I think the video above provides a little evidence supporting my take on the removing of Mubarak. It will be interesting to see what else emerges from that interview.
I think the video above provides a little evidence supporting my take on the removing of Mubarak. It will be interesting to see what else emerges from that interview.
The question, of course, is whether Mubarak would have lasted in power regardless of what position the United States took. It seems to me that the protests would have continued if he stayed, and the military would have been faced with the choice of either shooting Egyptian civilians in the street or removing the source of the problem. It’s not illogical to presume they would have removed him anyway regardless of what the White House was saying.
I don’t think the Egyptians, meaning the Army and the protesters, really cared that much what we thought. Just exactly what were we going to do to keep Mubarak in office? Right side of history? How did we feel about the Chinese killing civilians in the Square? Were we going to support killing civilians in Egypt? Methinks Gates and Rice are promoting business.
Steve
I’m not persuaded to change my view yet, but the implication that there was a moment in which Obama acted over the advise of his senior staffers is interesting. It offers some contemporaneous, objective standard on the choices available.
For my firend TastyBits: Perhaps you need to move to South Africa!
Gates talks about this in his book and I think it’s mentioned in Hillary’s book as well. In essence, the President, in this case and others, sided with the NSS over his cabinet officers. The NSS was, according to Gates, obsessed with ensuring the President was “on the right side of history.” Unfortunately the NSS is mostly made up of young, inexperienced people without much regional knowledge (I think Pat Lang, who predicted what would happen in Egypt all along, called the NSS the “children’s brigade.”) They viewed the protests against Mubarak as a case of “the people” overthrowing an authoritarian dictator when the reality was a lot more complex. They also failed to consider the ramifications of dumping Mubarak, a long-time ally, to others in the region.
BTW Dave, I’ve been sick and I didn’t get a chance to comment on your recent post about your 12th anniversary of blogging, so I’ll do it here since that post is now off the front page. Suffice it say that this is by far my favorite blog. Like you, my blog-reading has decreased considerably over the years, but this one remains at the top of my list. I’m not sure how you’re able to do it so well for so long, but I do appreciate your efforts.