Secret Report Ordered by Obama Identified Potential Uprisings

[tekisui]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered his advisers last August to produce a secret report on unrest in the Arab world, which concluded that without sweeping political changes, countries from Bahrain to Yemen were ripe for popular revolt, administration officials said Wednesday.

Mr. Obama’s order, known as a Presidential Study Directive, identified likely flashpoints, most notably Egypt, and solicited proposals for how the administration could push for political change in countries with autocratic rulers who are also valuable allies of the United States, these officials said.

The 18-page classified report, they said, grapples with a problem that has bedeviled the White House’s approach toward Egypt and other countries in recent days: how to balance American strategic interests and the desire to avert broader instability against the democratic demands of the protesters.

Administration officials did not say how the report related to intelligence analysis of the Middle East, which the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, acknowledged in testimony before Congress, needed to better identify “triggers” for uprisings in countries like Egypt.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17diplomacy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[LoZoccolo]

1. I would expect our intelligence agencies to keep an eye on such things. n/t

[WolfoftheWild]

2. Obama comes prepared. He handled Egypt just right.

and if he plays the cards right, more countries will follow.

This is how to spread Democracy.

Not with the Sword.
With the Word.

[renegade000]

3. I share the frustration

of people who are annoyed with Obama's timidity in the domestic political scene, where we need him to actually make high-profile stands on the issues and not be afraid of knocking-heads.

But, I just never understood all the criticism he got for handling this foreign policy situation. I don't understand how acting more overtly would not have been a huge gamble (giving the middle-finger to Mubarak might have caused him to use extreme measures to retain power) or how acting more overtly would have led to a significantly better outcome.

[Wilms]

4. What, then, explains Hillary's "stable gov't" statement?

:shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

5. Now if he could do the same for...

Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa.....

[LeftyAndProud60]

6. Can someone email this to the piece of shit who wrote this...

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/13/wanted-a-grand-strategy-for-america.html#

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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