USA, why you support dictatorship?

An Egyptian protester holds a sign that reads, ''No More US $ For The Bloody Mubarak Dictatorship''

Millions of people demonstrated in Egypt’s Tahrir Square in an unprecedented movement for democracy, yet US leaders and US media remain patently apprehensive of a change in government.

The US which purports to stand as a beacon of light for democracy around the world, seems to be holding its breath as this popular movement demands that a dictator step down from power. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can only produce wary criticisms of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak demanding his government make needed reforms.

In an address to the Egyptian people, Clinton implicitly beckoned the Egyptian people back into their homes and encouraged use of the conventional political process to achieve reforms. She said all this while Mubarak’s brutal central security forces were violently breaking up demonstrations. Vice President Joe Biden claimed that Mubarak was no dictator on television just a day before Mubarak began shutting down lines of freedom of speech, first by disabling Facebook and Twitter, later turning off cell phone networks and internet access all together.

After 28 years under the Mubarak regime, the Egyptian people have no reason to believe that Mubarak will produce reforms now. And considering the regime has been propped up by the US Government since it’s inception, the people of Egypt must find the words of US Secretary of State Clinton disingenuous at best.

Rather than stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people in their pursuit of democracy, the US seems to be taking a neutral view on the events unfolding in Egypt. But the real view is anything but neutral. Egyptians know that the US has had a long-standing supportive relationship with the tyrannical Mubarak government. In fact, Egypt is the second largest recipient of US foreign aid because of it value as a geographically strategic ally in the Middle East.

The Egyptian people are fed up with Mubarak’s deference to US interests over the interests of his own people and they are justified in demanding that he step down. The response of US diplomats, however, has made it quite clear that the US is far more concerned about it’s own influence in the region, then being a beacon of light for democracy.

The US not only stands to loose its influential and illegitimate hold on the Egyptian government, but US officials are worried that democracy may actually be dangerous for Egypt! US leaders are afraid that the Muslim Brotherhood will commandeer the revolution. They echo Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fear that this popular revolt could lead to an anti-US Islamist theocracy like the one that was produced in Iran subsequent to the 1979 Revolution. And they’re afraid other nations will follow Egypt in this manner in a domino effect across the Arab world.

But here’s where a good knowledge of history becomes critical–a history that powerful leaders in the West tend to ignore. Long before the Iranian Revolution, the US had its meddling hands in Iran as well. In 1941, the CIA overthrew democratically elected Iranian President Mohammed Mossadegh, and installed the brutal Shah dictatorship in Iran, who oppressed the Iranian people, but protected US oil interests in the country. The Iranian people grew furious with the US control of their government, and it created an incredibly hostile attitude toward the US and it’s allies like Israel and Britain. The result? Iranian anger at the US intrusion of their government fueled conservative Islam and anti-US sentiment in response to the US threat to their country’s sovereignty. And so it’s no surprise, that when the people of Iran finally revolted against the Shah, he was replaced by an extremely anti-US Islamist.

Similarly in Egypt, the US support of the dictatorial Mubarak regime is creating resentment toward the US once again. Would it really be a surprise if a new Egyptian government developed a less-then-friendly attitude toward the US, when US interests stand as an obstacle to their right to democracy? Of course it shouldn’t be a surprise. The US has fueled anti-US sentiment itself by undermining democracies around the world for decades. It’s not because “they hate everything we stand for” as former New York City mayor Ruddy Giuliani would put it, its because we’ve been conniving in their governments for years.

But the Egyptian revolution is an enlightened revolution as compared to the revolution in Iran. It is a popular revolution, and so far is remaining a popular revolution. It’s not a Muslim revolution or an anti-US revolution. The Egyptian people understand, that it is up to them to take control of their government, but first the US must stand aside by cutting ties to Mubarak and allow the democratic movement in Egypt to move forward. A neutral stance in this case, is an opposition stance as long as we continue to prop up a dictator. If the US government continues to support Mubarak and act as an obstacle to democracy then the US should expect to be viewed as an enemy to the interests of the Egyptian people.

It would be an unusual foreign policy move for the US to take a ‘hands off’ policy in the unfolding events, but it is the best move. The US has an incredible opportunity to resolve tensions in the Middle East by demonstrating a measure of good faith and supporting the will of the Egyptian people. As for the potential domino effect of democratic movements and revolutions in the Arab world, this is not something to regard with apprehension. It is the most encouraging development in the Middle East for decades. Perhaps it will be the spark that sends Iranian revolutionaries into the street to end the oppressive dictatorship that has ruled the country as a reaction to the US infiltration of their government 50 years ago.

Tags: government, politics, religion, US foreign policy