Colleagues: Egyptian President Morsi’s assumption of broad new powers threatens any hopes for the country to move toward a secular democracy. As the report below (abridged) notes, the President has taken on Mubarak-era powers, having fired the leadership of the military and replacing them with loyal MB allies, and now essentially subordinating the entire judiciary to his rule.
I have asked four of our NSF experts to comment on the Morsi “coup” and to recommend what stance the U.S. should take. Again, if Morsi brings stability to the region but has quasi-dictatorial powers, isn’t that what we had in Mubarak, who we supported in any instance? Read on! Ty
Egypt’s President Morsi takes sweeping new powers
By Michael Birnbaum, Wash Post, November 22
CAIRO — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi took extensive new powers for himself Thursday, freeing his decisions from judicial review and ordering retrials for former top officials, including ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
The decree, issued a day after Morsi won international praise for fostering a cease-fire in Gaza, appears to leave few if any checks on his power. The president said all of the decisions he has made since he took office in June — and until a new constitution is adopted and a parliament elected — were final and not subject to appeal or review.
Morsi’s broad assertion of control came less than 24 hours after a diplomatic triumph in arranging the cease-fire in Gaza had given new credence to Morsi’s international bona fides. And it raised questions about whether Egypt might be headed to a return of its Mubarak-era arrangement on the world stage: a country praised for bringing stability to a volatile region and tolerated for abusing rights at home.
Muslim Brotherhood officials, with whom Morsi is allied, said the measures were necessary to ensure the country’s full and healthy return to democracy.
But the decision raised immediate concerns among many liberal activists who had already been worried that Morsi had taken a distinctly authoritarian air in the three months since he swept out the top ranks of the military and sidelined what had long been a powerful independent institution in Egypt. Egypt’s short-lived parliament was dismissed by the country’s high court shortly before Morsi took power, so legislative powers also are concentrated under the president. Taking the courts out of the equation means there will be no judicial review of Morsi’s decisions.
“Morsi today usurped all state powers & appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh,” wrote former liberal presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei on Twitter. “A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences.”
The implications on the international stage seemed less clear, and any American response was muted because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Just hours before the announcement, Morsi had been winning plaudits from Israel, Hamas and the United States for having brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot that rules the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip. Over Tuesday and Wednesday, Morsi and President Obama spoke by telephone three times, White House officials said.
Morsi on Thursday also said the Islamist-dominated body that is drafting a new constitution could not be dismissed, and he extended its mandate by two months. It now has until February to finish its work. The constitution is expected to be put to a referendum, followed by legislative elections.
“These are decisions that will stir up a storm of criticism,” said Hassan Nafaa, a political science professor at Cairo University. “Dr. Mohamed Morsi has decided to put himself in the position of the sole protector of the revolution and its spokesman.”
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Commentaries:
“One Man, One Vote, One Time”
Mike Haas
It’s been the tragic but true summary of elections in Sub-Sahara Africa ever since the 1960s abandonment of Africa by the European colonial powers. And as events this week have just shown, Sub-Sahara Africa has no corner on the market for power-grabbing tyrants initially brought into office by democratic processes.
But this lunge for power by Morsi has an unusually eerie tone to it. In January 1933 Adolph Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in a time of faltering, ineffective government. It took Hitler almost exactly sixty days to obliterate virtually all individual freedoms in Germany.
In June of this year, “ostensibly former” Muslim Brotherhood (MB) member Mohamed Morsi was swept into office in a time of faltering, ineffective government. It has taken Morsi almost exactly six months to obliterate the rule of law in Egypt.
When Hitler was asked if his suspension of civil liberties in Germany was to be permanent, he responded that the suspension was only a temporary measure “Until the [Communist] Danger has passed.” Morsi has given every indication he is using the same playbook.
All of which begs the obvious question: What is the appropriate U.S. response to the MB’s blatant takeover of the world’s most populous Arab country?
In a word, economic. Since 1979 U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt has averaged near $2 billion dollars annual; half or more of that in military assistance. Egypt cannot likely stand long were such assistance to be terminated or even substantially reduced, and neither can the Muslim Brotherhood.
Before Morsi’s blatant grab for power this week any attempt by the U.S. to fundamentally reduce its financial support would have been howled down in Cairo as ‘interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.’ But Morsi’s power play has stripped the public mask away from the MB, revealing to all Egyptians the Brotherhood’s contempt for the very society that was the goal of the Arab Spring.
President Obama has all the tools he needs to reverse the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt. The question is, will he use them?
Colonel (USA-Ret) Michael Haas served as Chief, Middle East Division, Current Intelligence Directorate (JCS/J2), Defense Intelligence Agency
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Morsi’s Power Move
Dick Hobbs
It is sad if anyone is surprised by President Morsi’s moves. This is a man who was the ideological enforcer for the Muslim Brotherhood and his entire life has been in the Brotherhood. He has been consistent in his statements and has almost quoted verbatim in political speeches the Creed of the Muslim Brotherhood: “Allah is our goal; the Messenger is our guide; the Qur’an is our law; Jihad is our means; and martyrdom in the way of Allah is our highest aspiration.”
The USG has little in common with his government except for trying to maintain the Egypt-Israel peace. Morsi’s role was to protect Hamas and gain concessions from Israel to aid Hamas. Our relationship will cool and will be more like dealing with the Soviets – cooperate if our national interests permit and resist where they do not.
This will make for a very delicate balancing act for US policy makers – trying to hold down the Muslim Brotherhood influence and not jeopardize Israeli interests. First, we need a very thorough assessment of where the Egyptian military really stands. Military aid will depend on whether the Egyptian military is completely with the MB or whether there is any hope for them as a counterweight to the MB. Economic aid will likely have to continue to maintain the peace treaty with Israel but provides us some leverage.
Colonel/Doctor Richard Hobbs is a retired combat infantry officer, professor, and businessman with postings at the Pentagon, the State Department, and in the Mid-East
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Morsi is Taking a Page from Chavez’s Playbook
Ric Cesped
This all reminds me of Hugo Chavez ascension to presidential power in Venezuela and the subsequent changes to the Constitution that have allowed him to be in control of everything important and thus to be reelected in perpetuity. Morsi is one step ahead of Chavez. He wants to control the formulation of the Constitution to begin with while Chavez, who was democratically elected, had to wait until he controlled Congress to re-write the Constitution to favor his political objectives. It was all done by controlling the democratically elected arms of government.
The same process is being followed in other countries of Latin America and it has been used elsewhere in the world.
Ric Cesped, a native of Chile and 1962 graduate from West Point, is a retired global Mining and Materials executive
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Morsi’s Executive Decrees
John Jandali
The consolidation of power in the hands of Morsi is not shocking when viewed in the broader context of Egyptian history and tradition. Western yardsticks of democracy, rule of law, and limited government simply do not match Egyptian realities, where since the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952, this country has been governed by a succession of military dictatorships, each claiming to serve Egypt’s best interests, or in the case of Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the Arab Nation’s goals of unity and social justice.
So, Morsi is no better or worse than Mubarak or his other predecessors, except that his dictatorship has emanated from a free and fair popular election. The question is how long will the military brass be willing to let him have the playground to himself?
Dr. John Jandali was born in Syria and has taught at the Universities of Wisconsin and UNR.