Obama Faces Dilemma Pitting Egypt President Against Army
By John Walcott and Nicole Gaouette - Jul 2, 2013
The Egyptian militarys decision to give President Mohamed Mursi 48 hours to restore order presents U.S. policy makers with a dilemma.
The ultimatum yesterday by Abdelfatah Al-Seesi, the defense minister and head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, could force the Obama administration to choose between backing Egypts democratically elected leader and supporting military action aimed at halting chaos and blocking any move by Mursis Muslim Brotherhood allies to impose strict Islamic rule.
You see a confusion in the administrations own view on Egypt, said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. Mideast envoy and now a vice president of the Wilson Center, a Washington public policy research organization. While the U.S. had to respect the results of the election in which Mursi won 52 percent of the vote, Miller said, the Egyptian leader hasnt been willing to work much with the opposition since then, and the U.S. hasnt pushed or encouraged him.
President Barack Obama told Mursi in a telephone call yesterday that the U.S. is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group, according to a White House statement.
Obama encouraged Mursi to take steps to show that he is responsive to the concerns of demonstrators, stressing that democracy is about more than elections, it is also about ensuring that the voices of all Egyptians are heard and represented by their government.
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