More than two years after protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square toppled Egypt's long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, the country is still in crisis. Hundreds have died since President Mohammed Morsi was removed from power in July and the military took over. Security forces have launched a fierce crackdown on supporters of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Even the hated state of emergency is back.
"Egypt in Crisis," a new, hour-long documentary by PBS/Frontline and GlobalPost chronicles the events since the fall of Mubarak as well as the rise and demise of the Muslim Brotherhood.
How could the revolution have gone so wrong?
The reporters talked to members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the protest movement in Tahrir, revealing the different goals and aspirations of the movements. The film exposes the power of the Egyptian military, showcasing its dominance over large parts of the country's society and economy. It reveals the miscalculations of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi and notes the might of those elements of the Mubarak regime that have managed to preserve their power.
"The deep state is still in charge," GlobalPost's Charles Sennott tells HuffPost Live, using the term to describe Mubarak-era power structures that are still entrenched in the Egyptian government. According to the reporter, these elements pose a massive challenge to American foreign policy. The United States has provided Egypt's armed forces with billions in aid, a money flow that continues as long as the Obama administration refuses to label July's events as a military coup. "Are we going to allow the deep state to rule or do we really believe in democracy," Sennott wonders. "I think we owe it to Egypt to fight very hard to help them build a new democracy," he adds. "We've put billions of dollars into building a police state. The people wanted to overthrow that police state."
"The U.S. has played with words while the streets burned and people died. It's semantics," he states.
Watch the full interview in the video above and take a look at the documentary "Egypt in Crisis" here.
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