Responding to the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, US President Obama described the Egyptian uprising as a model of nonviolence and moral force “that bent the arc of history.” He urged the Egyptian army to ensure that democracy is established, as Hosni Mubarak steps down. President Obama’s tone was optimistic, and he promised the crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square which was listening to his brief broadcast live via Egyptian state television , continued American support for Egypt. Reports noted that this support is likely to take new forms as administration officials agreed that the $250 million in economic aid was a pittance compared with the $1.3 billion in annual military aid, and the White House and the State Department were already discussing setting aside new funds to bolster the rise of secular political parties. Under Egypt’s current Constitution, alternatives to Mubarak’s National Democratic Party are all but banned. Meanwhile, White House officials are assessing the longer-term impact of the revolutions that have deposed two dictators in less than a month, Tunisia’s leader, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak.1

Reports noted that in Israel and Saudi Arabia, both of which depended heavily on Mr. Mubarak, officials were strong in their criticism of USA, arguing that the United States abandoned a long-time ally without first building in guarantees that Egypt’s revolution could not be hijacked by religious extremists.2

• 1. “Obama Presses Egypt’s Military on Democracy” Post- Gazette, February 12, 2011 at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11043/1125050-82.stm
• 2. Ibid