Remember that time when abysmal failure Gen. Kieth Dayton - sent to Gaza by the State Department to arm and train Fatah forces - abrasively brushed off Israeli concerns about making concessions and giving weapons to weak Palestinian forces? And then when those same concerns were aired in Congress he became a sarcastic prick and blamed Israel? And then Israeli scenarios played out exactly how Israeli security officials said they would, with Hamas easily rolling Fatah and capturing 200 tons of US weapons and explosives?

Israeli soldiers are still facing those weapons:

Hamas representatives claimed on Sunday that their militiamen were fighting against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip with weapons confiscated from the Palestinian Authority in the summer of 2007. They said Hamas had managed to lay its hands on all the weapons that Israel, the US and other countries had given forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas had also seized dozens of armored vehicles used by Abbas's security forces, they added. After its men took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas announced that it had seized tens of thousands of rifles and pistols, including heavy machine guns, night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests, as well as vast amounts of ammunition. Sources close to Hamas also claimed that dozens of members of the rival Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, had volunteered to fight alongside Hamas units.

That part about Hamas using US weapons to kill Israelis is ancient news and those "Aksa Brigrades" rumors are at least partly true. You'd think all this would have caused even a second's hesitation before moving Dayton to the West Bank to try the exact same thing. Not so much.

Dayton, by the by, is one of three retired State Department generals in the Palestinian territories. That's one general per two million people. Or, alternatively, "more than we have in the vast majority of NATO countries." And just look at the dividends it's paid off!

References:
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]
* Memo To Foreign Policy Sophisticates - You'd Sound A Lot Less Stupid If You Stopped Mixing Your Condescension With Demonstrably False Fantasies Of Competence [MR]
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]
* Hamas: We're using PA arms to battle IDF [JPost]
* Hamas Using US Weapons To Kill Israelis [MR]
* Fatah: Let us help you fight Israel in Gaza [JPost]
* US To Bring Abject Failure Of Security Assistance To West Bank, Renew Pressure On Israel. What Could Go Wrong? [MR]

Previously:
* US Unveils $410 Million's Worth Of Assistance That Will Shortly Be Seized By Hamas
* US: Yeah, We'll Keep Giving Weapons and Training To Fatah. What Could Go Wrong?
* 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)