Are Republicans in danger of making the same mistake that George
H. W. Bush made in 1991?
Bush, you will recall, was wary of “instability” in the former
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China. Thus, he delivered his
infamous “Chicken
Kiev” speech urging the Ukraine not to secede. Ukrainians, of
course, rejected Bush’s counsel and did just that, by declaring
their independence three weeks later.
Bush also refused to encourage the Chinese student demonstrators
in Tiananmen Square — even though these student demonstrators had
built a replica of the Statue of Liberty and were quoting
Jefferson, our Declaration of Independence, and the American
founding fathers.
Of course, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
Bush’s son, President George W. Bush, instituted a foreign policy
very different from his father’s. America now committed itself to
worldwide democratization, even if it resulted in periodic bouts of
“instability.”
I think the younger Bush was absolutely right to do this.
Autocratic regimes are inherently unstable and cannot survive in a
world of instantaneous communication and international travel.
Oppressed peoples see what their counterparts in freer countries
have; and they realize that their autocratic rulers are cheating
them. They realize that they are being denied the liberty and
opportunity that others have; and they won’t stand for it — and
neither should we.
American foreign policy, after all, has always had a moral
dimension by virtue of our founding creed — our belief that “all
men are created equal; [and] that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights… among [which] are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.”
America’s clear interest lies in liberal democracy and in more
representative governments worldwide — even at the risk of
“instability.” And that’s because governments that are held
accountable to their people are, in the long run, much more likely
to be peaceful and non-threatening than autocracies and
dictatorships.
Yet, on Thursday of last week, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter
(R-Michigan) said
this:
The Egyptian demonstrations are not the equivalent of Iran’s
2009 Green Revolution. The Egyptian demonstrations are the
reprise of Iran’s 1979 radical revolution.
Thus, America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an
imperfect government capable of reform; and prevent a tyrannical
government capable of harm…
This is not a nostalgic ‘anti-colonial uprising’ from within, of
all places, the land of Nassar. Right now, freedom’s
radicalized enemies are subverting Egypt and our other allies.
McCotter is a fine man whom I like and respect; but he’s dead
wrong about Egypt. As I explained yesterday
here at the American Spectator, while there is
certainly a risk that the Egyptian revolution will be hijacked by
Islamists, the revolution itself did not originate with
Islamists.
And what’s more, the Muslim Brotherhood has not been driving
this uprising; ordinary Egyptians with legitimate and democratic
aspirations have. And we should be supporting the Egyptian people,
not squelching their hopes and dreams because we fear the
Islamists.
In fact, the surest way to radicalize Egypt is to side with the
autocrats. The fact is that Egypt has turned a decisive corner.
Mubarak is history. There is no going back.
So far from trying to preserve Mubarak’s 30-year-old
dictatorship, as McCotter foolishly recommends, the United States
instead should be facilitating a transition to a new and more
democratic Egyptian government.
McCotter spoke unwisely and prematurely, I’m afraid. His is the
voice of George H. W. Bush and Pat Buchanan, not George W. Bush and
Ronald Reagan. The Egyptian people need to hear the latter not the
former, both for their sake and ours.
