The 2006 elections where Hamas beat Fatah took place mostly because Bush was on his democracy kick - and he made the mistake of confusing democracy with elections. He read and admired Natan Sharansky's book, and misunderstood it. Real democracy requires freedom as a prerequisite, something that certainly didn't apply in the PalArab territories.
As a result, Hamas emerged stronger than ever and is now on its way to building an Islamist thugocracy - the exact opposite of the Bush administration's intent.
And it appears that the lessons have not yet been learned.
(Blogging from Blackberry so no links to relevant articles, sorry.)
