“Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region, Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel … I would not refer to him as a dictator….I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that — to be more responsive to some of the needs of the people out there,” Biden said after stressing that he shouldn’t resign. “Violence isn’t appropriate and people have a right to protest,” he said. “And so — and we think that — I hope Mubarak, President Mubarak, will — is going to respond to some of the legitimate concerns that are being raised.”
White House policy moves between being reactive and being reactionary. Here’s Gibbs: “First and foremost — and I said this yesterday, but I want to reiterate it — that there’s an obligation by the government not to engage in violence. There’s an obligation by those that are protesting not to engage in violence by burning government buildings. So, first and foremost, this is a process that should be conducted peacefully, and that is one of our primary concerns…Egypt, we know — and President Mubarak has for several decades been a close and important partner with our country.
And every time the President meets with President Mubarak — and I would point you to the speech in Cairo in 2009 where the President also specifically addresses this, as well as the readout that we put out on the September meeting that the President had with President Mubarak as part of the Middle East peace process — that we consistently have advocated for the universal rights of assembly, of free speech, of political reform. All of those are important and we have at every turn encouraged President Mubarak to find a way to engender that political discourse in a positive way. And we will continue to do that.” Byfunding the forces of repression. We can’t pretend we don’t know what that money goes for, either.
Technorati Tags: client state, Egypt, Israel, January 25, Mubarak, revolution
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