Middle East Policy

Research: The 2005 Egyptian Elections: How Free? How Important? Saban Center Middle East Memo #8, August 24, 2005 Tamara Cofman Wittes , Research Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy On September 7, 2005, for the first time in their history, Egyptians will have a choice of candidates in a presidential election. When President Hosni Mubarak, who was elected to four previous terms in 'yes-or-no' referendums, announced this historic change in February 2005, even some members of his ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) were taken aback. Yet by the time the constitutional amendment authorizing other candidates to run was voted on in late May 2005, many democracy advocates in Egypt had grown disillusioned, characterizing the competitive election scheme as a sham. Now, with voting less than one month away, ten candidates have qualified to stand but many opposition activists are calling for an election day boycott. Is Egypt's first competitive presidential election a meani...

U.N. Security Council Calls for Global Effort Against Terror Resolution 1624 urges countries to prevent terrorist conduct, incitement The United Nations Security Council called upon all U.N. member states to prevent terrorist conduct and incitement within their territories, and to adopt other measures designed to meet their international obligations to fight terrorism. According to Resolution 1624, adopted unanimously September 14, the council called upon states to cooperate against terrorism by denying terrorists safe haven, strengthening their borders, and continuing efforts to “enhance dialogue and broaden understanding among civilizations” as a means of discouraging religious and ideological extremism and indiscriminate attacks against civilians. The resolution condemns "in the strongest terms all acts of terrorism irrespective of their motivation, whenever and by whomsoever committed, as one of the most serious threats to peace and security." Under Security Council Resol...

The Iraqi Constitution and the Responsibility of Liberals By Dr. Shaker an-Nabulsi Translation by Tony Badran (The Middle East Democracy Digest of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) As-Siyasah and elaph.com July 31, 2005 Web site: http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/ElaphWriter/2005/7/80136.htm A number of Iraqi newspapers and Internet sites have published some of the articles of the draft of the new Iraqi constitution, which will be put to a popular referendum soon. We should know, and understand well, that this constitution – regardless of its form – is the most precious Arabic constitution written so far, in all of Arab political history, after the Algerian constitution which cost more than a hundred thousand martyrs. The Iraqi constitution has been more expensive financially (300 billion dollars so far) and more than hundred thousand martyrs, most of whom were the victims of blind terrorism backed by Iraq's neighbors, who fear that the “Iraqi movie” will play on their own...

The “Arab Mindset” and the Art of Evasion and Self-Deception By Dr. Abdul Hamid al-Ansari Translation by Tony Badran (The Middle East Democracy Digest of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) Al-Bayan (UAE) August 1, 2005 Web site: http://www.albayan.ae/servlet/Satellite?cid=1122634847481&pagename=Albayan%2FArticle%2FFullDetail&c=Article The world has changed drastically, but we haven't. We refuse change and resist it. All the developments on the international scene have not been able, so far, to push the “Arab mindset” to reform and revise its practices. Neither have the series of Arab defeats succeeded in bringing the “Arab mindset” towards self-criticism and review. Instead, it has only become more adept at maneuvering and wiggling. Bitter defeats suffered for half a century under authoritarian revolutionary regimes, successive terrorist operations and the suffering of Arab peoples combined have not sufficed to change the Arab mindset! It remains intransigent a...

The Collapse of Common Beliefs about Terrorism and its Justifications By Majdi Khalil Translation by Tony Badran (The Middle East Democracy Digest of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat July 30, 2005 Web site: http://asharqalawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&article=314933&issue=9741 Since 9/11, and after the recent attacks on Sharm el-Sheikh, as well as dozens of other minor and major terrorist attacks, most of the presuppositions regarding traditional terrorism have fallen. Also fallen are the justifications and excuses about the reasons and motives behind terrorism. Finally, the organizational framework to which these terrorists belonged also fell. That's why most Arab analysts of terrorism have become unconvincing, because they were brought up on the older concepts of Islamic terrorism. 1- The Collapse of Common Beliefs: Fallen is the assumption that terrorists belong to the poor lower class. We now see that most terrorists belong to the midd...

