The Obstruction of Democracy Fund: A New US Program. David Welch, thinks he is quite brilliant in making this point. It must have taken special meetings and conferences to come up with this brilliant observation about the Hamas victory in Palestine: "Hamas did gain a majority in the PLC to form a government. It won by 44 percent of the vote. In other words, approximately 55 or 56 percent of Palestinians did not vote for Hamas." Welch, as he was making this point, reminded listeners that in the US, 100 perent of the voters vote in every election. But Welch also revealed his love and understanding of democracy in other ways: he pledged to fund and support alternatives to people's choices in every election where the voters dare to oppose US preferences. For that, the US will devote $42 million: "Securing and Expanding Democracy ($42 million): • Protects and promotes moderation and democratic alternatives to Hamas." And Welch explained his pro-democracy strategy:
"QUESTION: Now the 42 million that are supposed to -- you are saying openly it's for the support of the moderation and finding alternatives for Hamas. How could this be read except for basically calling for ousting Hamas and why is it not possible to direct the 130 million to the same ministry for infrastructure projects, sir?
AMBASSADOR WELCH: Well, we haven't made exact decisions on how precisely we will use the suggested democratization funding. But I would disagree with you that it is to, you know, deal directly with the Hamas victory in the manner in which you described it.
QUESTION: What do you do to find alternatives for Hamas?
AMBASSADOR WELCH: It says to find alternatives to Hamas. That's the important point --
QUESTION: (Inaudible) in Hamas.
AMBASSADOR WELCH: Let me complete my answer, if I may. Fifty-five percent of those who voted in this last election did not vote for Hamas, so they're out there searching for other vehicles and alternatives to express their political wishes. We think to continue to build the institutions of democracy is a very important endeavor and to give them some hope that their voice can be heard, particularly when we believe that Hamas as a government is going to have great difficulty meeting the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Precisely how we do that, we will look at both the existing programs we've had underway and reevaluate whether those are effective in this regard. We also may propose some new ones."