I am aware that the task of the new American Ambassador in Egypt is pretty difficult... He must either try to improve U.S.-Egyptian relations to win Obama's praise or else relations will deteriorate and the Egyptians will curse him. Ambassador Robert Stephen Beecroft has finally taken up his post in Cairo, 16 months after the last ambassador left the country. During that time, Washington has been acting "coquettish" with us: it failed to impose that violent movement set up in the name of religion in Egypt... It "puffed up" the movement as much as possible, but it burst like a "balloon"... Members of the movement masterminded bombings and organized marches during which they hurled Molotov cocktails at Egyptian policemen. Throughout that time, Washington brought direct or indirect pressure to bear on Egypt: it threatened to cut off aid; received visits by several Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders, and sent numerous academics, such as Michel Dunn who was a former member of the U.S. Embassy staff in Cairo, to prepare reports for submission to the U.S. Administration condemning Egypt and asking it to cut off aid. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke over and over of the strategic relations between the two countries. The former Secretary of Defense, who was strongly in favor of maintaining mutual relations, has "gone with the wind" because Obama dismissed him recently. That was not the end of the matter, since the Administration realized it had gone too far by neither freezing relations nor activating them, when it was faced with the new reality of changed circumstances. That was when it decided to send Ambassador Beecroft. But the Egyptians have bad memories of the former ambassador who thought that Egypt was an American preserve and she had a free hand in the country. She imagined she could monitor the elections, summon the political parties, interfere brazenly in the country's internal affairs, incite the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and criticize the human rights record of the Egyptian government. Patterson went beyond the limits and this provoked the Egyptians. Ambassador Beecroft is coming to an environment where his every step will be watched, especially as he is not a stranger to the region. He has served in Syria and Saudi Arabia, and was U.S. Ambassador to Jordan and Iraq. He received his doctorate in law from the University of California at Berkeley. The fact that Congress has approved resuming aid to Egypt and sending the Apache helicopters, could give the new ambassador a boost at the start of his term. There are fundamental issues involved in the U.S.-Egyptian relationship: Firstly, it is a strategic relationship; secondly: the two countries have interests in common; and thirdly: relations need to be re-balanced and misunderstandings eliminated. Egyptians are sensitive to certain issues which they regard as foreign interference, such as tampering with Egypt's judiciary, which has a prestigious history and a constitutional and legal legacy. Not to mention the bold interference in the elections and in Egypt's internal affairs, (with the U.S. trying to call all the shots), even though Egypt has ensured the transparency of the elections and has allowed international organizations to observe them. There is also another matter of concern, which is incitement of the opposition. It was weird that the ambassador held talks with all the political parties, a matter that we all know was not done for the common good. But the worst of all is trying to re-empower the Muslim Brotherhood. In conclusion, all the above-mentioned methods of exercising pressure will not be accepted by the Egyptian public. Egypt has changed since January 25. After all, Egypt never bowed to British rule, neither has it ever bowed to the Americans and it never will.
