In U.S. Signals to Egypt, Obama Straddled a Rift

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

In U.S. Signals to Egypt, Obama Straddled a Rift
By HELENE COOPER, MARK LANDLER and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: February 12, 2011


WASHINGTON — Last Saturday afternoon, President Obama got a jarring update from his national security team: With restive crowds of young Egyptians demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation, Frank G. Wisner, Mr. Obama’s envoy to Cairo, had just told a Munich conference that Mr. Mubarak was indispensable to Egypt’s democratic transition.

Mr. Obama was furious, and it did not help that his secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Wisner’s key backer, was publicly warning that any credible transition would take time — even as Mr. Obama was demanding that change in Egypt begin right away.

Seething about coverage that made it look as if the administration were protecting a dictator and ignoring the pleas of the youths of Cairo, the president “made it clear that this was not the message we should be delivering,” said one official who was present. He told Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to take a hard line with his Egyptian counterpart, and he pushed Senator John Kerry to counter the message from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Wisner when he appeared on a Sunday talk show the next day.

The trouble in sending a clear message was another example of how divided Mr. Obama’s foreign policy team remains. A president who himself is often torn between idealism and pragmatism was navigating the counsel of a traditional foreign policy establishment led by Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Biden and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, against that of a next-generation White House staff who worried that the American preoccupation with stability could put a historic president on the wrong side of history

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13diplomacy.html?hp

[Drunken Irishman]

1. This is a good read and shows the complexities of the situation and, more importantly...

It shows the inner workings of the Obama administration.

I think Obama handled it pretty well. This was a delicate situation from the start and it's good to see he pushed back against the Old Guard on this situation.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[cadaverdog]

6. Excuse me, but

what about what WE wanted? Or doesn't that matter?

[Drunken Irishman]

17. What, exactly, did you want?

And no, what you want really doesn't matter.

[EFerrari]

8. I'd advise against anyone eating crow over a NYTs' cya piece.

It's a nice gesture, though.

[rpannier]

7. Now he needs to convince the pro-Democracy Supporters in Egypt

I haven't seen one news source (NHK-Japan, MBC-Korea, Russia Television, ABC-Australia, etc) where they think he was supporting them.

[EFerrari]

9. I have yet to see anyone among the protesters or their leadership say

they think Obama supported them. I guess all those Egyptian protesters are all "black and whiters", too, and have it in for the president.

[tabatha]

11. On Feb 02, the GOP thought that Obama was

supporting the protesters. Where did they get that idea from?


http://texasgopvote.com/egypt/hypocrisy-president-barack-hussein-obama-egyptian-vs-american-protests-002437

Hundreds of thousands of protesters in Egypt take to the streets demanding change from what they perceive to be an unresponsive government. United States President, Barack Hussein Obama is so moved that he calls the President of Egypt urging Mr. Mubarak to step down from his office, perhaps immediately.

He then steps to his powerful presidential podium and speaks to the protesters in Egypt saying President Hosni Mubarak must begin a transition immediately toward a new government, and assured protesters "we hear your voices".

He continued on to say, To the people of Egypt, especially the young ones, I want to be clear: we hear your voices. I have an unyielding belief that you will seize your own destiny."

[EFerrari]

14. Obama did not call for Mubarak to step down.

You know that, I know that and the Egyptian protesters know that.

[tabatha]

15. Not explicitly in so many words

but certainly implicitly.

CAIRO -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced today he would step down at the next election -- a statement welcomed by US President Barack Obama, who said he believed a transition to a new Egyptian government must begin straight away, but stopped short of publicly calling for Mubarak to resign immediately.

Speaking at the White House Tuesday evening, Obama said that while "it's not the role of any other country to determine Egypt's leaders," it was his belief "that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/mubarak_will_not_run_for_president_jUTdxlqRIBPYnd7CbxgjpM#ixzz1DoqEwGlI

After Mubarak stepped down, there was a group of Egyptians who were singing Obama's praises.

[JackDragna]

13. He IS wishy-washy.

I'm sorry, but did we miss the part where his sec of state came out and said the Mubarak regime is "stable?" You know what message that sends to the rest of the world? "Hi, we're the U.S. We still believe in propping up tinpot dictators who violate every precept of democracy and freedom we supposedly fight for. Remember, your local strongman is good, so long as he isn't too belligerent to Israel and lets us have lots of oil."

I'm not going to eat a fig of crow from the Republican who calls himself president.

[tabatha]

16. Obama was furious that that. happened.

Obama did not say that, he did not think that, and he did not authorize anyone to say that.

He has been on one side only during this ordeal - on the side of the Egyptians.

