President Bush made “the spread of democracy” his Administrations’ primary mission. Let’s dedicate a couple posts to the theme of democracy, starting with the MidEast:
Prior to the January elections in Palestine, the Bush administration used foreign aid money to attempt to increase the popularity of the Palestinian Authority, knowing the PA faced a serious challenge from the Islamic Hamas.
Nevertheless, Hamas beat out the Palestinian Authority, creating two firsts:
1. The first time a regime has changed in the Arab world democratically through elections;
2. The first time an Islamist group has come to power through elections.
Hamas had won hearts through building an effective and affordable social welfare system in Gaza, runnung most of the kindergartens, funding health clinics, and providing welfare checks to widows and orphans.
However because Hamas opposes Isreal, the U.S., Europe and Canada cut its international aid to the Palestinians. Thankfully for the poor, the U.S. is still going to fund some humanitarian needs, such as education, health and food.
Withdrawing aid for the construction of schools and roads, the U.S. has instead pledged to provide Palestine with “increased assistance for democracy promotion”. Besides speculating what that might be, any contradiction of terms in this rhetoric?
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