Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to Egypt, included in his Middle East itinerary at the last minute, served only to add to the confusion over the Obama administration's policy toward this critically important Arab nation. Mr. Kerry was the highest-ranking American official to visit Cairo since Mohamed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, was deposed in July. Mr. Kerry seemed to go further than necessary or prudent to make common cause with the authoritarian generals who led the coup and are now running the country.
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The trip was ill advised for several reasons, starting with its timing. Mr. Kerry arrived one day before Mr. Morsi was to go on trial for murder in a politically motivated case (now postponed until Jan. 8) that had the whole country on edge. Mr. Morsi has been held incommunicado and charged, along with other defendants allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, with inciting violence in the deaths of about a dozen people in clashes last December outside the presidential palace after he took near-dictatorial powers.
Whatever validity the charges contain, there is little doubt that the case is part of an attempt by the military to crush the Muslim Brotherhood and other opponents. It is also hypocritical, since crackdowns engineered by the generals themselves have killed hundreds of people and led to the arrests and imprisonment of thousands more.
Mr. Kerry also misfired on the tone and content of his talks with Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the country's strongman and ringleader of the coup. The Morsi trial never came up. And they undercut whatever cautionary message President Obama had hoped to send last month when he suspended the delivery of major weapons systems to Egypt and withheld $260 million in aid. "It is not a punishment," Mr. Kerry said.
He appeared to accept the notion that the generals and the civilian government they installed are on a path to real democracy. "The road map is being carried out to the best of our perception," he said cryptically, referring to plans for a referendum on an amended Constitution and promises to hold parliamentary and presidential elections by next spring.
But the Constitution is still a work in progress, and the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood does not bode well for an inclusive political system. Moreover, General Sisi made no pledge to lift the hated state of emergency when it expires later this month.
The United States and Egypt share many important interests, including peace with Israel, security in Sinai, the free flow of traffic through the Suez Canal and cooperation against terrorism. It is important for both nations to keep trying to work together. But they also need to be clear about their differences, especially on what the word democracy means. Mr. Kerry has muddied the waters.
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