Despite its flaws, Egyptian election offers some hope Low turnout, fraud charges marred vote, but it gave a voice to long-silent citizens Charles Levinson The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, September 11, 2005 Cairo -- At dusk on election day, the police station in the sprawling Cairo slum of Imbaba was overflowing with students protesting their exclusion from the voter rolls. "I've been trying to vote since 10 a.m.," said Ali Omar, 20, a business student at Cairo University. "They say I'm not registered to vote, but four days ago, I went to the police station to register and they said I could vote with my ID card. Today when I tried to vote, they said I couldn't." Like Omar, many young Egyptians were eager to participate in the first competitive presidential election in their country's history, only to be turned away from successive polling stations. To no one's surprise, President Hosni Mubarak cruised to an easy victory in Wednesday's elec...

Nibbles of democracy on the Nile The Monitor's View September 12, 2005 In the four years since Sept. 11, President Bush's goal of suppressing terrorism by pushing democracy in the Middle East has had few triumphs. Last week, the largest Arab nation, Egypt, held its first multiparty presidential election, a very limited one, on its leader's own terms. Guess what? Three of four Egyptians didn't vote. Those who did vote were either corralled or coerced to vote for President Hosni Mubarak, who "won" with 88.6 percent of the ballot After 24 years in power, Mr. Mubarak's latter-day attempt to inject a small bit of competition into government didn't exactly result in a mandate for his rule. Egyptians voted with their feet by not walking to the polls. Even with Mubarak opponents on the ballot, many knew the system was still rigged. If the Mubarak regime is really trying to jump-start an Egyptian-style democracy, voter turnout last Wednesday signaled it is so f...

Egypt's imitation election The New York Times SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 Here are some simple ways to identify a real democratic election. The ruling party should not be allowed to shape the election arrangements and intimidate voters. The candidates should be able to compete on a reasonably level playing field. Impartial observers should be welcome and given time to deploy themselves at polling places nationwide. Not one of these defining features was evident in last week's Egyptian presidential voting, whose main purpose was to usher President Hosni Mubarak into his fifth six-year term. On Friday he was officially declared the winner, collecting 88.5 percent of the votes. A few limited gestures were made in the general direction of democracy, thanks to repeated nudging from Mubarak's most important international supporter, President George W. Bush. For the first time in Egyptian history, the names of opposition presidential candidates actually appeared on the ballot. And ...

Fact sheet: United Nations Has Key Role in Promoting Democracy, U.S. Says Democratic nations should help United Nations live up to founding principles The United States wants the United Nations to assume a more important role in the promotion of democracy around the world and it sees the U.N. Democracy Fund as a way to achieve that goal. A State Department fact sheet issued September 9 says the United States believes that democratic countries should work together more closely “in order to help the United Nations live up to its founding principles.” The Democracy Caucus at the United Nations is a vehicle for democratic countries to advance the United Nations’ work on rule-of-law issues and human-rights matters as well as the pursuit of good governance. The United States also supports U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s initiative to replace the existing Commission on Human Rights with a proactive Human Rights Council. (See related article .) The new council would not include member st...

Article: The United Nations and Process of Reform By Ruth Wedgwood Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Director of the International Law and Organizations Program at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University The first caution in any program for reform of the world’s most inclusive institution is not to shoot for the moon. Reform is the art of the possible, and the United Nations is not exempt from that basic truth. Reform efforts, like the institution itself, should avoid the snare of over-promising. A festooned bill of U.N. reform that promises hundreds of gifts pleasing to all comers will sink of its own weight. A frank assessment of comparative advantage is also essential, figuring what the United Nations can do well, and what should be left to other modalities. At the end of the Cold War, there was perhaps a naïve moment of halcyon hopes, when it seemed easy to assume that the United Nations would provide the one and ...