Sharp Left Ahead: U.S intervention in Egypt

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:04:30 GMT

By William Hoffman

As Americans, we are slow to give attention to issues of foreign affairs. I am an offender of this myself. However, few things have sparked the attention of Americans like the revolution currently underway in Egypt. It’s very relatable, after all, America was formed in rebellion against an oppressive government. This situation certainly brings concerns for all the involved parties, but we must be very calculated in our response to the revolution. My interest in the subject was initially sparked when I turned on MSNBC to watch the Rachel Maddow show, as I do from time to time, (NERD) and saw live footage of riots in the streets of Cairo. People were throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at each other, cars were being destroyed and used as cover to assault a hill where supporters of the government had held up. The streets were in chaos. All of this was taking place at four o’clock in the morning in Cairo, where protesters had been camping out for days. While the footage was frightening, it was also backed by a sense of justice. It’s a wonderful example of the will of a people to call for change, and the lengths they will go to see it through. I am writing this article the day that President Mubarak has stepped down from office, so it’s a very hard time to speculate what might happen in the future. However, from observing the news over the past two weeks it has been obvious that Mubarak needs to step down. The 24 hour news cycles have been very focused on the U.S response to this crisis. Barack Obama has actually handled this crisis quite well. He walks a fine line between U.S interests, spreading democracy, and quelling anti American unrest. During the campaign in 2008 Senator Barack Obama said in what is probably his most famous speech to date, “Nothing can stand in the wake of millions of people calling for change.” Thankfully he has embraced this idea in Egypt, although he has done it rather apprehensively. He has largely stayed out of the conflict allowing the people of Egypt to decide their future. However there are those who would like to see a bigger push from the United States. The U.S has three things that they want from Egypt. First the US wants Egypt to keep the Suez Canal open for U.S interest, second, Egypt is the biggest ally of Israel in the Middle East, and finally, Egypt is crucial to fighting al-Qaida in the region. Many groups feel that if we don’t intervene in Egypt we will lose these advantages in the region to a popular group in Egypt called the Muslim Brotherhood. This type of interventionist thinking is exactly what is destroying America. America claims to be all about spreading democracy throughout the world, but when a group of citizens wants to overthrow their oppressive ruler of 30 years and replace him with a legitimate democracy we put on the breaks. We want a democracy as much as the next guy, but we also like canals, Israel, and hate terrorists. I guess those Egyptians are just going to have to sacrifice a few freedoms to make that work. We start doing these things and then wonder why there is such great anti American sentiment in the Arab world? Whenever America interferes with the business of other countries we seem to screw it up in some way, and thus breed a new generation of terrorists that hate America. It is a destructive path we are on and I whole -heartedly believe that Obama is taking us off that path, while maintaining a sense of American dominance in foreign affairs. Sadly, the solution for the future destruction of terrorism means we might take a short term loss in key areas of the Middle East. We might lose an ally of Israel and a certain sense of security in the Middle East by not intervening in Egypt, but it’s what we need to do in order to ensure a brighter future for the region. In these past weeks, the Egyptian people have surprised us with their enthusiasm and vigor for a new democratic society. They may surprise us in their choice of leadership as well.

The Colonel

Sharp Left Ahead: U.S intervention in Egypt