America's Credibility Deficit
Joel Brinkley

President Hosni Mubarak stole the Egyptian elections once again. On election day, Mubarak's minions stuffed ballot boxes, beat up and shot at opposition members, and fired tear gas at voters.

But the most worrisome part actually occurred a couple of weeks earlier, when the United States asked Egypt to allow foreign observers to monitor these parliamentary elections, just as observers do in dozens of nations worldwide. Egypt angrily refused, complaining of infringement on its sovereignty and accusing the U.S. of acting "like an overseer."

What did Washington do about that? Nothing at all. Egypt, which takes in $2 billion a year in American aid each year, can refuse and even rebuke the U.S. with impunity. That's the unfortunate new reality for America, repeated in nations worldwide time and time again -- even in countries that are beneficiaries of significant American assistance.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai could not remain in power, or perhaps even stay alive, without copious American military and financial assistance. Washington has been urging him in the most direct terms to tackle the corruption that is paralyzing the country. Karzai didn't even offer reassuring rhetoric before he issued a blanket pardon for the one official charged with grand corruption by his own government's anti-corruption agency, set up and mentored by American investigators.

Once again, Washington said nothing, did nothing. Karzai can insult Washington as often as he likes and pay no penalty. Billions of dollars in aid keep coming, American soldiers continue dying on his behalf, and Karzai offers not even an ounce of appreciation.

These are not isolated cases. What happened when China refused President Obama's strong request to allow its currency to rise in value? The undervalued yuan is a significant factor in the U.S. economy's continuing weakness. But the Chinese paid no penalty at all. To Obama's request, Beijing simply shrugged. As the China Daily, a state-run newspaper, put it: "Beijing can readily devote more attention to the rest of the world while Washington wrestles with its position on China and risks becoming increasingly isolated in its continuing scapegoat approach."

Pakistan's security services continually cooperate with America's enemies and refuse to attack North Waziristan, home to al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders who order their troops to murder Americans. But Washington is still throwing billions of dollars at them.

Israel continues trying to hobble peace negotiations with the Palestinians, even after Washington offered a rich bribe: 20 advanced fighter jets worth $3 billion and an ironclad guarantee to block hostile motions in the United Nations Security Council. The Israeli cabinet actually had the gall to demand that the offer be delivered in writing. Washington complied.

Does America have any credibility left? Very little. But this hasn't always been so.

For me, at least, it's hard to wax nostalgic about the George W. Bush administration. But remember just five years ago, when Syria was blamed for the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a popular former Lebanese prime minister? After that, the White House began an assertive campaign, virtually ordering Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. In short order Syria agreed, and Lebanon was free for the first time in 20 years. (It helped that more than 100,000 American troops were just over Syria's northern border, in Iraq)

Similarly, after Bush alternately coaxed and threatened Libya, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, agreed to renounce terrorism and give up his nuclear-development program -- all in exchange for full diplomatic relations with Washington.

But now the U.S. sits by and absorbs rebukes from Sudan, North Korea, Turkey and, at the G-20 conference in Seoul last month, more than a dozen other states. The most glaring example, though, is Egypt and its election.

Mubarak stole the last election, in 2005. Who can forget the televised images of voters climbing a ladder, trying to scramble through a voting station's second-story window because riot police were forcibly blocking the front door?

This fall, in the weeks before last Sunday's election, the government shut down the opposition's TV station, censored campaign slogans, jailed dozens of opposition candidates and forbade others from appearing on television. Authorities even placed restrictions on text-messaging services.

International human-rights groups pleaded with Washington to pressure Mubarak. But as the worst of this was going on, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit visited Washington. At a press conference with him, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Aboul Gheit for Egypt's cooperation in Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian peace process. But, of the Egyptian government's continuing repression at home, she said not one word.

Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for the New York Times

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