So Americans are generally despondent enough to realize that they have no effect whatsoever on the United States' foreign policy. Americans, like the rest of the world, have to sit and watch Washington decide which states to topple over and which to unconditionally support; all we ever get are some unconvincing ex post rationalizations as to our choice ventures.
The Middle East is probably the most bizarre case; for all the pretensions of the War on Terror, the United States has flipped over backwards to aid and abet Islamist militants and social movements in Syria, Oman, Libya and Egypt. It was almost confusing to see American policy makers call for Hosni Mubarak's dismissal when even at the time it was acknowledged it would inevitably lead to the ascension of anti-Western, anti-secular, anti-Coptic religious extremists.
If you want to take the conspiratorial approach by suggesting somehow the New and Improved Islamist Middle East benefits the United States, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Commercial interests have been thrown into chaos, Israel has lost its only ally in the region and America's overarching position in the region has never been more precarious. In humanitarian terms, more women are bundling up by necessity, religious minorities have been continuous victims of assault and secular constitutions are being shredded for implicit or explicit Sharia.
But to the values of Westerners, all of this pales in comparison with the true prize: democracy. The civil, political and economic rights of Middle Easterners are small prices to pay for Lady Democracy, and all human costs can be justified under the presupposition that someday, maybe things will get better thanks to public elections (sort of like it has in Africa).
When it comes down to it, Islamists have have just learned how to play the Western mindset against itself. As the public became more accepting to fundamentalism, Islamists realized that campaigning for "democracy" functionally meant religious totalitarianism at home as religious fascism became the plurality political belief. The moralistic demands of religion do well to crush and delegitimize dissent, and the democratically elected dictator in Egypt has already likened political opposition to God's party to blasphemy and apostasy.
So at this point, all eyes are on Syria, to see whether or non the fun-loving alliance between America and al-Qaeda can snuff out another secular republic, effectively the last one in the Middle East.