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Obama Policies Of Ignoring Egyptian Repression Of Authoritarian Mubarak
16 July 2009
As with Saudi Arabia, the repressive nature of Egypt's Mubarak dictatorship has been well-documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and other groups. This is a country where a simple gathering of five or more people without a permit is illegal. Peaceful pro-democracy protesters are routinely beaten and jailed. Martial law has been in effect for more than 28 years. Independent observers are banned from monitoring the country's routinely rigged elections, from which the largest opposition party is banned from participating and other opposition parties are severely restricted in producing publications and other activities. It's well documented that the Egyptian government engages in a pattern of gross and systematic human rights abuses against perceived opponents of the regime, including massive detentions without due process, torture on an administrative basis, and extra-judicial killings. Targets of government repression have included not just Muslim Brotherhood Islamists, but leftists, liberal democrats, feminists, gay men, independent-minded scholars, students, trade unionists, Coptic Christians, and human rights activists. It's therefore quite disappointing that, even though the human rights situation in Egypt has actually worsened since his 2002 speech in which he advocated fighting to end repression in that country, Obama now refuses to even acknowledge that country's authoritarianism. In an interview with the BBC just prior to his departure to the Middle East, Justin Webb asked him directly, "Do you regard President Mubarak as an authoritarian ruler?" Obama's reply was "No," insisting that "I tend not to use labels for folks." Obama also refused to acknowledge Mubarak's authoritarianism on the grounds that "I haven't met him," as if the question was in regard to the Egyptian dictator's personality rather than his well-documented intolerance of dissent. In further justifying his refusal to acknowledge the authoritarian nature of the Egyptian government, Obama referred to Mubarak -- whom he dismissed as a "so-called" ally back in 2002 -- as "a stalwart ally, in many respects, to the United States." He praised Egypt's despotic president for having "sustained peace with Israel, which is a very difficult thing to do in that region," though -- given that no Arab government has waged war with Israel for over 35 years -- this is hardly so unique an accomplishment as to justify shying away from legitimate criticism of the Egyptian leader's dictatorial rule. Obama went on to insist that "I think he has been a force for stability. And good in the region." Such an assessment is in marked contrast to his remarks from less than seven years ago, where he publicly acknowledged that Mubarak's corrupt and autocratic rule was creating conditions where Egyptian youth "grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells." Since coming to Washington, Obama has surely read the intelligence reports that note many young Egyptians have been radicalized in reaction to Mubarak's corrupt and autocratic rule, and some have gone on to play key roles in al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that have dangerously destabilized the region. When the BBC's Webb asked Obama how he planned to address the issue of the "thousands of political prisoners in Egypt," he answered only in terms of the United States being a better role model, such as closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and the importance of the United States not trying to impose its human rights values on other countries. While these are certainly valid points, they offer little hope for the thousands of regime opponents now languishing in Egyptian prisons. Obama said nothing about the possibility of linking even part of the more than $1.5 billion in annual U.S. aid to the Mubarak regime on providing freedom for these prisoners of conscience. The most negative assessment Obama could muster for Mubarak's dictatorial regime in the interview was, "Obviously, there have been criticisms of the manner in which politics operates in Egypt." Given that there have also been criticisms of the manner in which politics is conducted in every country of the world, including the United States, this can hardly account for a public display of disapproval. Even the Washington-based Freedom House ranks Egypt in the bottom quintile of the world's countries in terms of political rights and civil liberties. Webb's question was not about whether there have been criticisms of the manner in which politics operates in Egypt. The question was whether Mubarak was an authoritarian leader. Even if Obama did not feel comfortable labeling the Egyptian president himself as an authoritarian, he should have at least acknowledged that Mubarak leads an authoritarian government.
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