Some key sentences, methinks:

But after World War II, America filled the void left by France and Britain by emulating its imperial predecessors. It avoided direct rule but propped up a string of unpopular autocrats. This resulted in an abiding distrust of Western democratic rhetoric.

Then there was the domestic factor. The failure of revolutionary pan-Arabism to deliver its utopian vision of renaissance, unity and freedom led to a disillusionment with secular politics.

I immediately think of the current situation in Egypt as well as Iraq.

I am even more reminded of the famous Churchill quote, here in its full form  from Wikiquote, from a 1943 speech to the House of Commons:

Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

For me it's interesting to learn from Mr. Diab's essay that what many varieties of Islamists seek from Islam are things that aren't really there. And that what they may need if they still seek to create viable alternative types of government is an attitude a little more like Mr. Churchill's.

Not to mention that tolerance seems to be a a crucial factor in making civilization work, it's just one thing that seems to be a pre-requisite.

I.E. You say you want a revolution? Well you know, we all want to change the world and Everybody's talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism, this-ism, that-ismm Ism ism ism All we are saying is give peace a chance