He Got His Way with Egypt—Now What?

The sudden resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was a cause for celebration in the streets of Cairo and in the U.S. “mainstream” press. However, nature abhors a vacuum, and the vacuum in governmental power in Egypt will have to be filled somehow. With a vast majority of the Egyptian people favoring the radical Islamic tenets of Sharia law such as cutting off the hands of robbers and repudiating Western customs, it seems clear that whomever takes power ultimately will not have as favorable of a view toward either the U.S. or Israel as the Mubarak regime. So, the question of the day is, why was the Obama administration seemingly so anxious to get rid of Mubarak?

Democrat presidents have given us a lot of head-scratchers over the years when it comes to what passes for their foreign policy. John F. Kennedy had his Bay of Pigs fiasco, in which he failed to provide desperately needed air cover for courageous Cuban freedom fighters which, without the air support, were doomed to failure. Of course, we can’t forget the utter incompetence if not malevolence of Jimmy Carter in encouraging Iran to depose the Shah and welcome back Ayatollah Khomeini and the radical theocracy that resulted. Both of these incidents have had vast consequences for future generations of Cubans and Iranians—not to mention their neighbors. Instead of liberating Cuba at the early stages of Castro’s communist dictatorship, the failed attack strengthened his regime which, under his brother, is still in power and still thumbing its nose at the U.S. to this day. Meanwhile, the mullahs in Iran and their puppet, the fanatic Ahmedinijad, rattle their nuclear sabers and threaten the annihilation of Israel.

Of course, no one can predict with any certainty what kind of government will eventually emerge in Egypt. But, given the demographics, it certainly doesn’t look good for either our interests or Israel’s. What could have been done better? Well, for one thing, the president could have actually meant what he said about staying out of Egypt’s affairs, instead of calling for Mubarak to transition—now! The swiftness of Mubarak’s downfall—and the resulting vacuum—could have been avoided with less overt U.S. support for the demonstrators. Where was all this support when Iran’s people tried to rise up against Ahmedinijad and the mullahs? Where is the consistency with this administration about this or any issue?