CLINTON TO EGYPT – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  We hope this doesn't turn out to be another "outreach" failure, like all the other failures of the Obama foreign policy.  Hillary Clinton, probably in her last months as secretary of state, is meeting with Egypt's new leader. 

This man, who has been a 9-11 truther, among other delights, cannot be trusted, in my view.  Perhaps, though, he can be persuaded.

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will urge Egypt's civilian and military leaders to work together to complete a full transition to democratic rule, senior U.S. officials said on Saturday.

Clinton arrived in Cairo to meet Egypt's newly-elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday and military chief Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi on Sunday, two of the central players in the power struggle playing out in the country.

"She is going to say, you have to stick with it. You have to keep going," a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters travelling with Clinton.

"It is crucial that all of the stakeholders who need and have a voice in Egypt's transition engage in a dialogue to answer the complicated questions around parliament and the constitution.

"So she will encourage Tantawi, as she will encourage Mursi, and civil society, to engage in that dialogue and to avoid the kinds of confrontation that could potentially lead to the transition veering off track," the official added.

The United States lent its support over three decades to Egypt's long-time authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak, who was driven from power on February 11, 2011.

Clinton will be the most senior U.S. official to meet with Mursi, an Islamist who emerged from the country's long-oppressed Muslim Brotherhood movement to be inaugurated as president two weeks ago, after what was regarded as the country's first relatively free and fair presidential election.

COMMENT:  I love the term "long-oppressed Muslim Brotherhood."  The press spin has already begun, painting the Brotherhood, an extremist, anti-West Islamist organization, as a victim.

We don't endorse dictatorship in Egypt, or anywhere else, but there were good reasons why the Arab strongmen suppressed the Brotherhood.  It was seen as the antithesis of Arab revolutionary dreams, a throwback to past centuries.  It was.  And is.  We assume that Secretary Clinton understands what the Brotherhood stands for.  Women's rights are not high on its agenda.  But what she understands may not matter.  It's what her boss wants, and given his endless "outreach" to Iran and Russia, that's a chilling thought in itself.

July 14, 2012