WaPo editorial: The U.S. needs to break with Mubarak now

[stevedeshazer]

ON FRIDAY, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians did something that the Obama administration, and many others in Washington, believed they would never do: They rose up against their government, demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's autocracy. They overwhelmed the security forces that Mr. Mubarak deployed in an attempt to crush them; they defied a nighttime curfew even after Army units were deployed. They burned the headquarters of the ruling party in Cairo and in several other cities. By nightfall, it seemed clear that only two events could end their revolution: a massive use of force by the Army or Mr. Mubarak's yielding of power.

The United States should be using all of its influence - including the more than $1 billion in aid it supplies annually to the Egyptian military - to ensure the latter outcome. Yet, as so often happened during the Arab uprising of the past several weeks, the Obama administration on Friday appeared to be behind events. It called for an end to the violence against demonstrators and for a lifting of the regime's shutdown of the Internet and other communications. Encouragingly, the White House press secretary said that the administration "will review our assistance posture based on events that take place in the coming days."

But U.S. statements assumed that the 30-year-long rule of the 82-year-old Mr. Mubarak would continue. In an apparent attempt to straddle the two sides, the administration suggested that the solution to the crisis would come through "engagement" between the regime and the protesters.

"We're encouraging the government . . . to try to engage in a discussion as to what the legitimate claims being made are, if they are, and to try to work them out," Vice President Biden said in a Thursday night interview on PBS, adding that he would not call Mr. Mubarak a dictator and did not think he should step down.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012805399.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[xchrom]

1. get on board with the people -- kick mubarak to the curb.

no good can come to hanging on to him.

[aquart]

5. And what do we win by manipulating THEIR revolution?

Their thanks? Or their endless distrust and hatred?

When Mubarak is no longer the official leader of Egypt, we will begin negotiations with whoever is.

BUT NOBODY KNOWS WHO THE LEADER OF THIS IS. NOBODY KNOWS WHO OR WHAT WILL BE RULING EGYPT IN A YEAR.

And I can't think of a surer way to doom whoever comes than by throwing our support to someone who is not fully established and recognized.

Is it that hard for WaPo and the rest of us to believe that we do NOT rule the world?

[sabrina 1]

2. Platitudes from Washington. They should live under a dictatorship

for a while before asking people who have, for 30 years, to 'engage in dialogue' with a liar, a brute, a corrupt, selfish, cruel man whose word, as THEY should know, would mean nothing.

The article is correct. The U.S. should apologize to all the countries in the world whose Dictators they have supported financially and still are, and they should take a stand for once, on the side of Democracy.

Is there any dictator who is not receiving money from the U.S.?

[aquart]

7. How much do you want to pay for your cell phone?

We want everyone in the world to be exactly like us, but nicer and more amenable and always agreeable that we're the smartest kid on the block. That's both arrogant, naive, and insular.

Damn straight we bribe dictators. There are minerals and resources we want cheap. Real cheap. What we pay the dictators is nothing compared to what we would pay at the cash register if everyone in the world was having a wonderful life. Stinks, doesn't it?

But even if it was fair play every day on our side, the world would still not be a sweet, happy place.

When we came here, the laws we made didn't say it outright, but the rule was LEAVE THE TEN THOUSAND YEAR OLD FEUD ON ELLIS ISLAND. Leave it in Europe. Leave it in Asia. Leave it in Africa. And we made a pretty interesting society out of the good stuff we brought with us. But in Europe, Asia, and Africa, all those hatreds are alive and well and pretending they aren't is stupid.

We know nothing of the dynamics of the nations ruled by those dictators you hate. But the area that was Illyria in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night has been dozens of nations with dozens of borders in the last 2500 years alone. Serbia, Croatia, Albania, currently. Their hatreds are ancient and the only times they haven't been murdering each other was when somebody bigger threatened to kill them if they did. And meant it.

But go for your dreams. Democracy's been doing fabulously well in Iraq. Now that the opposition has been murdered or driven out of the country. Isn't it?

[sabrina 1]

8. Iraq is a mess, and in no way resembles a democracy so I'm

not sure what you mean.

I can live without a cell phone, I have, to answer your question. Maybe it is you who would find life unbearable without all the conveniences we get from the blood of people, no different from us, with dreams no different for their familes, in foreign lands.

It's a no-brainer for many people. Live a more simple life so we don't have to slaughter innocent people in other countries or support their murderous dictators to do it for us. Is there really any question as to what the choice should be?

Do you really think Americans are so superior to people in Africa or the ME that we have a right to cheap cell phones at the expense of THEIR rights to live decent lives? Maybe I'm musunderstanding you.

As for how much would it cost for those who couldn't live without a cell phone? Not much more, democratic leaders would sell us what we want and we wouldn't even have to bribe them.

Why do you think that we can only get what we need by force? How odd. I mean it's odd that a democrat would think that way.

As for the problems in Serbia, Africa and elsewhere, most were caused by brutal Colonialism and we are simply perpetuating those evils by replacing the last Empire that went rampaging around the globe stealing the resources of other nations and enslaving their people.

Maybe it's a dream I have that there is enough for everyone on this planet to lead decent lives and to trade fairly with each other, but what you are supporting is a nightmare.

I'll keep my dream if you don't mind. None of those people are my enemies and I don't need or want to rob them of their rights and their resources just so I can have some cheap toys. I can live so long as I have basic needs and there's lots to do for entertainment that doesn't involve torturing and killing others to be able to do it.

[madmax]

3. 1 Billion here another billion there... nt

[dkf]

4. He is 82? Damn he looks good for that age.

[stevedeshazer]

6. I thought the same thing

He didn't look nearly that old.