Freed from his politically correct overseers at the New York Times, Joel Brinkley provides an honest assessment of Hamas.

While President Bush and other Western leaders stumble over each other as they scramble to embrace Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, the leaders of Hamas are locked away in their new Gaza kingdom. Within days, tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid will begin sluicing into Fatah bank accounts -- while little more than emergency assistance trickles into Gaza. Israel is still debating whether to resume deliveries of gasoline. The Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said it best early last week: "'The Palestinians have come close to putting, by themselves, the last nail in the coffin of the Palestinian cause." That's a time-worn truism about the Palestinians, but the way events developed through the week, it seemed to fit Hamas best.