“I would not refer to him [Hosni Mubarak] as a dictator” responded U.S. vice president Joe Biden when asked if Mubarak was a dictator in an interview with PBS News. The U.S. government has been acting with caution since the beginning of the popular revolt that demands the ouster of the Egyptian dictator. Obama wants to be seen as an ally of the Egyptian people; he has even said that the protests are just.
However, Obama has not cut military aid to the pro-U.S Egyptian regime, and is urging a solution that will not alter the status quo there. In the PBS interview, Biden said that Egypt is more than just an ally as it plays a key role in the region. Political circles in Washington are nervous about the imminent fall of Mubarak and what political implications the popular revolution in Tunisia will have in Africa and the Middle East.
After the interview, Biden was criticized by pro-imperialist analysts such as Foreign Affairs magazine for revealing the Obama administration’s official position on the popular revolt in Egypt.
Click here to see the PBS interview with U.S. Vice-president Joe Biden.