Thursday, February 10, 2011

Egypt crisis: US working to cut out conflicting messages

09 Feb 2011

After comments by some State Department officials were widely interpreted as diverging from the White House stand, the Obama administration sought to dispel any notion that it is either loosening pressure on President Hosni Mubarak or backing off from supporting the protesters flooding Cairo.



Much of the White House ire centred on comments made by Frank Wisner, the retired US diplomat who was dispatched by Mr Obama to help nudge Mr Mubarak out of office. Mr Wisner stunned Obama officials by saying on Saturday that Mr Mubarak\'s continued leadership was critical as Egypt worked through reforms. Mr Obama himself showed his frustration about what Mr Wisner said, officials said privately.



Part of the confusion has stemmed from the government\'s own message. Comments by some State Department officials seemed to diverge too far from the White House stance, particularly by raising doubts about whether it was wise for Mr Mubarak to resign now.



On Tuesday, when Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked about State Department comments on the risks if Mr Mubarak leaves hastily, he replied: \"I want to be clear. I speak for the president of the United States of America. We are not here to determine who leads Egypt and when they lead Egypt.\"



The White House also released a statement saying Joe Biden, the vice president, in a call to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, made clear again that the United States wants an orderly transition to a new day in Egypt that is \"prompt, meaningful, peaceful and legitimate.\"



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Responding to the political upheaval in his country, Mr Mubarak has declared that he will not seek re-election in September, but the pace and course of events until then continue to drive debate and force the US to respond.



The breakdown in unified messaging on Egypt appears to go back to a Jan. 29 Tweet from State Department spokesman PJ Crowley that was intended as a response to Mr Mubarak\'s wholesale dismissal of his Cabinet a day earlier that the US regarded with suspicion.



\"The Egyptian government can\'t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat,\" Mr Crowley said. \"President Mubarak\'s words pledging reform must be followed by action.\"



Some officials now refer to that as \"the Tweet heard around the world.\"



By the time that message appeared on Twitter on that Saturday, Mr Mubarak already had taken his next step by naming a No. 2, something long demanded by the United States, and Mr Crowley\'s comment was interpreted as the first U.S. reaction to Suleiman\'s appointment.



The White House was furious, officials said, and Mr Crowley was ordered not to post potentially controversial messages without clearing them first.



Appearing a day later Sunday morning TV talk shows, Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, seemed taken aback when Mr Crowley\'s Tweet was read to her. She replied that it was not up to the US to decide who took what position in the Egyptian government.



Mr Wisner met Mr Mubarak on Monday and, a day later, the Egyptian leader went on television to say he would not seek another term in office and would initiate reforms.



But Mr Mubarak did not announce a repeal of emergency laws and insisted he would remain in office until his current term expires with September elections. Mr Obama responded by saying change must happen \"now.\"



The pressure from US officials for immediate change, though not specifically Mr Mubarak\'s resignation, continued through the week as the protests in Cairo\'s Tahrir Square grew and reached their most cohesive level on Thursday when government supporters attacked protesters and journalists covering the demonstrations.



The unified message, however, began to unravel again Saturday when Mrs Clinton told an international security conference in Munich, Germany, that the Suleiman-led transition process had US support and deserved backing from other countries.



She also said the transition process would \"take time\" and warned that free and fair elections likely could not be organised in the two-month window that would be required under Egypt\'s constitution if Mubarak resigned before his term was over.



Mr Wisner then threw himself into the mix – enraging both the State Department and the White House – by telling the Munich conference in a video link-up from New York on Saturday that Mubarak was \"utterly critical\" to the transition process and shouldn\'t be forced to leave.



The administration distanced itself from Mr Wisner and repeatedly pointed out that he is a private citizen who stopped representing the administration when he left Cairo.



Nonetheless, his message appeared to be echoed by Mrs Clinton on Sunday when she told reporters flying with her back from Munich that Mr Mubarak\'s early departure could be problematic and actually imperil reforms.



She suggested that the administration was now more focused on encouraging \"orderly transition\" in Egypt than in seeing Mr Mubarak go quickly. And she implied that Mr Mubarak\'s continued, although less powerful, presence at the top of the Egyptian government might help complete the process.


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