Sorry.

[tahrir]

4. In the end, they all got what they wanted - with the military in charge, we and our allies

in the region will rest easy.

i really gotta hand it to them, and reminds me of the line "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."

i truly hope i am wrong :'(

[marasinghe]

5. have to agree with you on all counts. (n/t)

[tabatha]

12. I hope you are wrong, too.

I think the Army knows that the Egyptians are going to hold their feet to the fire.

I believe there are many in the Army who support the protesters, let's just hope they have the final say.

Also, if the US military had enough clout to stop the Egyptian military from firing on crowds, then I think they have enough clout to make sure that real reform happens.

[EFerrari]

10. The truth is, the "Middle East Peace process" is a huge industry

and everyone wanted to make sure their investments were covered.

[dipsydoodle]

18. Its called

Paying lip service.

:hi:

[Peace Patriot]

22. You are so right, EFerrari! The Middle East is war profiteer heaven. "Follow the money!"

Trillions of ours and other peoples' tax dollars are poured into the profoundly unproductive and profoundly corrupt "military-industrial complex" there and here. This is a huge factor in Egypt and it will determine the future. The military officers are rich and corrupt from military contracting, just like our own. They will not likely yield an inch of power over that gigantic "pot of gold." And that means a very limited, mostly cosmetic 'democracy' just like our own. The people of both countries are the slave workers and 'cannon fodder' for these connected military establishments.

Arguments about who is more "pro-democracy"--Obama or Clinton--and tiffs in the White House--are childish, and the New York Slimes encourages this childish attitude with this article--as the corporate press often does. I am as much of a sucker as anybody about following "trends" of Obama policy and trying to believe that there is some good somewhere in the post-Bush Junta U.S. government but at least I am aware of how silly it is and try to pull back into the real world every once in a while where our ACTUAL rulers reside in splendor atop Mt. Everests of our money--wasted, wasted, WASTED on making military contractors rich beyond belief mostly for DOING NOTHING.

I just heard a lecture the other day by Reese Ehrlich (Alternative Radio) where he reports on his tracking of one typical USAID contractor for Afghanistan. The enrichment of the lobbyist 'contractor' who never leaves DC is simply unbelievable. HALF the money is raked right off the top to keep that lobbyist 'contractor' in clover, in DC, with the sole job of getting MORE lucrative contracts. HALF of what remains is raked off by the pampered U.S. subcontractor in Afghanistan, and most of the rest is dribbled away to Karzai cronies, and ALMOST NOTHING ever reaches the Afghan people--poor farmers and others whom the money was designated to help.

This MIND-BOGGLING theft is repeated over and over and over again--in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Latin America (the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs") and throughout the world, in military and related aid contracts, wherever the Pentagon is forging access to resources, cheap labor and "markets" for U.S.-based transglobal corporations.

THIS is the REAL world, and tiffs at the White House are "Alice in Wonderland." You might want to have some fun at the Mad Tea Party but it's really just games and nonsense to champion one faction or another of the Red Queen's minions. It is a fantasy to believe that this matters in the least to the profiteers of the "military-industrial complex." They rule. We do not--and neither do the political figures whom they produce for our entertainment. It is childish to believe that these public figures have the choice of promoting real democracy in Egypt or here. They would soon be dead--or the victims of contrived "disgrace"--if they did. THEY are playing a game--they have to--about "democracy" in Egypt, just like the game they play here about "hope" and "change." It is useless to argue about which White House faction did what and when, when the REALITY is that the war profiteers will prevail, no matter what they say.

-------

My recommended remedy: Get rid of the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines--now run by one, private, far rightwing connected corporation (ES&S, which just bought out Diebold)--as a first step out of "Alice in Wonderland" back into reality.

[No Elephants]

19. Many mixed messages during the crisis. The ambivalence and attempts to hedge bets

were obvious, especially in the earliest days.

And what does it say that the "party line" was not laid down in advance, so that the administration either spoke with one voice or left official pronouncements to the President?

[Le Taz Hot]

20. So it was everybody else's fault that the pro-democracy

message from the WH was muddled? The way the article reads, Obama doesn't seem to have control over his own cabinet. I'm sorry, I just don't see the leadership here and now, of all times, is when this country needs good leadership. He blew it. The world knows that he blew it and, once again, the U.S. government appears to be on the wrong side of democracy.

[dipsydoodle]

21. wrong side of democracy ?

So what's new ? The US needs other countries to be led by those who will suit the US's own selfish needs.

[GeorgeGist]

23. I wonder which Obama will lose?

:sarcasm:

[grahamhgreen]

24. Only a fool stands in the middle of the road at rush hour.