http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-presses-egypts-leaders-to-speed-up-reforms/2011/11/23/gIQAjZjupN_story.html

White House presses Egypt’s leaders to speed up reforms

 

By Joby Warrick, Thursday, November 24, 7:22 AM

The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Egypt’s military rulers in advance of parliamentary elections scheduled for Monday, urging faster democratic reforms and curbs on security forces, who are blamed for dozens of deaths in five days of massive street protests.

The private messages to Egyptian leaders come amid new fears that the unrest is undermining prospects for a peaceful transfer to democratic rule in the world’s largest Arab country. White House officials are urging Egyptians to allow the elections to proceed, while acknowledging that worsening violence could make voting impossible.

“Our goal would be for voting to go forward, because a delay would send the wrong message,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberations.

The worries about spiraling violence in Egypt came as U.S. officials struggled to respond to rapidly evolving events elsewhere in the Middle East. On Wednesday, the White House hailed an apparent decision byYemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede control of the country to his vice president after 1o months of unrest, while also coordinating with allies on ways to pressureSyrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The day also witnessed the formal unveiling of an inquiry into allegations of torture and police brutality against protesters in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, a U.S. ally and host to the Navy’s 5th Fleet. The report prompted U.S. officials to defend recent decisions to supply advanced weapons to Bahrain’s government, a move intended as a hedge against future aggression from yet another Middle Eastern trouble spot, Iran.

But it was the prospect of deepening chaos in Egypt that pushed the administration into crisis mode. U.S. officials have viewed the five days of protests in central Cairo with increasing alarm, as they worried about a disruption in the election timeline and the rapidly eroding popular support for an interim military government that until recently appeared to be the guarantor of peaceful transition to democracy.

Administration in a bind

Despite perceived stumbles in the months since the revolution this winter — including a controversial effort to shield the military and its budget from interference from future Egyptian governments — Egypt’s military has maintained close ties with the United States and is regarded by Western governments as a bulwark of stability in one of the world’s most troubled regions. Notably, its generals have continued a tradition of cooperating with Israel on security issues affecting their shared border.

Now, with tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square chanting slogans against the military, the Obama administration finds itself confronting the same dilemma it faced 10 months ago: how to respond to protesters’ demands for democracy while preserving ties with leaders who have reliably protected U.S. interests in the region.

The administration’s initially mild response to the latest violent flare-up drew criticism from members of Congress as well as protesters in Tahrir Square. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday lamented the “tragic loss of life” in weekend protests and urged “restraint on all sides.”