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Bush pushes for democracy brings hamas results Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/feeds/ap/2006/01/26/ap2480444.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/business/energy/feeds/ap/2006/01/26/ap2480444.html
Associated Press
Analysis: Hamas Victory a Message for Bush
By ANNE GEARAN , 01.26.2006, 04:28 PM
After making democracy a defining marker for American foreign policy, President Bush got a jolting message from Palestinian voters: Be careful what you wish for.
The United States promoted the democratic Palestinian election that now has produced an upset victory for the militant Islamic group Hamas. The election could install an organization the United States considers terrorist in place of a Palestinian leadership that, while weak, was pledged to work with Israel and with Washington.
The administration is caught between Bush's clarion rhetoric about spreading liberty even in unlikely places and the reality that self-determination can yield results that appear counter to U.S. interests. That's a challenge the United States may have to confront someday in other places as well, including Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Central Asia, the Balkans and - closer to home - South America.
"We in the United States have got to get used to the idea that other countries are going to have changes, and they may not be ones that" traditional Western thinking can readily grasp, said Council on Foreign Relations Mideast expert Judith Kipper.
Faced with the fruits of the democratic Palestinian vote he helped nurture, Bush made clear he was displeased.
"A political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of its platform is a party with which we will not deal," he said Thursday, hours after the extent of the Hamas victory came clear.
He tried to put a positive spin on the election itself, even as he acknowledged the practical problem it poses for a United States that has tried to play midwife to Israeli peace efforts with Arab neighbors.
"I like the competition of ideas," Bush told reporters. "I like people that have to go out and say, 'Vote for me and here's what I'm going to do.' There's something healthy about a system that does that."
Although it was obvious Hamas would do well, the landslide outcome stunned the Bush administration, U.S. ally Israel and the old Palestinian leadership that Washington had hoped could bring a new phase in Mideast peacemaking.
The administration probably thought elections would strengthen Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, said Hebrew University professor Amnon Cohen.
"That made sense, but maybe in hindsight it doesn't look so clever," Cohen said by telephone from Israel.
Washington often cites the election of Abbas as president last year as evidence of a democratic wind blowing in the Middle East after decades of political stagnation under family dynasties and thuggish one-party rule.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also pointed to elections in Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt as evidence that "the neighborhood is changing." Rice is careful to add that democracy in the Muslim world will not, and perhaps should not, look like democracy in America.
Still, the success of religious-based candidates or parties, many of whom are hostile to Bush and opposed to American ideas, is sobering.
Muslim religious slates did far better in this month's Iraqi parliamentary elections than did the secular candidates preferred by Washington. Empowered by the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Shiite voters could one day tilt their nation toward Iran.
The Muslim Brotherhood increased its power in Egypt's parliament nearly sixfold last year. Its lawmakers have tried to ban alcohol and some books, rid state TV of racy music videos and have violators punished with 30 lashes.
Saudi leaders regularly whisper to U.S. diplomats that open elections there would replace a government friendly to the United States with one dominated by radical Islamic politics.
Elsewhere, the Bush administration is at pains to say it is ready to work with democratically elected leaders with whom it doesn't agree, so long as they govern responsibly. That leaves Bush to try to gracefully suffer such thorns in his side as new Bolivian President Evo Morales, a leftist leader of coca growers who once vowed to be "Washington's nightmare."
Hamas has taken responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings against Israel, and holds as central tenets that Israel must be destroyed.
Like the United States, Israel and European nations regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and will have no official dealings with it. Hamas leaders have said they oppose peace talks.
But Hamas is now known among Palestinians as much for its social services and promises of good governance as for its history of terror and militancy.
Bush seemed mindful of that, even as he could not disguise his irritation.
"It was an interesting day yesterday ... as we're watching liberty begin to spread across the Middle East," he said.
EDITOR'S NOTE - Anne Gearan covers diplomacy and foreign affairs in Washington.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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