During her recent visit to Egypt, former US secretary of state stressed that a renaissance of American diplomacy entails radical policy changes, Dina Ezzat reports Former United States secretary of state paid a visit to Egypt last week that attracted little media attention, and what meagre mention it got was decidedly negative. As the representative of the Bill Clinton administration in the late 1990s, Albright's previous visits to the country grabbed the headlines. Albright is remembered in the region as a hard- liner who systematically sided with Israel and habitually eschewed the Arab viewpoint. Out of office and no longer in the limelight, Albright nevertheless does exercise much influence because she is a member of a high-powered Washington-based think-tank. Albright visited Egypt with the express desire to engage in frank discussions with Egyptian officials, intellectuals and political and human rights activist. Albright met Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and several other cabinet members, human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim, top businessmen and state-favoured intellectuals. Albright, a Democrat came to Egypt accompanied by the distinguished Republican Win Weber, a former member of the US Congress. Albright also met MP Ayman Nour, head of the newly formed opposition political party Al-Ghad, who was arrested shortly after his encounter with the former US secretary of state. Albright also met members of the opposition Wafd Party. The stated objective of Albright's visit was to assess the political mood in Egypt both on the local and regional fronts. The Egyptian press, however, perceived Albright's visit as flagrant interference in domestic Egyptian affairs. Albright called upon Ibrahim's Ibn Khaldun Centre, a visit that was said to have lasted far too long and that further incurred the wrath of the Egyptian press. Ibrahim is viewed with suspicion among a broad spectrum of the Egyptian public for his exceptionally close ties with Washington. Dubbing Albright's visit as "a suspicious call", some papers went so far as to question Albright's motives for meeting Ibrahim. Albright had ostensibly discussed a host of issues ranging from the role the US could play to put pressure on the Egyptian government to embrace democracy. Ibrahim is noted for championing the rights of Coptic Christians and other minorities. Alarmists -- including some hardened government critics -- argued that Albright was in town to support Ibrahim and others to further provoke the Egyptian authorities. They argued that Albright's visit is part of a deliberate US plot to foment political problems in Egypt. Influential US Republican and Democrat politicians and law- makers have expressed a keen interest in promoting democracy in the Middle East -- especially in key countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two countries specifically mentioned in US President George W Bush's State of the Union address last Wednesday. Ironically, Albright strongly criticised the Bush administration for its brash attempts to impose democracy by force in the region. Speaking at a seminar hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt on 26 January, Albright stated that the US "cannot impose a particular style of democracy" on the Middle East. "We have to give the example not impose. We have to offer but not dictate," she said. Albright's carefully worded statements were not specifically related to Egypt. They were more of a reference to the US quagmire in Iraq -- a state of affairs that she was more than willing to openly criticise. Albright argued that there are elements of universality to democracy. "Elections [that are free and open] is the lowest form of democracy," Albright argued. She also included the presence and free operation of real opposition parties, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and an animated civil society. "The assumption cannot be made that Islamic governments are not democratic [by definition]. Turkey is a democracy that brought about an Islamic government," Albright pointed out. Among the other panelists were AmCham Chairman Taher Helmi and the panel discussion itself was moderated by Abdel-Moneim Said, director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. The original theme of the panel discussion was "the US and Egypt: Challenges and opportunities." Developments in Iraq and Palestine were the hot issues on the table, however. "If I were secretary of state there would be no insurgency," was Albright's reply to a question on how she would have dealt with the situation of "the insurgency in Iraq". The former secretary of state openly snubbed the current Republican administration for the current mess it created in Iraq. In her memoirs published in 2003 -- almost on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq -- entitled Madame Secretary, Albright argued that the best way to handle Saddam Hussein, "a migraine" that the Clinton administration "inherited" from the Bush Senior administration, was to maintain harsh economic sanctions on Iraq -- even at the cost of millions of children suffering and dying which she conceded was "regrettable". She also recommended selective missile strikes such as Clinton's Desert Fox Operation in 1998. "The US presence in Iraq is not a stabilising factor," Albright said. She was also very critical of the Bush administration's handling of the post-invasion phase, especially where it concerned the dismantling of the Iraqi army. She likewise insisted that the US should not have become too involved in running the affairs of occupied Iraq. Albright stressed that a strong dose of "sensible diplomacy" is now needed to rescue the current US foreign policy from what she described as the "perfect storm" created by the many mistakes of the first Bush administration. Albright recommended rebuilding alliances between the US and its traditional allies, re-engaging the UN -- since "it is impossible for the US to operate by itself" -- and building bridges of understanding with other cultures, especially the Arab and Muslim worlds. Albright also stressed that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ought to be speedily resolved as a pre-requisite for Washington to get "out of the storm". "I am sure that someone will report to President Bush that democracy cannot be moved forward [in the Middle East] if the Palestinian issue is not forwarded." Albright insisted that diplomacy pushing in that direction is long overdue. Albright expressed the hope that current US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice honours her pledge to "use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favours freedom." Albright favourably noted that Rice stressed that "the time for diplomacy is now." Albright said that the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict necessitates "President [Bush]'s full attention". "What [chairman Yasser] Arafat turned down [at Camp David] was the best deal that the Palestinians will ever see," Albright added. During her recent visit to Cairo, Albright was not willing to be drawn into a discussion of how exactly "Egypt could have played a greater role" in the Middle East peace process. Her statements while in office and her memoirs amply demonstrate her direct criticism of Cairo's failure to encourage Arafat to accept Clinton's offers to the Palestinians at Camp David and especially as far as the status of East Jerusalem was concerned. Today, with the absence of Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas "who has shown in a number of ways his desire for peace" Albright said there is "a possibility of moving forward". The overall bilateral Egyptian-US relationship, she stressed, is influenced by the level of political and socio-economic reforms in Egypt. "You want to have a relationship with a country that treats its people properly," she concluded.
