Mistakes in U.S. Middle East policy have made America less safe and aided the militant group Hamas's victory in Palestinian elections, Democratic and Republican lawmakers told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday.

Oh, poor babies, the "wrong" guys won. And now some Likoudnik bootlickers whinge on.

Hamas's win last month in the Palestinian territories and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's rise in Egypt have fueled criticisms over U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy of pushing for democracy in the Middle East.

"This administration seems to have a tin ear when it comes to the Middle East and that tin ear is making us less safe," Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, told Rice at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

The California Democrat suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East, as well as in Latin American nations Bolivia and Venezuela whose governments are hostile to Washington, were boosting the election chances of anti-American candidates.

Without having seen this nor the transcript, it is hard to know if Boxer's comments are intelligent or not.

Certainly the Bush Administration has a tin ear in the MENA region. It listens to the wrong people, clumisly uses delusionally magical thinking as to results of policies, and generally blunders about like a blind elephant that's been goaded in the bollocks by a brand.

However, in terms of boosting Hamas' election chance, well, short of taking a tough line with Israel with respect to expansion of settlements and the like, there was not much the US could really do to make Fatah look good.

Of course, it is fairly magical to think democracy will result in people you like when one's policies in region are despised in grosso modo.

Rice said it took time for democracy to take hold.

"Yes there are going to be some outcomes that are not perfect from the American point of view, but I don't think that our policy can be that you can only have elections if you plan to elect candidates that are friendly to America," she said.

"If the option is not to hold elections and not to give people their say then that is an untenable position for the United States," Rice added.

Very good, an excellent retort by Rice.

I like her more and more as Sec of State.

Rice said it was wrong to imply the Middle East had been stable before the Bush administration launched its democracy push, arguing that 60 years of U.S. foreign policy caused a "freedom deficit" that was difficult to fix in a couple of years.

"It is too much to expect ... those political parties to develop overnight," she said.

She has a point, although if one counts Iraq as part of that push, well the Bush Administration certainly has contributed to destabilisation. It is also somewhat unfair to the US to shoulder all the blame for the 'freedom deficit' - but on the other hand remarks have to get to the point, better to shoulder responsibility in this context than not.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island took aim at Rice for not doing enough to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah Party was defeated by Hamas in the Jan. 25 Palestinian election.

"The whole year, 2005, nothing was done, opportunities missed and now we have a very, very disastrous situation of a terrorist organization winning an election," said Chafee.

"Why didn't we take advantage of these opportunities (to stop Hamas)?" asked Chafee.

And here we are, at the core of the magical thinking as policy question.

Would Chafee have plumped for the only actions that might have built up Fatah (i.e. help it look less like a tool of US-Israeli interests)? I think not.

Rice said she had worked as hard as she could on the Middle East peace process. Hamas's victory was not due to any failure of U.S. foreign policy but rather a backlash against Fatah which many Palestinians viewed as corrupt, she said.

"There are times when elections turn out in ways we wish they did not. Clearly the election of Hamas is a difficult moment in the prospects for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Rice told the hearing.

A fair response, insofar as she can not obviously take a whack at Israel in such instances.

Hamas's victory came as a surprise to the United States and Chafee said Washington should be prepared for a rise in popularity of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In elections last year, the Muslim Brotherhood emerged as the biggest opposition group. This week, the Egyptian government postponed local elections for two years in a move Islamists said was aimed at maintaining the ruling party's grip on power.

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota jumped to Rice's defense over her department's democracy agenda.

"Democracy is a messy thing," said Coleman. "These are messy times now," he said.

Well, thanks Norm.

All in all, I suppose this illustrates why US policy in the region is such an incoherent mess. Magical thinking expecting magical results.