try Again [MR]
* Dozens Of Fatah Police Officers Defect To AQ (Plus: Israeli "Goodwill Gesture" - 300 Palestinian Policemen To Deploy Around Nablus) [MR]

Previously:
* US Unveils $410 Million's Worth Of Assistance That Will Shortly Be Seized By Hamas
* Hamas: When We Said That We're Going To Overrun The West Bank As Soon As Abbas Gets Land And Weapons, We Were Just Joking
* Palestinians To Get 25 Cutting Edge, Helicopter-Busting APCs