Opening The Great Pyramid

Fire of Liberty

Well, it looks like all Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has once again irked the US with its most recent conviction of Ayman Nour to five years hard labour for supposedly forging documents in registering his political party el Ghad. In yesterday's edition of the Financial Times, William Wallis notes that the imprisonment of Egypt's most widely known liberal (in the classical liberalism model not the Liberalism of the modern day left.) party leader not only removes one more roadblock to Mubarak's complete control on Egypt (Even though the country has been in a state of emergency since the assassination of Sadat) but this silencing of Nour has also placed a strain on the future relationship between the US and Egypt. While past Presidents would have looked the other way and allowed Mubarak to continue his same games of silencing his opponents because he keeps the Muslim Brotherhood at bay, the Bush administration has decided that times have changed and before the US rewards Egypt for more bad behavior it should at least get some greater political freedoms, democratic reforms and the rule of law in return. According to John Alterman, director of the Middle East Studies at the Center for Strategic and Iternational Studies (CSIS), this failure to do so on Egypt's part will probably result in the US putting a hold on free trade negotiations with Egypt. One could also imagine that the removal of Nour from Egyptian politics will also cause a lot of folks in the White House and Congress to reassess the whole $1.8 billion subsidy in foreign and military aid that we've been sending the land of the Pharaohs since the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978. All of these talks about looking at changing policies or current arrangements with Egypt is just another example of how the White House is totally committed to the continued spread of democractic values throughout the region much like Sens. Jackson, Vanick and President Reagan did when they tied the spread of democratic freedoms in the Soviet Union to the easing of economic restrictions by the West during the Cold War.

If we want to continue to get a lot of the various countries in the world to start granting their people greater freedoms and the continued embrace of democratic reforms then we've got to hold firm and continue to deny them certain economic/political/military inducements until they show that they are ready to march down the road towards change. Now that might sound like "pie in the sky" to some folks out there but if we don't start holding regimes like that of Mubarak (and most likely his presumed heir to the throne Gamal Mubarak) responsible for their actions and refusing to reward them for bad behavior then we'll start having a real problem in demonstrating to the folks in this part of the world that we are truly serious about our push for democratic reform. From the looks of it, it seems that at least President Bush and a few others in the administration seems to be getting the point and are calling for such reforms and the release of Nour before we move forward on anything political or economic. I'd say that the Wall Street Journal's recent editorial titled "Tell ol' Pharaoh," pretty much summed up the whole argument for the release of Nour and the possible cutting off of funds to Egypt by noting:

Mr. Nour and his party also serve as a reminder that Egypt's political choices are not limited to Mr. Mubarak's brand of authoritarian nationalism and the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidates (running as independents) took 40% of last month's parliamentary vote and 20% of the seats. Mr. Mubarak has at times ruthlessly suppressed the Brotherhood, but their political strength allows him to pose as the man the West can rely on to hold the Islamists at bay.

It is precisely because some administration officials think we're "one-man deep" in Egypt that $1.8 billion in annual American aid continues to flow into its coffers. But just as the existence of the Ghad Party indicates there is a genuine third way for Egypt's future, Mr. Nour's imprisonment tells us that the Mubarak regime deserves no comfort from this administration.

Here's hoping for the immediate release of Ayman Nour so Egypt can begin to gain greater freedoms and enjoy the movement towards a more democratic government and away from a nearly 30 year one man rule by Mubarak. If not, I can think of some more deserving countries or programs that $1.8 billion a year can go towards.