A thought has been burning a hole in my head over the past few days -- namely, that any meaningful Egyptian transition to democracy will almost certainly involve some form of a truth and reconciliation process.
This issue has already arisen in Tunisia, where
Le Figaro reports that the country's national archivists spontaneously undertook to safeguard the regime's files once it became clear former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali would be ousted from power. Despite their efforts, however, the most compromising documents had already disappeared.
The thing is, Egypt has been a central player in just about every major American initiative in the Middle East for the past 20 years, if not longer. And I suspect that there are some aspects of the U.S.-Egypt relationship that it is not in Washington's best interests to reveal.
Now, who in Egypt would be the best-placed individual to know where all the bodies are buried? The very man now being touted as the caretaker of Egypt's transition to democracy: former intelligence chief and newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. I don't think that fully explains why the U.S.
has begun moderating its position on how immediately President Hosni Mubarak ought to step down. But I imagine it 's been a subject of conversation.
It's also yet another pragmatic argument in the case against torture and human rights abuses. So long as those abuses are carried out exclusively by the client state against its own citizens, they serve as a leverage point for the hegemon. But it's a whole other story if they are carried out by the client state as a subcontractor for the patron state, as has been alleged with regard to Egypt and the U.S. during the Bush administration.
So keep an eye on Suleiman over the next few weeks. But more than that, keep an eye on the files.
