Saturday, February 05, 2011

Did the Egyptians Say They Want Democracy?

Well, gee, I'm sorry.

The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.

  NY Times

Isn’t it nice that we get to decide who’s going to rule Egypt? And that we want it to be our rendition henchman.

The proposal also calls for the transitional government to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to begin work to open up the country’s electoral system in an effort to bring about free and fair elections in September, the officials said.

Oh, well. That’s okay, then.

It could take until September to make sure Suleiman wins.

Oh, wait. We might not be able to go with that proposal.

Senior administration officials said that the proposal was one of several options under discussion with high-level Egyptian officials around Mr. Mubarak in an effort to persuade the president to step down now.

They cautioned that the outcome depended on several factors, not least Egypt’s own constitutional protocols and the mood of the protesters on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

I loves me a good Catch 22.

It's nice we're consdering their constitution in the mix.

“What they’re asking cannot be done,” one senior Egyptian official said, citing clauses in the Egyptian Constitution that bar the vice president from assuming power. Under the Constitution, the speaker of Parliament would succeed the president. “That’s my technical answer,” the official added. “My political answer is they should mind their own business.”

I hope he doesn’t expect to keep his position.

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