The Wall Street Journal | Link to story »

Jay Solomon discusses how the Obama administration, in an effort not to alienate Mubarak, chose to pursue its democracy promotion agenda in Egypt through private talks rather than tough public rhetoric, despite warnings from the Egypt Working Group that the country was headed toward transition.

While this approach gained the cooperation of Cairo in the Arab-Israeli peace talks, Solomon suggests the administration missed critical warning signs of impending unrest. In the article, NDI's director for Middle East and North Africa programs, Les Campbell, comments on the crackdown on election monitoring in the lead up to the 2009 elections.