Why is the US allowing Hamas to take part in elections?

Surely, they wouldn't let al-Qaeda take part in Afghanistan or Iraq?

President George Bush could give his plan for winning the war against Islamic radicalism a major boost if he publicly demanded from the Palestinian Authority that it prohibit Hamas's participation in the upcoming Palestinian election. But judging from how Hamas is dealt with by the US administration, you would not know that it sits at the heart of the Islamo-Fascist movement, which Bush has been repeatedly condemning for the past three weeks.

In his recent press conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Bush refrained from clearly objecting to Hamas participation in the Palestinian Authority election next January. This, despite the fact that Hamas's ideology and goals fit squarely with those the president described as Islamo-Fascist: "Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies... they seek to end dissent in every form, to control every aspect of life, and to rule the soul itself, while promising a future of justice and holiness, the terrorists are preparing a future oppression and misery."

Compare Hamas statements and its charter to those of al-Qaida, Hizbullah and other Islamist organizations. All strive to establish a caliphate encircling the globe. Al-Qaida says: "We will turn the White House and the British parliament into mosques," as documented by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, director of Orient Research Group in Toronto.

Similarly, Qatar-based sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi says "Islam will take over Europe by Dawa." The spiritual leader of Hamas, the late Ahmad Yassin said: "The 21st century is the century of Islam," and his successor Mahmoud Zahar says, "Israel will disappear and after it the US."