Barack Obama

Obama Appeals To 'Hope' Not 'Hate' In Unveiling Shift In Middle East Policy

Susan Crabtree | May 19, 2011, 2:10PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama attempted to reset relations with the Arab world Thursday in a comprehensive speech that positioned the United States and its values squarely behind the democratic uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa and promised aid to help promote economic growth and stability across the region.

"Across the region, those rights that we take for granted are being claimed with joy by those who are prying loose the grip of an iron fist," Obama said during a 45-minute speech at the State Department.

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Middle East

Obama To Lay Out Economic Recovery Plan For Middle East In Major Speech

Susan Crabtree | May 19, 2011, 8:27AM

President Obama plans to outline an ambitious economic recovery plan for the Middle East and Northern Africa designed to spur economic growth and build on democratic reforms that began in Egypt and Tunisia and have swept to countries across the region this Spring.

In major speech at the State Department Thursday, Obama will announce U.S. steps to cancel nearly a billion dollars worth of Egyptian and Tunisian debt, establish a Egyptian-American private enterprise fund and guarantee up to a billion dollars in borrowing through the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. agency that mobilizes private-sector investment in new and emerging markets, according to senior administration officials.

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Iran

Ridge Warns of Iran's Growing Influence Amid Middle East Unrest

Susan Crabtree | March 1, 2011, 11:59AM

Fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (R)

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Tuesday warned of Iran's growing influence amid the Middle East's turbulent political climate, underscoring other Republicans' calls for the U.S. to take a harder line on Iran.

The spread of pro-democracy movements across the region -- from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya -- is a positive step, Ridge said, but it also creates an opening for even more Iranian influence.

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Cameroon

Is Cameroon Next After Libya?

Benjy Sarlin | February 24, 2011, 6:22PM

Anti-government uprisings have spread from an initial revolution in Tunisia to countries across the region, including Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen. Could the revolutionary fervor be migrating outside of the Arab world as well?

In Cameroon, activists used the recent Mideast turmoil to rally protestors this week against President Paul Biya, who was ruled the African nation with total authority for the last 28 years. Opposition groups charge that he has rigged elections to keep himself in power and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, accuse authorities of stifling political dissent with extreme violence.

"We want to take charge of our destiny like the people in Egypt and Tunisia did," Kah Walla, an opposition candidate for president in Cameroon working to organize demonstrations, told CNN on Wednesday.

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Libya

K Street Firm Explains Why It Lobbied for Libya Then Abruptly Cut Ties

Susan Crabtree | February 23, 2011, 5:44PM

Fmr. Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA)

Former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA) severed his firm's lobbying contract with the Qaddafi-controlled government of Libya in the fall of 2009, after Qaddafi's son welcomed the individual convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 back to his home country as a conquering hero.

"Saif Qaddafi gave him a really public greeting broadcast around the world to welcome him home as a hero of the state -- that was just too much," Livingston told TPM in a telephone interview.

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Egypt

John Thune: I'm Glad Mubarak Left

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 11, 2011, 1:35PM

Sen. John Thune (R-SD)

TPM just caught up with Sen. John Thune ahead of his speech at CPAC, where he's another of the coy maybe 2012ers to take the stage. I asked him if Mubarak's exit in Egypt said anything about how Obama handled the crisis.

Thune declined to talk about Obama, but said he's glad Mubarak is leaving and the military's taking over.

"I think it's right he stepped down," Thune told TPM. He praised the military as "one of the most reliable intstitutions in the country."

Egypt

President Obama to Mubarak: Please Explain the Changes You Have Made

Susan Crabtree | February 10, 2011, 10:37PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama is calling on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to clearly and quickly explain the changes he has made to the government and pledged transfer of power and urged him not to react with violence to the increasing calls for his removal.

Obama was reacting to a rambling and sometimes confusing speech in which Mubarak pledged to transfer at least some of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman, change the constitution and heed the calls of the Egyptian people for democratic reforms.

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Egypt

McCain Urges Mubarak To Listen To His People

Susan Crabtree | February 10, 2011, 6:32PM

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak's decision to remain in office while allocating unspecified powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman "deeply unfortunate and troubling."

"The voices of the Egyptian people are growing louder and more unified, and they are not demanding partial transfers of power or minor adjustments to the current government," McCain said in a release issued less than two hours after Mubarak gave a rambling speech in which he said he would remain as President until elections are held in September. "They are calling for President Mubarak to step down as the beginning of a meaningful and enduring transition to democracy in Egypt."

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Egypt

Polls Show Republicans Most Likely To Think Egyptian Unrest Will Harm U.S.

Jon Terbush | February 9, 2011, 8:38AM

As the Egyptian uprising continues to play out, there is no consensus among Americans about how the eventual outcome will impact the U.S. Yet based on public opinion polls, one thing is clear: Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to see the protests as bad news for America.

