Hizballah, whose ideological platforms so blatantly contradicted American interests in the region. However, there was also a sense that if the Muslim Brotherhood could succeed in transforming itself from an opposition movement into a political party, perhaps it could provide an example to other Islamist groups to put down their weapons and pick up ballots instead. The answer the world had been waiting for came with Secretary Rice’s subsequent visit to Cairo the following year, in 2006. Standing next to Mubarak, she praised him for his “democratic” reforms,
