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| AP photos of Clinton with Tantawi today (above) and Morsy yesterday |
US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton was at this writing meeting with Egypt's Field Marshal Hussein
Tantawi, a day after holding talks with newly-elected President Mohamed Morsy and
urging a “smooth transition” to full democracy.
She landed in Egypt on Saturday
in the middle of a tug of war between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
(SCAF) headed by Tantawi and Morsy, a longtime member of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
Morsy triggered the
standoff by ordering parliament to reconvene in defiance of SCAF’s earlier
decision to disband the people’s assembly.
After her Saturday
meeting with Morsy, Clinton told a news conference her talks with Tantawi would
focus on “working to support the military’s return to a purely national
security role.”
She said, “As compared
to what we are seeing in Syria, which is the military murdering their own
people, the SCAF here protected the Egyptian nation,” and had oversaw free
elections. “But there is more work ahead, and I think the issues around the
parliament, the constitution have to be resolved between and among Egyptians.”
Egypt’s media star and talk
show host Imad Adeeb speaks of “A
Dangerous Visit to Cairo.”
Clinton’s arrival in
the Egyptian capital, he writes in his daily column for the leading Saudi
daily Asharq Alawsat, “comes at a
historic crossroads” for U.S. policy.
“The visit comes at a
time when the U.S. administration is changing Egyptian horses in midstream –
from betting on the military since the 1952 coup to betting on the Muslim
Brotherhood movement’s rule.
“The shift affects the
old SCAF ally, whose sun is dusking, as well as Brotherhood forces, whose moon
is shining…
“Clinton comes to Egypt
amidst a constitutional, legal, popular and information struggle that risks
turning bloody.
“She comes after half the
Egyptian electorate voted against her administration-backed Brotherhood
candidate.
“Clinton comes when
SCAF are almost certain she will be blessing the Muslim Brotherhood’s push for
a new presidential decree retiring the SCAF generals and appointing Muslim
Brothers to head the General
Intelligence Directorate (GIS), the State
Security Investigations Service (SSI) and the ministries of Justice,
Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defense.”
Adeeb’s conclusion is
that such “knockout policy blow” would lead either “to extended and stable
Muslim Brotherhood rule, or a military coup in a matter of days, or a state of
permanent chaos.”
