Savvy Egypt tries to help in Mideast

CAIRO, Egypt -- From my perspective here in Cairo, the bustling, passionate, creative epicenter of the Arab world, developments in the region are not what they might appear from American shores.
In 10 days, for instance, I have found little expressed anti-Americanism. Oh, there is a beneath-the-surface anger, but mostly it takes the form of bewilderment. I can almost hear them whispering, "Don't get Washington upset -- you don't know what they might do next!"
Or as one high-level Egyptian ambassador told me: "President Mubarak told President Bush in a now-famous quote that, if he went into Iraq, he would end up with '1,000 bin Ladens' -- and he has. Nevertheless, we're trying to make things work with the Iraqis -- because if it gets worse, we'll pay the price for it."
One also rapidly becomes aware, in the conservative arc of Arab/Muslim countries from Egypt, to Tunisia and Morocco, to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, that the Middle East is liberalizing somewhat under George W. Bush's didactic hand -- but in fact, these nations started changing long before.
Institutionalized dialogue
Saudi diplomats outlined for me a program that has become typical for many of these states. Reform begins at the bottom, in the form of an institutionalized dialogue that starts in the provinces and works up to bigger dialogues in the city centers, all of it widely televised. "This is very revolutionary for a country like Saudi Arabia," one ambassador told me. "People feel more like stakeholders in the country -- they know they're being listened to."
Then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to Egypt, and as charming as she is, she soon became a lecturing, hectoring, tutorial presence on Egyptian television. Speaking at a press conference here, she told the Egyptians that she had come "as a friend" to, in effect, tell them everything they were doing wrong. Because "that's what friends do."
In those same days, Baghdad was approaching civil war, the golden dome of the sacred Samarra mosque was blown off, and President Bush lectured the world further, telling the distraught and helpless Iraqis that it was their "choice" to opt for "chaos or unity." To many Egyptians, it seemed we were telling Iraqis to shape up and take over after we had made it impossible for them to do so.
Of course, the subject of the Palestinians and their new Hamas government came up. The autocratic Egyptian government has played a distinctly moderating role with the Palestinians. But Secretary Rice came to persuade them and the Saudis to go further -- to cut off aid to the Palestinians at best, and to back the U.S. and Israel at overthrowing the Hamas government at worst. Sorry, no takers.
The Egyptians feel that 39 years of a brutal occupation might understandably have made the Palestinians a little mad -- and that the answer is time, moderation and negotiation, and a civilized end to the Israeli occupation. The immediate answer is the extension of the "hudna," or ceasefire, that Hamas has kept for more than a year.
The Egyptians note with ironic humor that, sure, the Bush administration's apparent passion for "democratization" does work -- but only when it goes exactly America's and Israel's way.
When it comes to Shiite Iran, you find little support here among the largely Sunni Egyptians for the Iranian nuclear pretensions. There is certainly none for Teheran's new idea -- while Iraq falls apart next door, and that example of secular Arab nationalism disintegrates with it -- that Iran should pick up the smoldering pieces and become the "regional superpower of the Islamic world."
Cynical laughter
But people almost break into cynical laughter when they see what the American administration is doing in answer to Iran's new aggression. Secretary Rice recently announced a $75 million campaign for an "Iran Liberation Act to weaken Iran from within." In short, the administration still has no concept that it is its meddling interference in the Middle East that is feeding the ambitious rage there.
So the secretary's trip was that amazing creation, a perfect failure. And as imperfect as these Arab states are -- Egypt is still doing some foolhardy, essentially self-destructive things such as jailing oppositionist Ayman Nour while it talks elections -- Egyptians do understand the area.
They understood from the first that the dominating factor was not going to be the Pentagon's expensive planes and armored vehicles, but the culture of the Iraqis.
Universal Press Syndicate