egypt – Antiwar.com Blog

Let the Meddling Begin Anew!

Most of the world wanted Obama and Clinton and especially Biden to just shut up as Egypt’s popular revolution played out. The revolution, having succeeded in forcing out the main figure in just 18 days of peaceful protest, goes on, and will likely be carried into the oligarch- and military-tied bureaucracies and other workplaces in the coming weeks. But even as Egyptians have barely begun to enjoy their hope and change, the Obama administration is already preparing to coopt and, if successful, probably ruin this grassroots movement.

In a piece couched as Obama wagging his finger at Egypt’s military establishment, the NY Times buries the real lede:

“…the White House and the State Department were already discussing setting aside new funds to bolster the rise of secular political parties.”

I don’t think it’s necessary in this venue to go into the pathetic history of the spectacular failures of this sort of intervention — from Hamas to al-Qaeda and beyond, the evidence is a mountain if you would only look at it. And the stupidity of the Muslim Brotherhood boogeyman has been debunked everywhere.

It seems Washington is just pathologically incapable of leaving people in peace, domestic or foreign.

But this isn’t all. The president is quoted right after this “aid” announcement, a statement of breathtaking hubris.

“Mr. Obama promised ‘whatever assistance is necessary’ to pursue a ‘credible transition to a democracy.'”

Mr. Obama, do you know what “credible” means? If you had any clue, you’d know it’s not American-funded and probably -created political parties in a country already smarting from decades of American support for its powerful oppressors.

Really, can you all just please shut up and lay off? Can Egyptians have at least a little break, just to catch their breath, from US intervention in their country? At least give them that.

Egyptians on Israel Peace Treaty

Several Egyptians shown on various networks have said they reject the treaty with Israel. It’s also been cited in articles I have been reading for days. I just want to make the point that the peace treaty fosters Egyptian collaboration with Israel in its oppression of Palestinians. It means the Egyptian Army cannot even station troops in Sinai, its own territory.

Obviously, this is ridiculous and unacceptable to Egyptians and anyone who believes in national sovereignty and especially universal human rights. To call for the revocation of this unjust treaty is not to call for war. Countries don’t just have peace treaties or war; the default is peace, that’s why, for example, most countries don’t have treaties with most other countries with which they are at peace.

And There It Is: Neocons Test Idea of US Intervention in Egypt

Just now on MSNBC, neocon Dan Senor, former Iraq occupation spokesman, raised the possibility of intervention in Egypt.

Host Chris Jansing asked Senor, more or less, why Americans should care about what’s going on in Egypt. What are the implications for our country and economy?

Senor, as he is trained to do, conjured a dangerous false dichotomy that continues to embroil the US in pointless, expensive, deadly conflicts decade after decade.

“There are two directions it could go. If the Egyptian government — and other governments for that matter — is replaced by moderate secular, pro-American governments that actually want to truly partner with us in fighting terror and fostering some modicum of liberal democracy, progressive government, representative government throughout the region, that’s important for the United States’ security. If things go the other direction, and those governments are replaced by Islamist governments, you could have regimes there that actually incubate terrorists– that directly affect the West, the geopolitical and economic implications are enormous.

“Oil prices could really start spiraling… commodity price inflation… so this could really hit us at home economically — there’s a lot at stake right now. American forces are deployed in Afgfhanistan and Iraq today. If we have a failed state in the Middle East — a total collapse of a government with no real infrastructure that we can work with to actually succeed whatever government it replaces — we will have to deploy American resources at a time that we are pretty stretched thinly right now.”

Two options, says Senor. Egypt can only have a Renfield government that obsessively seeks to please its master to curry its continued favor, or it must descend into a benighted Islamic nutocracy and probably also somehow devolve into an undeveloped facsimile of Afghanistan. The “liberal, progressive, representative” bit is odd since Mubarak and many others like him including the recently deposed Ben Ali of Tunisia are staunch and valued allies of Washington — none embody any of those qualities.

But never mind that. IF Egypt, or the other states who are without doubt in the same line of teetering dominoes, falls, Senor raises the non-negotiable need to “deploy resources” — that’s code for invasion. In case any doubt remains, though, the mention of America’s strained “resources” makes it crystal clear. He’s testing the waters for a US attack on the most populous Arab country.

Egyptians — right now very angry with the US — are not likely to sit back, after ousting a powerful dictator, and allow this to happen. And frankly, the US doesn’t have the ability or resources to take it on, anyhow, as its utter failures in Iraq and Afghanistan prove, not to mention its perpetually botched foreign policy that consists entirely of threats and bribes everywhere else.

America’s foreign policy is still informed by the disproven — by reality, mind you — philosophy of the neoconservatives. Only the debt-fueled collapse of our own system, the Military-Industrial Complex, will end the madness. Since more elections clearly can’t.