The Meaning of Egypt

As of this moment, we still do not know who, if anyone, is at the head of the people demanding the ouster of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Nor do we know if this is a movement for democracy (albeit Egyptian style) or one for a theocracy governed by sharia law. Even with this confusion, there are still a few lessons that have come forward clearly from these events.

First, either the US Intelligence agencies have much better information gathering capabilities than the press or President Obama is acting rashly. Obama has been pushing repeatedly for Mubarak to go at once. Immediate transition of the Egyptian government is Obama's goal. The president has not answered the question "Transition to what?" Does he know who is in control of the opposition? Does he know that the result will not be another theocracy like Iran? Does he have any idea whether or not the new government will keep Egypt's commitments to peace with Israel and opposition to jihadist terrorism? Does obama have any reason to believe that the Muslim Brotherhood no longer wants imposition of sharia law, war with Israel, expulsion of all Western influences, expulsion of Coptic Christians, and the like? Pushing for change at the behest of a protesting mob may seem to Obama and his accolytes like an extension of the anti-war movement of the 1960's and 1970's, but it is definitely not the same thing. The president needs to have a reasonable basis for believing that the change in Egypt will benefit the USA before he pushes blindly forward. Indeed, if Obama has reason to believe that the change will be beneficial, he has a duty to tell the American people about this in my opinion.

Second, if the protests sweeping Egypt and other middle eastern countries actually are movements towards democracy, then obama and the Democrats owe George W Bush a major apology. For years, Bush explained that the move in Iraq to bring democracy to the Iraqis would awaken democratic impulses across the Middle East with a resulting benefit for the entire world. the Democrats, led by Obama, laughed at Bush's "naive" views on this subject. Bush's war of "choice" was evil and unnecessary according to them. The USA was not liberating Iraq and the middle east, it was a war for oil and it was based on lies. Well, if Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and Jordan are moving towards democracy, then Bush was correct and the Democrats were wrong. I have no expectation that Obama or any other democrat will apologize to Bush or even acknowledge that he was correct, but the American people deserve to understand the truth of what happened. It turns out that fighting for democracy and liberty brings better results than holding apology tours and showing weakness. Who knew? (Other than those with at least half a brain who were not blinded by leftist ideology.)