Thursday, January 27, 2011
U.S. Government on Egypt: "Restraint on both sides"
Ah, it's the old "both sides are guilty" stance. From Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "We call on all parties to exercise restraint." State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley, asked by Al Jazeera about Egyptian government forces firing on protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets and locking up hundreds of protesters in notorious prisons: "We want to see restraint on both sides." And Vice-President Joe Biden:
Biden urged non-violence from both protesters and the government and said: "We’re encouraging the protesters to – as they assemble, do it peacefully. And we’re encouraging the government to act responsibly and – and to try to engage in a discussion as to what the legitimate claims being made are, if they are, and try to work them out."As the Christian Science Monitor put it so plainly: "Egypt's protesters, if they're paying attention to Biden at all, will certainly be wondering which of their demands thus far have been illegitimate."
