That's because they could. They can't do that in the United States; we have a Constitution.
And on the larger point: When Protestant Christians had the chance to form their own government, we gained a Constitution. It is my belief (which history bears brute witness to) that when Muslims are given the chance to form their own government, despotisms come to power. Belief systems really do matter.
The only exception we have seen thus far are the beginnings of democracy in Iraq, and that only at the behest and intervention of the United States. Let's hope and pray that they make good use of it.
Unfortunately, I have to sign off. Finals tomorrow and some paper to be finished. Darn. I really hate school.
The grand thing is that the American ideal of governance has swept Catholic countries across Europe, and to a considerable extent, elsewhere now. So this matter is moot, and the Catholic Church long ago adjusted.