Support for democracy in the Arab world has steadily increased year over year, and remains very popular. Only a small percentage believe that Islam is incompatible with democracy, according to the largest public opinion surveys in the Arab world. But, of course, it doesn't really make a shit what the people want or believe, and the situation is far more complicated than that.
The reality is, allowing functional democracies in the Middle East runs counter to US interests. Excluding Israel's [very] flawed democracy, Iraq is the closest, and it leans heavily toward the "very authoritarian" side of the scale. Our past/current actions and the policies we maintain on the region, while not explicitly, effectively prohibit such a thing from ever occurring. We allow Israel to present itself a sort of beacon of democracy, and maintain the facade that we represent some sort of a bulwark against authoritarian forces, but it's basically all a lie. A functioning Middle East democracy can act autonomously against US interests, and that cannot be allowed.
Our history in the region entirely backs up that assertion, and you can bet your ass the minute Israel started acting in a way contrary to US interests, their leaders would discover what FAFO really means, really quickly. I'm not saying they're ever going to do that, but I'm just using them as an example of how shit can go south real quick for any Middle Eastern country that crosses us in the wrong way. People think that Israel is the real darling over there, but the only country that can really get away with shit like that is Saudi Arabia. For now.
At any rate, you're right, the whole world could see through the lie about Afghanistan and Iraq. It was goofy as hell to try and pretend we gave a shit about establishing democracy. I share your pessimism, albeit for different reasons it seems.
e: I will also say that there's a lot of CR in this post [and yours] and I don't give a single shit. You can't discuss this kind of thing without delving into regional geopolitics, so whoever's going to cry about that, suck my dick.