The
Egyptian army’s removal of President Mohammad Morsi
gives the Obama administration that rarest of opportunities in foreign
policy: a second chance. Getting it right will require understanding
where we went wrong the first time.
To some, President Obama’s fundamental error in
Egypt policy was to
withdraw U.S. support from longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, when thousands of Egyptians
first filled Tahrir Square demanding change.
In this view, the United States should have stuck by Mubarak, a firm
opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood whose soldiers fought alongside U.S.
troops in the Persian Gulf war and who remained faithful to Egypt’s
peace with Israel despite isolation in the Arab world.
That view, however, is wrong. Mubarak’s failing health meant
that his rule was coming to an end, a fact he refused to face, instead
surrounding himself with sycophants and acting like a modern pharoah. To
U.S. interests, Mubarak had become a liability, and there was a
reasonable alternative...
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