Recently here on Publius Pundit we had a spirited discussion about democratic reform in Egypt, with me warning of the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood using elections as an opening to come to power and create an Islamist state, a Sunni equivalent of what we face in Iran right now. My initial post, Egypt: Democracy Enthusiasts’ Toughest Test?, drew a number of critical comments which you can read there. I responded with another post, Response to Comments – Democracy in Egypt, dealing with the issues raised. One of the points I made was that American democracy supporters had to be careful about advocating direct U.S. aid to groups that oppose Arab governments internally, because this tends to cause the populace to rally around the government and could delegitimize those we intend to help.

It was with interest, then, that I noticed that the Wall Street Journal had an in-depth article on this precise issue today. This is an excerpt from that article:

Known as the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the office announced it was giving about $1 million in grants to five local democracy groups in Egypt, a key U.S. ally with a notably authoritarian government. One grant, for $150,000, went to an organization called the Egyptian Association for Supporting Democracy. Just over a year old, the group consists of about 35 activists who work out of a three-room flat a few flights up from a dingy alleyway in central Cairo. There’s a desk in each room, a lone computer in one corner and a kitchen in back for making tea.

The group’s head is a former journalist named Mahmoud Ali, who wants to use the money to train political activists for this fall’s parliamentary elections. Accepting U.S. cash was a decision Mr. Ali made only after giving the matter much thought. “This is risky,” he says. “Some people see us as traitors.”

Indeed, the U.S. democracy grants have created an uproar in Egypt. A pro-government weekly, Al Osboa, ran a scorching editorial on its front page, calling them “a unique event, an aberrant action and a major sin,” and accusing the groups that accepted them of being pro-Zionist, anti-Egyptian and anti-Arab. Imams at two big mosques branded the recipients servants of the American infidel. A committee of Egypt’s parliament opened an investigation of what it saw as U.S. collusion with the grants’ beneficiaries, and lawmakers are now weighing proposals to ban future foreign grants…

President Bush now is arguing in blunt terms that such authoritarian regimes must open themselves to other voices at home and become, in time, democratic. But beyond the big speeches, the U.S. effort to promote such reforms has fallen largely to the Middle East Partnership Initiative, or MEPI…

My point was not that the U.S. should continue to support Egypt’s authoritarian regime with $2 billion yearly, or that we should not promote democracy. Instead, I would raise two issues. First, I think we need to lower and perhaps correct expectations. Conditions for pluralistic democracy are much better in Iraq and Lebanon, while conditions for a militant Islamic state are better in Egypt. Second, there are options other than directly challenging Egypt’s government, which unlike Iran poses no direct security threat to the U.S., only an indirect threat by spreading anti-Americanism. The U.S. could just lower aid to Egypt, as I argued in my response, or condition continued aid on genuine reform, rather than giving money to opposition groups. A place where I would advocate direct support for opposition groups is Iran.

The Journal article also noted that the U.S. State Department has vociferously resisted not only the funding of democracy groups, but it has also opposed even reducing Egypt’s $2 billion/year subsidy or conditioning it on any reform. This shows that State has learned absolutely nothing from the events of the past four years. I used to take the same position, but it has become very clear that U.S. support for Egypt and Saudi Arabia is pouring kerosine on the flames of anti-Americanism in the region (which I consider inevitable to an extent). It was in part because of this kind of cluelessness that I decided not to take the Foreign Service Exam, which is required to work for the State Department. I can make better use of my language skills blogging.

Contributed by Kirk H. Sowell of Window on the Arab World, and More!