US to Palestinians: Give us back our aid money

As reported by Reuters, the US government has asked the new Palestinian leaders to return $50 million in aid it had given the previous government for infrastructure projects. Leader Mahmoud Abbas has agreed.

So it begins. The Bush government likes democracy, but only recognizes election results that it approves of. Ergo, Palestinians, you're on your own. Bushco has defined Hamas as a terrorist organization, yet it has not even given this government a chance to see how it will behave now that it has been elected to represent its people.

Remember crazy Iraqi insurgent terrorist Muqtuda al-Sadr? Well, he changed his stripes after negotiations with the Americans and Iraqis and now he's a budding political figure. Okay, so maybe he's threatening another uprising if the US attacks Iran. Nevertheless, Bushco was quite proud of the fact that it had turned al-Sadr. Oh my goodness! A terrorist in the Iraqi government? What will the US do now? Ask for its money back there too?

Not bloody likely.

As professor of government and politics at the U of Maryland, Shibley Telhami, states in the Washington Post about the fact that Islamist governments are inevitable in the Middle East:

This leaves U.S. foreign policy with limited choices. Full electoral democracy in the Middle East will inevitably lead to domination by Islamist groups, leaving the United States to either continue a confrontational approach, with high and dangerous costs for both sides, or to find a way to engage them -- something that has yet to be fully considered. Given this, skepticism about the real aims of these groups should be balanced by openness to the possibility that their aims once they are in power could differ from their aims as opposition groups. This requires partial engagement, patience, and a willingness to allow such new governments space and time to put their goals to the test of reality. Hamas, in fact, could provide a place for testing whether careful engagement leads to moderation.

If we are not willing to engage, there is only one alternative: to rethink the policy of accelerated electoral democracy and focus on a more incremental approach of institutional and economic reform of existing governments. There is no realistic third party that's likely to emerge anytime soon.

Whatever the message of American foreign policy on democracy, it has not been clear in the Middle East. Most Arab governments see the American advocacy of democracy as primarily aimed at pressuring them to cooperate on strategic issues (such as Iraq, the war on terrorism and the Palestinian-Israeli issue) and at diverting attention from the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

I don't think they'll be all that thrilled when Bushco invades Iran too.