The Obama administration is facing one of the biggest tests of its commitment to promoting democracy and human rights in the Arab world since the uprisings of the Arab Spring, over one year ago.
The administration must decide, pursuant to the 2012 appropriations law, whether the Secretary of State will certify that Egypt is meeting specified human rights conditions before $1.3 billion of military and other foreign assistance can be paid over to the Egyptian government.
It is impossible for the administration to say honestly that these conditions are being met, in view of the continuing attacks and prosecutions of independent civil society organizations and human rights activists in Egypt.
Moreover, Egypt's democratic transition remains far from complete. Now is not the time for giving Egypt's current rulers, who are mostly holdovers from the Mubarak era dictatorship, the U.S. government's seal of approval. That is exactly how the release of U.S. aid would be seen by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and other representatives of the old order in Cairo.
Nevertheless, pressure is building in Washington for the administration to move forward with approving the aid. The Pentagon is reported to be expressing concerns about losses to American suppliers and arms manufacturers if the aid is held up, and Egypt's rulers delivered, albeit partially, on their pledge to allow American and other international employees of international human rights and democracy organizations facing prosecution to leave the country. Egypt again demonstrated its strategic value to the United States last week by brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants to put at least a temporary end to escalating exchanges of fire across the border between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.
A peaceful democratic transition in Egypt is in the national interest of the United States, and this is the strategic goal which advances stability in Egypt over the longer term and should guide policy making.
The U.S. government should not delude itself that it can protect its strategic interests by jettisoning its values. Indeed, no such return to the failed policies of the past, balancing security and strategic interests against support for advancing human rights and democracy, is necessary or desirable.
Ignoring the human rights and democracy conditions that Congress has placed on U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt would be seen as the U.S. government giving its unconditional support to anti-democratic forces in Egypt. It would be a severe blow to any pretensions the U.S. government may have to be seen as a supporter of universal values of human rights and democracy in the Middle East and North Africa and around the world.
Moreover, disregarding universal values does not yield any strategic advantage for the United States. The best hope for America to have a reliable strategic partner in Egypt in the years ahead is for Egypt's democratic transition to succeed and for a representative government to emerge in Cairo that serves the legitimate interests of its people. Continuing conflict between the military and newly empowered elected bodies is not a recipe for any kind of stability, and political instability in Egypt brings with it the threat of increasing political violence, including heightened insecurity for Egypt's vulnerable religious minorities and fertile ground for the growth of violent religious extremism.
The long-standing aid relationship between the United States and Egypt provides many opportunities for the U.S. government to encourage positive change. High-handed threats to withhold or condition aid bring an understandable backlash from Egyptians of all backgrounds, who are concerned about foreign interference in their domestic affairs.
So, the challenge facing the administration is to find a way to use the aid relationship so that it serves the overriding U.S. strategic interest of a peaceful democratic transformation in Egypt.
The U.S. government needs to both send the message that it is continuing to stand ready to provide the Egyptian government with the economic assistance it desperately needs while also making clear that foreign assistance is inextricably tied to democratic change -- not because this is some capricious condition dreamt up by ill-intentioned western policy makers, but rather because it is a time-tested strategy that enshrining the rule of law, empowering representatives, accountable government and strengthening legal safeguards for basic rights and freedoms are the only ways to meet the legitimate aspirations of the millions of people in Egypt and beyond for human dignity.
Human Rights First recommends a new approach: A phased roll-out of the annual aid package. By linking payments to reform milestones that are scheduled to occur in the coming months, like the adoption of a constitution protecting basic rights and freedoms for all Egyptians, and the handover of power from the military to an elected civilian government, the U.S. government could have the flexibility it needs to respond to the challenges of tumultuous change in Egypt and the broader region. Under this approach, the administration could release part of the aid funds now, recognizing that some of the conditions, like the holding of free parliamentary elections, have been met, while also demonstrating its concern that the Egyptian government must do more to satisfy other conditions, including making progress in respect for freedoms of association and expression and for religious freedom.
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U.S. Military Aid to Egypt to Resume, Officials Say - NYTimes.com
Obama Administration Poised To Approve Egypt Aid Despite ...
Egypt officials expect U.S. to unblock military aid - Yahoo! News
Obama continues aid to Egypt - Right Turn - The Washington Post
Read a relevant post on Liberal Koshari
"Bigger Carrots, Bigger Sticks":
http://www.liberalkoshari.com/2012/02/bigger-carrots-bigger-sticks.html
And then what? They become occupiers even more?
And then next? Invade Sudan? Somalia? Kenia?
Do the Israelis want to build a new thousand year empire?
To speak of values as justification for a selective adherence to our supposed values without mentioning how those values are ignored for allies including military occupiers, brutal dictators and monarchs is disingenuous.
US officials publicly lamenting the results of the elections that democracy has brought while criticizing the military makes this decision easily abused for the ideological crowd who openly supported the former dictator.
The peace angle being used by neocons screams for a thorough debate.
It closely resembles the punishment of the Palestinians for their democratic choice.
It is not correct to state that cutting off funds is the only choice of all those who believe in human rights and democracy.
Simply redirecting the funds away from the military would be the practical compromise, but the neocons oppose helping the islamists recently elected. This clearly exposes the myth about democracy as justification.
Only supporting democracy when the people vote the way you want them to vote is not supporting democracy.
IS one man, one vote, one time good enough for you because that's the sham democracy Hamas has given the Palestinians - so its seems sort of ridiculous to hold it out as being anything other then what it is ... your garden variety repressive dictatorship albeit Islamist
Sorry to disappoint you, again, but the Carter Center monitored these elections and they ascertained that the elections were both free AND fair.
The subsequent action of Israel of simply kidnapping all (or at least more than 60) of the elected Hamas lawmakers and tossing them in jail without any form of trial whatsoever actually does correspond a lot more with the behavior of the average banana republic.
Wrong they give Egypt 250 million in what's called The Economic Support Fund
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm
Taking another, more serious event, the Pope of 41 years leading the Middle East's largest Christian population died yesterday. Even if there is no tie, some hot-head would be bound to tie any cut in USAID to US pressure to protect the Copts, which in turn would further expose Christians to negative influences and embolden radicals.
The US must stay the course with Egypt. There will be ups and downs, especially in a climate of transition and populism, but common interests, whether deemed "strategic" or "non-strategic", in stability and prosperity exist, and will prevail with common sense and patience. http://balasticman.blogspot.it/2012/01/small-minded-defeatism-of-washington.html
The US has jettisoned its "values" all the while during Mubaraks timed... it continues to jettison its values in Saudi Arabia, Bharain, Yemen, Palestine.... come on Uncle Sam, the world sees through your double standards, quit playacting
Being dragged back centuries to an Iranian style theocracy is not what the Facebook secular crowd had in mind when they went into Tahrir Sq. But then again, the Islamists back then were pretending to sing from the same hymn book. As soon as it looked like the regime was gone, the first thing the Islamists did was attack the Christians and burn their churches.
To me it looks like what may happen next is Egypt will walk away from the Israeli Treaty, Israel will request a clarification of the status of Sinai which was given back to Egypt in exchange for the Treaty and a crisis will ensue. The new Muslim Brotherhood government fanning the flames of anti US and anti Israel will make a deal with Putin's Russia and we will be back in a sort of cold war with Syria, Lebanon Iran and Egypt all lining up with the Russians.
Welcome to "Arab Spring"