Protesters, regime headed for a showdown

What Happened

A surge of anti-government protests in Egypt this week intensified pressure on President Hosni Mubarak to step down, as his regime issued ominous warnings that the two sides could be headed toward a violent confrontation. The White House threw its support behind Omar Suleiman, the new vice president handpicked by Mubarak, with the Obama administration urging “meaningful negotiations” between the protesters and the government to ensure a smooth transition of power. But Suleiman dug in his heels, insisting that he and Mubarak would remain in power until the president’s term ends in September. In response, strikes marked by violence broke out across the country, and crowds defied the government by continuing to mass in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square and in smaller cities throughout the country. “We can’t bear this for a long time,” Suleiman said of the demonstrations, adding darkly, “We don’t want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools.”

To buy time, Suleiman met earlier in the week with 50 leaders of the revolt, including two members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Suleiman pledged to guarantee press freedoms and to repeal emergency laws that have been used to crush opposition for the past 30 years—but only once the country was ready. Egypt, he said, would have democracy only when “the people develop the culture of democracy.” Opposition groups vowed to continue the uprising until Mubarak’s government falls.

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What the editorials said

Once again, America is “abandoning its friends when the going gets tough,” said The Washington Times. Hosni Mubarak has been a staunch U.S. ally for 30 years, providing crucial logistical support in the two Gulf wars and acting as a bulwark against a “rising wave of Islamic radicalism” in the Middle East. So why is the Obama administration undermining him and Suleiman, another reliable, pro-Western ally, with “inept political signaling” and by insisting on regime change “as fast as possible”?

The U.S. is caught in a conflict between “its values and its interests,” said The Detroit News. In the Mideast, American presidents have consistently chosen stability over democracy, which is why they’ve consistently supported dictators in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and, in decades past, Iran. But the revolt against Mubarak has forced the U.S. to hear Egyptians’ demands for freedom. “We have little choice but to shake off our cynicism” and support real reform. Unfortunately, said The New York Times, the White House “badly miscalculated” when it backed Suleiman, who seems intent on “maintaining as much of the old repressive order” as possible. His panel to change the constitution? Handpicked by Mubarak. Martial law? Still in place. Democracy? Someday.

What the columnists said

“The danger of chaos is real,” said Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post. But let’s not be paralyzed by our fear that this is another Iranian revolution, bound to end in a hostile, Islamist government. For decades, Egypt has been run by its largely secular military, and the real danger is that the country will wind up like Pakistan—“a sham democracy with real power held in back rooms by generals.” It’s that scenario—with the U.S. backing yet another repressive regime—that could give rise to a “more hard-line, more religious, and more violent” opposition.

“No matter how this turns out,” said Ben Stein in The American Spectator, “it’s not going to be good for America.” Of that I’m sure. The people demonstrating in Egypt today are not “liberal democrats” who will grant rights to minorities and promote religious freedom. They’re not even our friends, and they’re definitely not Israel’s friends.

Ah, but this revolution “is not about us,” said John Heilemann in New York. It’s a “local, organic, bottom-up phenomenon,” and despite some understandable confusion, the Obama administration has actually responded with skillful realpolitik—allying itself with the freedom movement, applying gentle pressure to the regime, and trying to ensure an orderly transition to “a functioning democracy.” The real question now is, “What comes after whatever comes next?” said George Will in The Washington Post. In the end, the U.S. is powerless in the face of this “whirlwind,” just as it is in much of the Islamic world. “Egyptians will tell us how it ends.”