Israel Matzav

US willing to accept any outcome in Egypt

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the media at the Munich Conference on Sunday that the United States cannot and will not try to dictate any outcome in the talks between the Mubarak government and the Egyptian opposition.

The United States has made it clear that it "cannot and would not try to dictate any outcome" of a political dialogue between the Egyptian government and pro-democracy protesters.

The clarification was made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a special briefing for the media accompanying her after attending the Munich Security Conference.

At the same time, "we know what kind of outcome we would like to see for them, for the region, for us," she said.

"As a country having a record of being in the forefront of change in the region, it now has an opportunity to open up politically and economically in ways that will meet the needs of the largely young population that is not only a reality inside Egypt, but the principal voice of the protest."

Clinton said the U.S. government had been very consistent in its position on Egypt from the beginning that "we do not want to see any violence, but peaceful protests. We want to see a process begun that will lead to an orderly transition that has milestones and concrete steps that lead us toward free and fair elections that install a new President who reflects the will and wishes of the Egyptian people."

She made it clear that it was up to the 80 million Egyptians who are having to grapple with the reality to decide what they must do.

"We think democracy works better. We think open economies work better. We think cracking down on corruption works better. We believe all of that, because we think it is in the best interest not only of the Egyptian people, but of everyone else," she added.

So if the Egyptians decide to install a Muslim Brotherhood-led government that abrogates the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, that's fine with Clinton and Obama. They'll just keep sending their $1.3 billion per year and say there's nothing they can do about it.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Obama, Egyptian elections, Egyptian regime change, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Hillary Clinton

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:59 PM