So much remains unknown about what will unfold in Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak has pledged not to seek reelection, though he has resisted calls for his immediate resignation. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters continue to take to the streets demanding that he do just that. All the uncertainty about what sort of government will emerge from the chaos -- and whether a new leader will be an ally or enemy -- has Americans largely clueless about whether the protests will have a positive or negative impact on the U.S.

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Pres '12

Gingrich: Obama Administration 'Amateurish' On Egypt (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | February 8, 2011, 10:08AM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), a potential presidential candidate, is joining the list of Republicans who are blasting the Obama administration's handling of the situation in Egypt.

CNN's John King caught up with Gingrich at the Reagan Centennial in Simi Valley, California -- as King noted, he can't really get a regular sit-down interview, because Gingrich and other possible candidates are Fox News contributors.

"Look, I think the fact that they appointed a very able diplomat, Frank Wisner, and within two days, were publicly contradicting him, is, you know, it's so amateurish," said Gingrich, referring to the administration having backed away from its envoy saying that Mubarak should stay in power while political reforms are carried out.

"I was with John Bolton last night, he said it's inconceivable that they would be this clumsy and this out of sync with -- I mean, just with themselves, forget the Arab world. They can't even get the White House and their special envoy to be on the same page."

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Pres '12

Palin: 'We Need to Find Out Who Was Behind' Egypt Protests (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | February 7, 2011, 1:11PM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)

Sarah Palin was interviewed by a conservative media outlet, David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network, over the weekend, and talked about President Obama's handling of the political crisis in Egypt. And while it's clear that she herself doesn't have all the answers, she's also quite miffed at Obama, saying that he doesn't have the answers -- and he's not telling us the answers he knows, either.

"Mubarak, he's gone, one way or the other. He is not going to be the leader of Egypt. That's a given," Palin said. "So now the information needs to be gathered and understood as to who it will be that fills now the void in the government. Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood? We should not stand for that, or with that or by that. Any radical Islamists, no that is not who we should be supporting and standing by. So we need to find out who was behind all of the turmoil and the revolt and the protests so that good decisions can be made in terms of who we will stand by and support."

But she also criticized Obama: "It's a difficult situation. This is that 3 a.m. White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House, it seems that that call went right to the answering machine. And nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know, who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak."

So Palin says that Obama isn't handling the situation thoroughly -- but that he also knows more about it than we in the public are being told?

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Egypt

Cheney: Mubarak Has 'Been A Good Friend' To U.S.

Eric Kleefeld | February 7, 2011, 11:02AM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has not been shy about criticizing President Obama on issues of foreign policy, is now adding his voice to the discussion on Egypt. In this case, Cheney seems to be straddling the fence between pro-Mubarak and anti-Mubarak conservatives -- saying that the Egyptian strongman should be treated nicely by the United States, but perhaps it's time for him to go.

AFP reports:

"I think President Mubarak needs to be treated as he's deserved over the years, because he has been a good friend, not only to the United States but a lot of other folks that we do business with," Cheney said a gathering in Santa Barbara, California to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of late US president Ronald Reagan.

"He's been a good friend and ally of the United States and we need to remember that," Cheney said.

Despite those words of support, on the issue of whether Mubarak can or should hold on to power, the former vice president added: "There comes a time for everyone to hang it up and move on."

"That's a decision only the Egyptians can make," Cheney said.

CIA/DNI/Intelligence

CIA Official: Obama Was Briefed On Egypt Instability Late Last Year

Susan Crabtree | February 3, 2011, 4:50PM

Associate Deputy Director of the CIA Stephanie O'Sullivan

The U.S. intelligence community warned President Obama about instability in Egypt late last year, according to a CIA official.

Stephanie O'Sullivan, the President's nominee for principal deputy director of national intelligence who currently serves as associate deputy director of the CIA, told the Senate intelligence committee Thursday that the agency briefed Obama. She did not indicate how specific the information they provided was.

"We warned of instability but not exactly where it would come from [and in what form]," she said. "That happened at the end of last year."

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Egypt

John Bolton: 'I Think ElBaradei Is A Dilettante'

Megan Carpentier | February 1, 2011, 12:19PM

John Bolton

John Bolton, who served at the ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, visited On the Record With Greta Van Susteren to talk about about the ongoing protests in Egypt.

The wisdom that he brought to the discussion? That opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency for 12 years, is "a dilettante."

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Egypt

Harry Reid: On Egypt, I'm With Obama

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 31, 2011, 3:55PM

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

When it comes to the developing international crisis in Egypt, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's with the White House all the way.

"The White House is totally on top of this and I'm totally supportive of them," Reid told reporters on a conference call today.

Like Obama, Reid stopped short of calling for embattled Egyptian president and longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak to step down from power -- as the protesters want -- though he urged the Egyptian regime to respect the "universal rights" of its citizens to speech and protest. He said he hopes Mubarak "will not allow" the protesters to be subject to violent reprisals from the army and national police forces.

Reid called for an "orderly transition to democracy in Egypt."

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