For the past week now, the biggest news story has been the revolt in Egypt. Protestors have been gathering in the streets calling for the resignation of Egypt's longtime president, Hosni Mubarak.
The story has taken many twists and turns. Initially it was about the resistance protestors faced from Mubarak's police forces. Then, the story shifted as many called for Mubarak to step down. Leaders across the world stage, including President Obama were critical of his administration.
Earlier this week, Mubarak announced that he would not seek re-election, but that he would continue to act as president until September.
This outraged many. The consensus was that Mubarak should acknowledge the demands of the Egyptian citizens and leave office as soon as possible.
The Spectrum also believes this. The fact is, violence has been occurring ever since the protests started and, as long as Mubarak is in charge, it isn't going to stop anytime soon.
The Egyptian people have made it known that they want Mubarak out of office as soon as possible. The fact that Mubarak is not seeking re-election proves that he is all too aware of this.
He can stop the violence in Egypt very easily by simply resigning, yet his refusal to do so means that he is essentially enabling violence. It is wrong for him to allow this chaos to continue while failing to acknowledge the demands of his own people.
While The Spectrum believes Mubarak should step down, we believe, perhaps even more vehemently, that the United States should stay as far away from this as possible. So far, President Obama has taken a measured stance on the subject, declaring support for the protestors, but not planning to get the U.S. involved.
We believe he should continue his subdued response. The last thing the United States needs to do is to intervene in Egypt, and have it turn into another situation like Iraq.
Following the Iraq invasion, the rest of the world turned on the United States in a big way. Attempting to play any role in the selection of Egypt's next president would only lead to that same sentiment.
Condemning Mubarak was the right move, because it showed that Obama would not blindly support America's allies if they were doing something he believed was wrong.
However, any further involvement would only give credibility to the notion that America spends too much time meddling in other countries' affairs. Mubarak needs to leave office, but America doesn't need to play a role in removing him.
