Egypt

EGYPT

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in his recent State of the Union address, President Bush stated:

the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East.

In light of the President's statement, I would like to submit for the RECORD an op-ed by Jackson Diehl that appeared in today's Washington Post titled ``Egypt's Gamble.''

In this piece, Mr. Diehl notes with concern that the Egyptian Government appears to be acting under the assumption that, despite the President's strong statement on the need for democratic reforms in the country, the United States will still turn a blind eye to the recent heavy-handed actions taken by the Egyptian authorities toward prodemocracy activists. Mr. Diehl's piece notes:

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo is urging caution; it argues that an overly aggressive U.S. reaction [to the crackdown] would play into the hands of Egyptian ``hardliners.''

Mr. President, I am deeply troubled about these reports, if they are true.

President Bush's statement of policy with respect to Egypt could not be more clear. Nonetheless, it appears that there are those in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department who are attempting to return to ``business as usual'' with respect to U.S. policy toward Egypt. I would like to go on record as reiterating my strong support for the need for Egypt to reform its political and economic institutions, and I look forward to working with Secretary Rice to ensure that the President's vision of democracy in the region is not diluted at lower levels of the Department through bureaucratic inertia and intransigence.

I ask unanimous consent that the op-ed be printed in the RECORD.

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