Can an army famous for abuse really install democracy?

[kpete]

* Posted on Friday, February 11, 2011
Can an army famous for abuse really install democracy?

"I think that the Egyptian military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion during this entire episode. And they have acted with great restraint," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week. "And frankly, they have done everything that we have indicated we would hope that they would do. So I would say that they have made a contribution to the evolution of democracy and what we're seeing in Egypt."

However, the picture on the streets, where protesters often are seen fraternizing and snapping pictures with soldiers, is far different from the stories prisoners tell.

Salah said that soldiers cursed at him, refused to return his ID papers or cell phone upon his release and accused him of being an agent of Iran and a foreign spy, a charge that then-Vice President Omar Suleiman also has leveled repeatedly at a pro-democracy movement that experts have described as extraordinarily diverse.

Salah said he was held at a military police post adjacent to Abdeen Palace, an official presidential residence in downtown Cairo. The morning after his arrest, military police officers bound his wrists to a metal staircase, he said. After beating him with a belt buckle, he said, they took off his clothes and applied electric shocks to his head, neck, back and genitals.

"They put my clothes back on. But I couldn't stop shivering," he recalled.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/02/11/108595/as-egypts-army-vows-democracy.html#ixzz1Dl5ljDvX

[ananda]

1. Hmm.

I worry about army control too, but it's the people's revolution and they seem to want it.
Right now the army is just rubberstamping all of Egypt's foreign policy positions and treaties,
which should please Israel and the USA; but socially and politically they are supporting the
people's wishes.

My best hope is that this situation is just a temporary stopgap until the next election is over.
After all, the people could rise again and we know what they're capable of now.

[MineralMan]

2. There are many reasons to be skeptical about a military

running a transitional government. It often works out badly for the people of the country. I hope Egypt will be an exception. Most military leaders are impatient with democratic goals. Democracy is untidy and awkward. Giving orders is easier. Let's all hope that things are different with this military leadership.

[Karmadillo]

3. Our oligarchs sure hope not.

nt

[Lint Head]

4. I think the abuse comes from a particular part of the Egyptian military.

In Egypt the military is the people. What I mean is the military manufactures everything in Egypt from toasters to mattresses to agriculture and more. Their military is different than any other around the world. The military hires people to do this manufacturing so the part of the military doing the torturing are more of the totally combat types and the majority are the civilian worker types.
I think it is the civilian worker types that can be called up in time of emergency that are siding with the people because they realize the 'people' is 'them'. I know about this from reading and hearing historians talk about it.

I just hope the temporary military administration of Egypt doesn't become permanent, then there would be a problem.