When protests started in Egypt, the heads of the Egyptian military all went to the U.S. and consulted with U.S. officials for orders. The Egyptians are well aware that the regime in Cairo is a pawn in the services of the U.S. and Israel. This is why Egyptian slogans are not only directed against the Mubarak regime but are also aimed against the U.S. and Israel, in similarity to some of the slogans of the Iranian Revolution. The U.S. has been involved in every aspect of the Egyptian government's activities. Cairo has not made a single move without consulting both the White House and Tel Aviv. Israel has also permitted the Egyptian military to move into urban areas in the Sinai Peninsula.
The reality of the situation is that the U.S. government has worked against freedom in the Arab World and beyond. When President Obama says that there should be a period of "transition" in Egypt, it means that Mubarak and the Egyptian regime should stay intact. The U.S. does not want a people's government in Cairo.
Martin Indyk, a former Clinton Administration official at the U.S. National Security Council with an area of responsible for the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and an individual closely tied to the Obama Administration, told the New York Times that the U.S. must work towards bringing the Egyptian military towards the control of Egypt until a "moderate and legitimate political leadership can emerge". [1] Not only did Indyk call for a military takeover in Egypt, he also used U.S. State Department double-speak. What U.S. officials mean by "moderate" are dictatorships and regimes like Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Jordan, Morocco, and Ben Ali's Tunisia. As for legitimacy, in the eyes of U.S. officials, it means individuals who will serve U.S. interests.
Tel Aviv is far less coy than the U.S. about the situation in Egypt. Out of fear of losing Cairo, Tel Aviv has been encouraging the Mubarak regime to unleash the full force of the Egyptian military on the civilian protesters. They have also been defending Mubarak internationally. In this regard, the Egyptian military's primary role has always been to police the Egyptian people and to keep the Mubarak regime in power. U.S. military aid to Egypt is solely intended for this purpose.
