Hamas is only the tip of the iceberg

Al-Jaafari was chosen by Shiite lawmakers to be the new Prime Minister of Iraq, continuing in the post he held prior to the recent election. Al-Jaafari edged out Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi by one solitary vote.

Followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the same cleric whose militia has staged two uprisings against U.S. forces since 2004, provided the winning margin for Al-Jaafari as all 30 of the votes he controls went to Al-Jaafari.

Hezbollah has been accepted as a legitimate political player in Lebanon, the only Arab neighbor of Israel to have refused to participate in any of the wars against Israel over the last 50 years.

Even in Egypt's first truly democratic elections the Muslim Brotherhood found electoral support.

It seems to me that Americans can either continue blithly sticking our collective heads in the sand and steadfastly refusing to understand WHY groups we deem "terrorists" have genuine support on the Arab street. Or... we can set aside the arrogance and actually take the concerns of the Arab street seriously.