SMRs and AMRs

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

How Did the U.S. Lose the Egyptian People?

By Jeffrey Goldberg - Jul 2, 2013, Bloomberg

So here’s a question that’s nagging at me as we watch millions of Egyptians express their loathing for Mohamed Mursi, their hapless, power-grabbing president, and for his Muslim Brotherhood movement: How exactly did the U.S. come to be seen by Egyptian secularists and liberals as the handmaiden of a cultish fundamentalist political party whose motto includes this heartening sentiment: “Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope”?

I mean, how did the U.S. fail to formulate a strategy that would advance both American interests and American values in the largest and most crucial Arab state? Within a span of just a few years, Egyptians have somehow convinced themselves that the U.S. has been an ally of both Egypt’s former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, and Mubarak’s main enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, Egypt is again on the brink of chaos, and the White House’s call for Mursi to schedule early elections won’t convince many Egyptians that President Barack Obama is on the side of the people.

Much of the ire in Tahrir Square, and at many other demonstrations across Egypt, has been directed at U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson. Patterson is one of the State Department’s most skilled and respected diplomats, but a large number of Egyptians now view her as an enemy of progressivism and secularism.

(More here.)

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