Vanity Fair (home of gasbag moonbat columnist James Wolcott) claims to have secret documents proving that the Hamas takeover of Gaza was the result of a failed regime change plot by the United States: US sought to oust Hamas, sparking civil war: report.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice covertly sought to oust Hamas after the 2006 polls triggering a bloody Palestinian civil war, a US magazine alleged Tuesday.

Vanity Fair said it had obtained confidential documents, which had been confirmed by US and Palestinian sources, that Washington sought to arm a Palestinian force led by Fatah loyalists to oust Hamas militants from power.

“But the secret plan backfired, resulting in a further setback for American foreign policy under Bush,” the magazine wrote.

“Instead of driving its enemies out of power, the US-backed Fatah fighters inadvertently provoked Hamas to seize total control of Gaza.”

The report, which the magazine dubbed Iran-Contra 2.0 in reference to a controversial 1980s arms scheme under late president Ronald Reagan, was swiftly dismissed by State Department spokesman Tom Casey as “false, wrong, untrue, silly, ridiculous.”