Egypt, the United States and the Rule of Law

The Egyptian government declared yesterday that it would extend the "emergency law" that has been in place there since 1981, when Anwar Sadat was assassinated, despite Mubarek's repeated promises to rescind it, and the increasingly vocal protests over it.

The Obama State Department expressed "disappointment" over the announcement. It said that

any move to significantly narrow the application of the Emergency Law would be a step forward if it means greater protection of civil liberties for Egyptian citizens in practice. We are confident that Egypt can draft and adopt effective counterterrorism legislation that conforms to international standards for civil liberties and due process. And the United States urges Egypt to complete this legislation on an urgent basis and to rescind the State of Emergency within the coming months.

This is a dicey diplomatic moment, of course, because the US needs Egyptian support in the region, not only because Mubarek has not opposed the US presence in Iraq, but because he has proven to be a fairly consistent partner in the Israel-Palestine mess.

But Mubarek's obvious dismissal of the need to rule democratically reveals Obama's problems as a world leader -- many of them created by Bush the Boy. Egypt receives more foreign aid from the US than any other nation save that other paragon of virtue, Israel. Together, then, these two allies daily trample the basic human and civil rights of their inhabitants and give the lie to the idea that the US hopes to democratize the region. It's hard to call for reform in Iraq (much less Afghanistan) when reform is nearly as badly needed in the places most supported by the US.

Things might be easier, of course, had Bush the Boy not invaded Iraq, thereby trampling international law in practice and theory. Iraq might, in that case, still be ruled by Saddam Hussein, but the US government would have the clout, the money and the good will to make more significant changes where it matters most.