Arab News on Washington's "last card"

The author is Ramzy Baroud. I find the following section pretty amazing:

Hamas, not knowingly, perhaps, has abruptly denied Washington of its last card in a Middle East foreign policy game, which was already in tatters. Delivering democracy was — until Hamas’ political rise — Washington’s strongest pretext, one that was used to justify its military presence in the Middle East.

Other pretexts also proved to be a sham, weapons of mass destruction and all. Even the war on terror logic was turned upside-down, as post-Saddam Iraq became a “terror magnet”; a term liberally used by US policymakers.

Nothing was left but the good old democracy pretense, which worked well, until Palestinians cast their vote on that critical day late January. The majority voted for Hamas, not because of its Islamic agenda, but because of its uncompromising anti-corruption platform, its stance on Palestinian rights and the total end to the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

The argument that electing totalitarian thugs equals democracy, thereby depriving the US of the "good old democracy pretense," is stunningly perverse. And by the way, there is some evidence that the Palestinians like the idea of having their freedoms denied by religious police. Democracy means leaders whose terms expire, real political choices, and protection of basic political liberties. That was today's trip to obvious-land.

Tags: Hamas, Israel, US, democracy