Recently and due to the second wave of the Egyptian revolution on 30 June, some have been hurling accusations against the present United States administration and some US media channels, and as a result conspiracy theorists are thriving. This situation was largely due to some statements from the US, which read matters differently from what was actually transpiring on the ground in Tahrir Square and other main cities. This necessitates responsible leadership on both sides to master the ability to respond, address and dissipate such acrimonious trends before they conflagrate. What is necessary to underline is that Egypt is not only the most populous, most diplomatically influential country in the Middle East. It has also been a steadfast partner of the US for many years. Egypt and the US made peace history together, and Egypt as a result of its Peace Treaty with Israel in 1979 was ostracised from its Arab scope, and paid a substantial and heavy economic price for its “individual” peace with Israel, as was ascertained at the time in many Arab quarters. However, matters have to be placed in perspective. History reveals the importance of Egypt's diplomatic and military role in the liberation of Kuwait especially in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, its military involvement next to coalition forces. It was Egypt's core of engineers that cleared all landmines around Kuwait city. Concomitantly, it was the Egyptian draft resolution presented during the heated meetings of the Arab Summit with the presence of Saddam Hussein's officials immediately after the occupation of Kuwait that took place on 2 August 1990, that paved the way for a regional vote against Saddam by the Arab League, which, in turn, paved the way later on, for a United Nations Security Council resolution to liberate Kuwait owing to that Arab resolution. This long history of strategic cooperation including, and inter alia, in the field of anti-terrorism, education, should be held up high by both sides, and the long history of USAID assistance should not be forgotten. I am certain it is widely appreciated in Egypt. But the Arab world now needs a strong message from the US that transcends short term objectives and strives to realise long term interests. The messages from the US at this time could be summarised in some major steps. A clear cut and unequivocal commitment to engage immediately to restore the derailed peace process. History attests to the fact that the longer the Palestinian agony, less US involvement in realising peace in the Middle East, the stronger the argument used by terrorist groups to inflame the region by calling for jihad. The US should deny these groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Algeria, among others, this alibi. The US has learned its lessons well in Afghanistan especially lessons of regrouping and repositioning of terrorist groups. Sinai for the past year has been destabilised and the army conducted Operation Eagle to restore security. NATO and the US did little to interdict the flow of different sorts of weapons across the borders to Egypt, that resulted from the war in Libya, but also from Operation Unified protector that did not think beyond a certain military objective. This meant that weapons were stored, used, and rockets were fired. Little recognition was extended to the Egyptian army in its singular fight in the Sinai Peninsula. Even information, data exchange, night vision equipment, aerial monitoring and satellite imagery were never presented. On a different scene a group of armies in Afghanistan, all under ISAF command, are fighting by assigning specific roles and regions in Afghanistan to respective Western armies in Operation Enduring Freedom. For instance the British army is responsible for the Helmand province, while the Canadians are in Kandahar, and the Germans in Kunduz. The Egyptians in Sinai are conducting such a huge operation all alone. USAID has been frozen to Egypt, how then can such a campaign continue to its final target? A few years ago the US Home Office started an Islamic outreach project, opening doors for a wide dialogue with all global Islamic forces including in Doha where there is an office for Taliban. Has this programme succeeded and were its objectives met? Did the US carefully choose its partners or did we sweepingly generalise our choice under the rubric of Islam. The message here is that a review of this policy should be ensued. Inviting a chief Islamic sheikh from Alexandria in the past couple of months to the US for propaganda purposes, or in the hope that such a visit will offer exposure and change rigid positions, is a naïve move in the first order, and is a lucid reminder of what I stressed above. What we should uphold are sound Islamist parties that have manifested a clear platform of moderation, or those that have chosen to abide by a religious platform through legitimate political and non-militant jihadist stance. Their political parties must be respected under a policy of inclusiveness without any exclusion. Finally the immediate and widescale support from Arab leaders to the Egyptian people in the past two days is a strong message to the US. Any reaction to Egyptian events by US official spokespersons resonates widely in all Arab circles. The Arabs are waiting to see what the US will do. Let's not send wrong messages to other major US close allies in the Arab world. What the Arab world needs is strong political institutions. Institutions do not grow over trees and actually need a solid building block in any process of nation building. We can only ask ourselves how many years did Europe or the US take to achieve this objective. But the base we should build on and depart from should be a sound democratic process sensitive to the wills of the people. You cannot build such a democracy in Egypt with attempts to replace the parliament and assign a hurried legislative role for an unrepresentative Shura Council to prepare a defunct law for human rights organisations, or a tailored law for civil and political rights, or by an ambiguous custom made law for parliamentary elections short circuiting and misleading the outcome of the anticipated parliamentary elections in Egypt, or for a constitution that did not command national consensus or even meet minority needs. We await a strong message from the US anchored on strong and traditional ties of partnership with Egypt. The US inspiring constitution that leads with the well known assertion “We the People”, should act as a harbinger for cementing strong ties between both peoples aspiring for liberty, freedom, general welfare and domestic tranquility. These are the words of the US constitution which are in tandem with the wishes and demands of the 33 million Egyptians who took to the streets.
