Here we go again. Reporting of the violent takeover of Gaza by Hamas, the AP reports,

Abbas, for the first time in five days of fierce fighting, ordered his elite presidential guard to strike back. But his forces were crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Islamic fighters.

The the presidential guard is “elite” but it crumbled fast when attacked by “better-armed and better-disciplined Islamic fighters.”

So just how was the presidential guard “elite”?

For some reason, Western media seem compelled to label Arab troops “elite.” Not all of them, of course, but it’s an adjective that falls off their keyboards and broadcasts so easily it’s become habitual. Remember the “elite Republican Guard” of Saddam’s regime that was going to fight ordinary American troops (whom the media never characterize as elite) to a standstill?

Back when this site was on Blogger, I wrote about this media habit. Unfortunately, all those posts disappeared when Blogger got bought by Google (I had already backed them up on my hard drive, though). Anyway, I posted in July 2002 an essay, “Why ‘Elite Iraqi forces’ is an oxymoron:”

Every American unit is elite compared to any Iraqi unit.

Iraqi soldiers may be individually brave or devoted to their cause (I doubt the latter), but large-unit operations are difficult and take practice, practice, practice, which the Iraqi army has not done since the Gulf War and I guarantee has never done in a force-on-force training exercise remotely resembling what the US Army does all the time at the National Training Center in California. This lack of training and capability was fatal in the Gulf War, fighting the US Army, Air Force and Navy/Marines, which are superbly equipped and have been practicing fully integrated, combined-arms, joint-service operations for decades.

I guarantee that iron rigidity, not flexibility, marks Iraqi military operations. In totalitarian states it always does. The senior commanders of the Iraqi military did not rise to high rank because of their military acumen or autonomous creativity. They are there because they are safe for Saddam to have them there.

And that is also exactly the basis on which Mahmud Abbas vetted the members of his “elite” presidential guard: they were politically reliable, not militarily capable. This is pretty much the case across the Arab world and has a lot to do with “Why Arabs Lose Wars” when fighting Western armies in modern times. (They sure didn’t lose them when Mohammed’s successors conquered North Africa, Spain and large areas of southern and easter Europe.)

Anyway, Brian Briggs wrote satirically in 2003,

Pressure from the international community has forced the United Nations to convene a special committee to review standards for calling organizations “elite.” The call for a standard was prompted after the elite Iraqi Republican Guard was seen performing tasks in a not so elite manner.

So nix with the “elite” stuff, ja?

That all being said, the new puissance of Hamas in Gaza is sure to spill over the the West Bank. Hamas was jihadist when Osama bin Laden was still a beer-swilling, club hopping rake enjoying the rich boy’s high life in the corrupt West. Hamas is a client of Iranian mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, though not Shia - the alliance is tactical and political rather than religious. Hamas’ new resurgence is surely worrying Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, all of which much fear a “Shia crescent” arcing from Iran through Shia-majority Iraq, thence through Syria and Lebanon into Gaza and the West Bank; all but the latter two regions are either majority Shia or have large Shia minorities. I am not predicting, but would not be surprised to see Egypt move into Gaza and Jordan into the West Bank to shut out the closure of the crescent’s creation. In fact, Egypt may well be viewing current events with the most alarm, since Hamas is a child of the Muslim Brotherhood, a strict Islamist movement founded in Egypt in the 1920s. More on this later, I hope.

Update: Comments on. And consider this perspective, via email, from Rabbi Daniel jackson, who lives in the Galilee region of Israel and teaches several classes in Jerusalem at Touro College in Israel.

I take the Derech Allon to and from Jerusalem weekly during my commute. This is a beautiful road, rarely travelled, that strongly resembles the North American West but instead of Native Americans, it is dotted with Bedouin sheppards, their settlements, their flocks, and their children. It is a seriously controlled zone, ranging from 10 to more than 20 kilometers wide between the eastern high ridge of the West Bank to the Jordan River. The area is patrolled by heavy IDF presense with check points at all critical junctures. Moreover, the road runs generally about 500 to 800 meters above sea level while the Jordan runs from -200 meters at the south side of the Sea of Galilee to about -600 meters at the Dead Sea.

I can assure you that the Jordanians will NOT be able to move into the West Bank without Israel’s permission. Moreover, Israel will NOT cede this strip to the PA EVER.

I responded to Daniel, “As for Egypt or Jordan moving against Hamas, you are right, it cannot happen without Israel’s (covert) consent. I thought of that as I was typing the post, and should have added it - but it was late here and I was tired and wanted to go to bed. This just proves George C. Marshall’s dictum that no one ever makes a good decision after 4 p.m.”