egypt and u.s.

What should "we" do about the uprising in Egypt?

Some suggest keeping relatively silent and letting the events in Egypt be controlled by Egyptians. Others argue that the U.S. government should effectively declare its support of the overthrow of the current Mubarak regime. Many suggest something of a middling position, in which the U.S. privately coerces Mubarak to leave peacefully while publicly saying relatively little beyond support for abstract democratic values.

Absent in much of the discussion seems to be what sort of leverage the U.S. actually has over the situation. There seems to be little leverage over the majority of Egyptian citizens. Much of the protest directly stems from the past three decades of U.S. Egyptian policy, which effectively amounted to subsidizing Egyptian security forces. These security forces agreed to allow access of the U.S. military, aid U.S. intelligence activities in the region, and recently help interrogate and sometimes torture Al Qaeda suspects. In return, the U.S. effectively turned a blind eye to Egyptian security forces being used to oppress domestic opposition groups. This did not go unnoticed in Egypt and beyond, and U.S. support of another authoritarian regime became evidence of imperialism. This support, however, also gives the U.S. a degree of leverage over the Egyptian military.

How should the U.S. use this leverage? One idea might be to privately tell the top military officials that they must pave the way for a legitimate national unity government and or new constitutional convention, or risk losing aid. While publicly saying that the U.S. looks forward to cooperating with the will of the Egyptian people as represented through a free and fair electoral process. It might be made clear that the U.S. does not seek to guide this process in any way.

What do you think?