Ryan Streeter
As Robert Gibbs fills his press briefing with multiple remarks about how the White House is "monitoring" the "very fluid" situation in Egypt, let's pull in a few good words of counsel that have been spoken elsewhere today.
Dany Pletka, American Enterprise Institute, tells Mubarak what he should be saying (I've abbreviated it; read the whole thing here):
People of Egypt, I hear you...As of this moment, I have ordered all political prisoners released. I will immediately gather a committee of accountability for those who have been killed or beaten in these protests and in others in years past...I have opened access to the Internet and reopened cell phone networks. I have reinstated those journalists fired by me and lifted all government press controls...I am lifting emergency rule, and will work with an international committee of experts and Egyptians from NGOs and all political parties to rewrite the constitution and regulations limiting civil, political, and religious freedoms. As soon as this process is complete, we will begin an orderly process to new elections. I will not stand in those elections, nor will any member of my family...
Michael Rubin, writing at NRO:
We should not expect a pro-American regime should Mubarak flee into the dustbin of history. Egyptians are fiercely nationalistic and, across the region, ordinary peoples’ mindsets have been shaped by decades of anti-American propaganda. The Egyptian people will be angry that they have fallen so far behind the rest of the world. But a serious government intent on bettering its people rather than filling its bank accounts abroad will at least begin the necessary steps to reforming an Egyptian system which is rich in manpower but unable to exploit its advantages.
Someone writing as "Molly" in Egypt sheds light on what role religious belief is, or is not, playing in the protests by her own observations and those of others
At this point, the protests involve a wide variety of people who simply want Mubarak out — should he leave, there will be a power vacuum. The reporters note that demonstrators have protested against rising prices, stagnant incomes and police brutality. Religion has not played a major role...That may be about to change. With organizers calling for demonstrations after Friday prayer, the political movement will literally be taken to the doorsteps of the nation’s mosques...Christians and Muslims are united in the demonstrations in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Churches and mosques are places of congregation for demonstrators. However, people are not moved by religion but by the absence of social justice, by the corruption, the high cost of living, the lack of democracy.
"Molly" mentions that the Muslim Brotherhood are now seizing the opportunity and could tip the scales in favor of the protestors, which would infuse the event with their imprint. But her point is that they have not been a driving force behind the movement.
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