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Politics
Mubarak’s Retreat Opens Treacherous Path to Democracy
Feb 5th
Seen through the eyes of the exhilarated protesters in Cairo ‘s Tahrir Square, President Hosni Mubarak ‘s peace offering Tuesday was infuriating. Revolutionaries like their rebellions to end with the despised leader’s head on a stake, at least figuratively, not controlling a seven-month transition to a new government. Mubarak should have resigned. He is toxic, and his presence can only contaminate the process and undermine trust in the next government.
But emotions and pacing aside, the protesters appear destined for an extraordinary victory, and in the rebellion’s triumph lies enormous opportunity for the United States, along with a hefty serving of risk.
This is a rare chance for the U.S. to align its policies with its democratic ideals — not by trying to impose democracy, as in Iraq, but by simply letting it rise.
Nowhere is the United States more reflexively despised than in the Arab world, partly because of its unshakeable support for Israel, but also because of its support for repressive regimes such as Mubarak’s. Should frustrated Egyptians now begin to see the U.S. as an ally in achieving their aspirations, the United States might eventually have a democratic ally rather than a repressive one. If they do not, the next government of Egypt could end the Mideast peace process, disrupt oil supplies and aid terrorists.
Unfortunately, President Obama’s brief, matter-of-fact response Tuesday to Mubarak’s actions did little to inspire admiration. In fact, his tacit acquiescence to Mubarak’s plan might have done the opposite.
Granted, the president was walking a tightrope, trying to strike a balance between the protesters’ desires to throw off their shackles and the fears of leaders of American allies such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan that the U.S. could abandon them as well.
Granted, too, that any path toward democracy is sure to be treacherous. Democracy takes decades to mature, and it can’t guarantee that Egyptians will share American goals. In the short term, autocrats are more reliable.
But support for democracy is still the right path.
Obama should continue to push for Mubarak’s rapid departure. His administration should cultivate relationships with opposition leaders, and if Mubarak still refuses to go, Obama should insist on international supervision of elections and prod Mubarak to separate himself from the transition process.
Mubarak might yet try to maintain power by military force. That’s how China ended the equally inspiring Tiananmen uprising in 1989, and how Iran put down protesters last year. But even if the military goes along, Mubarak will still be gone soon.
When that happens, the emerging forces of Egyptian democracy need to see America as an ally, not a defender of their oppressor.
Tough Choices Live on Guantanamo
Feb 5th
Our View on Terror Trials: Tough choices Live on at Guantanamo
Who would have thought that almost a decade after the 9/11 attacks, imprisoning terrorists and bringing them to trial would still be almost as vexing a problem as hunting and capturing them in the first place?
From the start, Americans have been deeply conflicted about how to treat terrorists taken alive. Are they criminals, prisoners of war or some entirely new category of bad guys? Do they have the full legal rights, some rights or none at all? Should they be tried in federal courts or before military commissions? Can some be held forever without any charges, and never tried at all?
These questions arise again now because Congress washed its hands of the problem late last year, barring any movement of detainees to the U.S. The message to President Obama: Whatever you do, don’t bring them here.
That effectively bars the president from keeping his promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a place Obama has correctly called a recruiting tool for al-Qaeda. Guantanamo could have been closed long ago if Congress weren’t too timid to lock detainees in a federal supermax prison in the U.S.The congressional action also stalls or kills efforts to try some detainees in federal court. It leaves Obama with only two options: try them before military commissions at Guantanamo, where looser rules of evidence mean convictions will be easier to win than in federal court, but less credible in the court of world opinion, or don’t try them at all. This is no small matter. The adherence to the rule of law, often at great cost, gives the U.S. moral force and influences the course of other nations.
That said, the record of military commissions so far shows they’re hardly the kangaroo courts critics feared. Judges appear to take seriously their responsibility to make sure that more permissive rules on hearsay and coerced testimony are not an excuse for prosecutors to abandon traditional U.S. jurisprudence. Trying detainees there is better than never trying them at all — which brings us to the most difficult problem.
There has long been a core group of detainees whom officials claimed would be impossible to try — because the evidence against them is classified or tainted by torture — but too dangerous to let go, because they would quickly become a serious threat to U.S. lives again.
A task force identified 48 such detainees, and the White House is reportedly preparing rules to allow them to be held indefinitely. Imprisoning people without charges or trial is what dictators do. It strikes at the very heart of the U.S. tradition of justice.
Even so, we can’t agree with those who would roll the dice, try these detainees and free them if they couldn’t be convicted. We have only the word of the administration, but it’s not hard to imagine that they would return to attacking Americans. One in four detainees released from Guantanamo were confirmed or suspected of having returned to the fight.
Two steps are needed if this goes forward. One is that these detainees be put before an independent board to determine whether they remain a threat and to certify that they cannot be tried effectively.
Finally, it’s crucial that this mechanism be strictly temporary, valid only for these 48 detainees. Building a permanent way for the government to lock up anyone deemed to be dangerous and hold them forever without trial would be far worse. That must not happen.
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