PRO

by James Nelson
Contributor

The United States should not be involved with the protests going on in Egypt. They are their own country and the United States has no right, nor responsibility to help Egypt through its government’s issues. The United States’ involvement with the Egyptian protests would be an unfair intrusion.

There are some that may argue the United States has an ethical duty to aid the Egyptian people in this revolt. While this may hold some truth, the act of intervention by the United States government may be detrimental for everyone. This revolt is over the Egyptian people being unhappy with their government. The United States has no warrant to enter the situation and affect the Egyptian people’s government.

Egypt has the ability to create solutions to its own problems. In an article, “The Arab World Grows Up,” by Washington Post op-ed columnist David Ignatius put it best when he said Egypt has suffered with poor leadership and a corrupt government and these political reformation protests are a bright sign of the power of the people.

If the west were to get involved, the reformation of the Egyptian government would be decelerated.

Egypt possesses the tools and the will for reform and their government should remain in their hands. Neither Egyptian reformists nor the Egyptian government have expressed any desire for the United States to become involved. If the United States steps in now, we take away the rights of the Egyptian people to form their government.

President Barack Obama has stated the United States will not be involved because, “Ultimately, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people.” White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley agrees with Obama’s position of not getting involved saying in a recent Bloomberg News conference, “This is out of our control.”

Just as other countries do not have the right to intervene in United States domestic situations, we do not have the right to intervene in the affairs of other countries. We do not have the right to police other nations and ultimately, this is a situation for the Egyptian people to handle. Our presence would be unwarranted and we have no right to affect the outcome of Egypt during this reformation.

CON
by Victor Khaze
Contributor

In recent weeks, all eyes have been on the Middle East as Egypt is a bit of a mess right now.

Protestors are rioting in the streets, blood is being spilled and as much as we in America praise the advantages of “democracy” and a “government run by the people,” there is a right way and a wrong way to accomplish that goal.

Most of the world’s media is supporting the protestors behind this revolution but they’ve jumped too quickly on the wrong bandwagon suggesting the Egyptian people can do all of this on their own without any involvement by the United States but the U.S. should involve itself in the current situation in Egypt.

First of all, the U.S. has had a long-standing relationship with the Egyptian military. Egypt is one of our major supply hubs in the Middle East and we depend on their cooperation to sustain our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For the last 30 years, U.S. and Egyptian military forces have performed joint exercises under the name “Operation Bright Star”. These exercises have helped improve interoperability and strengthen relationships between the armed forces of the U.S., Egypt, and other participating countries including Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. The current direction of the revolution in Egypt casts an uncertain shadow on the future of these valuable exercises.

Secondly, revolutions can go wrong. Very wrong. A people-led revolution supported by the military can lead to a democracy, but that isn’t the only possibility. It can also very easily turn into a coup d’état, with one dictator substituted by another, as in the 1917 Russian Revolution. However, if U.S. troops are sent to support the people in their cause, we can help keep their efforts on the track towards a balanced democracy and away from yet another oppressive government.

On the other hand, maybe everything is going to be just fine. A new government leading the country in a brand new direction would be fine, as long as they don’t remember the U.S. supported Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime with tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid for the past 30 years.

What we need to do is take a definitive stand and support this new movement, both in policy and in presence, sending a message that our support and aid, past and present, was support for the Egyptian people, not any one regime. It’s important the people of Egypt to recognize this so that we can continue to maintain our mutually beneficial relationship

All in all, it’s still very early in the game. The situation in Egypt is changing rapidly and constantly. Many people would argue that sending our troops to Egypt would create “another Iraq”, but we could face a lot worse if we don’t show institutional support of the Egyptian people.

**This article does not reflect Khaze’s personal opinion.