Egypt's Unchecked Repression

Egypt is rarely mentioned or criticized in the United States when it comes to repression. When Bush talks about bringing democracy to the Middle East this country exempt. In fact, Egypt commits terrible human rights abuses with the aid and blessing of the U.S. They are one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid. You might argue that they are a vital ally in the war on terror. The truth is our government has turned a blind eye to President Mubarak's repression long before September 11th. Under Bush al Qaeda terrorists have been regularly outsourced to Egypt to be tortured. Our government has blood on his hands:

This month marked the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of Egyptian journalist Reda Hilal. Rumors about the involvement of a secret government death squad tasked with silencing detractors of the ruling Mubarak family in this and other disappearances -- such as that of Libyan dissident Mansour Kikhia in Cairo in 1993 -- have spiked in recent weeks.

On Aug. 8, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights reported that it had confirmed more than 500 cases of police abuse since 1993, including 167 deaths -- three of which took place this year -- that the group "strongly suspects were the result of torture and mistreatment." The organization previously found that while Egypt's population nearly doubled during the first 25 years of Hosni Mubarak's regime, the number of prisons grew more than fourfold and that the number of detainees held for more than one year without charge or indictment grew to more than 20,000.

The main reason Egypt gets a pass on human rights abuses is because they recognize the State of Israel. The other reason: Mubarak keeps the Islamicists in check:

Yet Mubarak's regime has gone unchecked for years, since long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the "war on terror" and despite the billions of dollars in foreign aid the United States continues to give Egypt each year. The question is: Why?

Part of the answer lies in Mubarak's skillful use of Egypt's role in the Arab-Israeli peace process. Despite Egypt's proximity to Gaza and its potential to contribute, the regime has not advanced the status quo far beyond what the late president Anwar Sadat accomplished. Mubarak boasts about his refusal to visit Israel, while his predecessor broke ground as the first Arab leader to visit Israel.