While I agree with Marc that the U.S. needs to stand up, I don't think it is just a matter of siding with Mubarak or siding with the demonstrators. What is needed is a clear statement in favor of orderly transition to a more democratic regime, which will require not only new elections but also a new constitution. Egypt has a long road ahead--it needs not just fans but a bit of coaching as well.

Daniel Serwer
www.peacefare.net

"Islamist scarecrow shouldn't work, given the Muslim Brotherhood's limited role in events (despite the efforts of the Egyptian regime to claim otherwise)."
I think the MB stepped up today. They've spent the last couple of weeks playing wait and see, but after some limited overt involvement earlier in the week to test the waters, they appear, from my cubicle, to have gone all in today. Right about now the MB leadership is assessing their impact and they are going to make a decision on further involvement in the coming days.
I think their assessment will be based on the cost-benefit analysis towards achieving their goal of taking over the mechanisms of governance in Egypt.
Cost: Leadership Arrests. Ongoing and nothing the MB hasn’t seen and weathered before. In the nineties the government had them on the ropes, but the character of Egypt, and more importantly the Army has changed since then. The Officer Corps is much more sympathetic to the Salfists then they are to unemployed, secular youth.
Benefit: 1) Best Case, taking leadership of the anti-government protests due to superior organization, communications and commitment (MB is not as reliant on new media to mobilize support). 2) Less good, but still of benefit, wringing concessions out of Gov't and Army to allow greater MB autonomy at local level in exchange for backing off from the protests.
The MB might not be the boogeyman that the neo-cons like to portray, but they are far and away the most "respectable" opposition to the current government. The current situation is largely win-win for them. The government falls and the MB is in position to take a leading role in the formation of a new government or 2) they promise to back off in order to gain concessions from the government.
So, doe the MB play for it all or accept a more limited victory?

Jan. 25th: The President in the SOTU:

We saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a **dictator**. And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.

Jan 27th: The Vice President interviewed by Jim Lehrer:

Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to mormalizing the relationship with Israel.

And I think that would be -- i would not refer to him as a **dictator.**

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Ben Ali of Tunisia siezed power on 11/7/1987

Hosni Mubarak siezed power on 10/14/1981

Both ordered the torture, murder, and systematic repression of their own people.

One was the dictator of a country with little geopolitical import or raw material wealth. The other is Egypt. An immediate neighbor of Israel, 80 million strong, controller of one of the World's most vital choking points in the Suez, with 3 and a half *B*illion barrels of crude in reserve.

--

All of this goes to say yet again... the American Dream is the rest of the World's nightmare.

Arab dictatorships are fighting their own people because of their own internal political repression, but It's ZIONISM, that's at risk.
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No, not really. Israel's democratic state is not going up in flames. There are no marchers on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem burning cars or inciting violence.
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Of course, what's even more amusing is the legion of Israel bashers that now complain about the aid and money that Egypt's government received as part of the Camp David peace treaty signed by Begin, Sadat, and Carter.
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What was seen by most as a significant moment in peace negotiations, is now seen as an evil done to the Egyptian people. A secret conspiracy by the Jews (sorry, Zionists), and the United States to enslave those poor Egyptians.
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No mention that the US essentially let the Egyptian government use the money for its own ends. Of course, when you have a corrupt dictatorial government, I can see how embezzeling funds is considered a problem. But that its the fault of Israel, well, I guess some people need to have their scape goat.
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The day has come when those who hate Israel and Jews can find only fault in a PEACE TREATY, that handed the Sinai penninsula over to Egypt, in what amounts to a cold-peace. But for that, we hear how the sole supposed foreign policy victory, one which former President Carter was repatedly lauded for, is considered, not just a mistake, but a political evil that only supposedly 'free-minded' and independent Arabs can reverse.
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And this, is what supposedly passes for enlightenment. Right.

Not here, not in the hour of 'in depth' news coverage I watched. If in fact our diplo, intel and covert operational presence in Egypt is the largest outside CONUS ( Iraq and Afghanistan are war ops, not covert/intel), then it ought to be kept in mind, and mentioned now and then, as we puzzle over the safety of Americans today.

Also worth mentioning is that Egypt, with it's universities and religious scholasticism, is the intellectual center of mass of the Arab world, as well as it's major urban population concentration. Lots of notorious types, from Qutb thru the 'blind mullah' to Zawahiri sprang from Egypt. But also countless doctors, lawyers, engineers, mathematicians, scientists (El Baradei for one) that just want a life for their children, out of their hard won credentials.

Egypt joins people and continents together with more than a canal. One Egyptian leader famously joined his Zionist counterpart in martyrdom, at the hands of their own zealots.

This is the first time I recall hearing such a direct message from an American administration. I don't know what President Obama told Mubarak on the phone, but this is the message that every decent Arab citizen has been longing to hear from America. Obama has socred a lot of brownie points in the Middle East and the Arab masses will be waiting to see that he too stands by his rhetoric and translates his words into action when needed. The message was no longer about standing by Egypt or its security or stability - it was loud and clear that America supports the aspirations of the Egyptian people! I think there was a hidden message there to other cronies in the region (King Abdullah of Jordan and others), that this time we respect the wishes of your people.

Let's just stop and appreciate what the demonstrators have achieving. It is not Islamists or foreign troops that toppled Bin Ali and are causing waves across the region: it is ordinary, brave people. The Arab people have something to celebrate!

Can you please predict the long-awaited calls to King Abdullah of Jordan and other dictators in the region!

I've read rumors suggesting that armed Hamas patrols have now crossed the Rafah border from Gaza, and they are working in coordination with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Security forces in plainclothes are engaged in destroying public property in order to give the impression that many protesters represent a public menace. The MB is meanwhile forming people’s committees to protect public property and also to coordinate demonstrators’ activities, including supplying them with food, beverages and first aid. (copy pasted this last part cause i'm lazy)