Is The US Repeating The Same Mistake In Egypt?

Around a month ago, President Morsi decided to sack the Prosecutor General Abdel Mageed Mahmoud and appointed him as Egypt’s ambassador to the Vatican. Judges rose up against the president’s decision and threatened a nationwide boycott. Morsi immediately backed down, he even invited his nemesis to the presidential palace and reassured him that a “misunderstanding” happened.

Last Thursday, Morsi did not just sack the Prosecutor General (a demand revolutionaries called for since last year), but he issued a constitutional declaration granting himself absolute power over Egypt and safeguarding his decisions from any challenge. In addition to protecting his decisions, he also protected the constitution assembly and the Muslim Brotherhood dominated Shura Council from any possible decision by the Constitutional Court to disband any of these two entities. In other words, Morsi sacked the Prosecutor General, installed himself as a Pharaoh and prepared the way to shove the MB constitution down our throats. And if our throats were not wide enough, he might try out our behinds.

So what gave Morsi the guts to take such sweeping decisions? Last month, he backed down under pressure from some judges. Last Thursday, the MB and their presidential envoy, Mohamed Morsi, decided to break  pandora’s box open and face the wrath of the entire civilian force, the revolutionaries, the judges and millions of Egyptians who did not vote for him (48% voted for Ahmed Shafik). What changed? What gave Morsi and MB “the balls”?

I truly believe that if it wasn’t for Morsi’s role in the Gaza ceasefire and the gratitude he got from the Obama administration (and Israel), neither him nor his organization would have had the guts to take such surprising decisions. The MB is doing exactly like Mubarak: give the Americans what they really want and do what you really want. By playing a key role in convincing Hamas to accept a ceasefire, the MB have proven to the US that they can keep the peace in Israel and Palestine. In addition, unlike Mubarak, being the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, they showed they can really have more influence on Hamas, their official branch in Palestine.

The Obama Administration’s  reaction so far can only be described as weak and does not coincide with the seriousness of Morsi’s dictatorial decisions. Is the US back to doing the same mistake they did with Mubarak? Trading temporary peace in the Middle East with democracy in Egypt. I am not saying that the US gave Morsi the green light, but may be he took Hillary Clinton’s praise after the ceasefire as an indication that the MB finally reached the goal they have been frantically working towards achieving even during Mubarak: to be accepted by the US as a legitimate alternative to the Mubarak regime.

President Morsi made his two bold decisions, the last of which was his assumption of sweeping powers, only 24 hours after meeting with Hillary Clinton. Coincidence? Only time will tell.