The 2005 elections in Egypt highlighted a major problem with the U.S. commitment to democratize the Middle East: When given the opportunity, voters tend to like Islamic fundamentalists. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, a secular ally of the U.S., unleashed the dogs on voters during the winter 2005 parliamentary elections.
Despite arresting hundreds of of the group's sympathizers and even killing a few here and there, voters turned out in unprecedented hoards to support Muslim Brotherhood candidates. The Brotherhood is now the leading opposition party in Egypt, and it wields significant political clout all over the region, most notably in Syria, Kuwait, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
The Brotherhood celebrated its victory by kicking off a fresh round of Holocaust denial among leading Arab intellectuals, somehow managing to re-open the world's dumbest argument about whether or not Hitler attempted genocide against the Jews. (He did.)
Sadly, despite this sort of rhetoric, pressure is only growing to include the Brotherhood in the political process. The group is still considered "moderate" relative to those Islamists who advocate killing every Jew in Jerusalem without any regard for the possible consequences. It's not that they don't want to kill the Jews, mind you, it's just that they've thought about the consequences.
If you think about it, it's a pretty brilliant strategy: Create terrorist groups that use violence to advance your goals, distance yourself from those groups, present yourself as the "reasonable" alternative, and enjoy the accolades of the very people you're trying to destroy.
Not bad for day's work. Or even several decades. They also ( with the help of Saudi influence and funding) have infiltrated many federal departments in the U.S. government.
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