US presses wary ally Egypt on Israel, democracy

The United States on Wednesday pressed Egypt's interim military leadership to strengthen Egypt's partnership with Israel and stick to scheduled elections later this year, even though a new set of leaders much less friendly to the U.S. and the Jewish state may be the winners.

After a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, Secretary of tate Hillary Rodham Clinton went out of her way to describe the country's ruling military council as "an institution of stability and continuity," commending it for adhering to Egypt's 32-year-old peace agreement with Israel. She called the Camp David Accords "essential for stability and, of course, essential fo Egypt's growth, prosperity and peaceful transition."

But alongside the praise she expressed some growing concerns with the military's domestic policies, specifically a decision to extend well into next year the emergency laws that were a mainstay of abuse during Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

"We hpe to see the law lifted sooner than that," Clinton told reporters. "We think that is an important step on the way to the rule of law, to the kind of system of checks and balances that are important in protecting the rights of the Egyptian people, to create the context for free and democratic elections."

Th American demands on Egypt represent in some ways the twin set of hopes and fears with the movements for greater democracy in the Arab world. The Obama administration has championed those movements but hopes to corral their energy so that political transitions from Tunisia to Yemen don't slide back into military doination or create a powerful new wave of intolerant populism - as occurred after Iran's Islamic revolution a little more than three decades ago.