Free Republic

tensions flare as military evicts protesters in Tahrir Square. CAIRO - Egypt's generals imposed martial law on Sunday, dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution, moves that many of the protesters who helped topple President Hosni Mubarak said were necessary to excise a rotten form of government. The sweeping actions appeared to have their desired effect of calming the national mood. Under a celebratory facade, Egypt has remained on edge since Mubarak was forced to abdicate Friday, as uncertainty grew over the revolution's next stages. In a written communique, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by Field Marshal Mohammed...

Reporting from Washington — House Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday he thinks the Obama administration handled "a very difficult situation" in Egypt about as well as possible, undercutting potential Republican presidential candidates who have charged that President Obama botched the U.S. response to a popular revolt against a key ally. Boehner, the nation's top Republican elected official, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he thought there was a need for an assessment to determine why the U.S. intelligence community "didn't have a better feel for" the grass-roots movements that felled authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt in recent weeks....

CHRIS MATTHEWS: "What was our plan for transition for our friend? Did we ever talk to him about it, encourage him? That's my view; character and planning. I feel shame about this. I feel ashamed as an American, the way we're doing this. I know he has the change. I know we're for democracy, but the way we've handled it is not the way a friend handles the matter. We're not handling it the way Americans should handle matters like this. I don't feel right about it. And Barack Obama, as much I support him in many ways, there is...

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood have spurned the government's offer to discuss Egypt's future, Reuters and the Middle East network Al Arabiya report.

Sometime ago I read about a billboard in Grand Junction, Colorado with Jimmy Carter’s picture on it and a thought bubble containing the following words, “They can’t call me the worst President anymore!” Recent events in the Middle East and the reaction of the Obama Administration has brought to memory that horrible nightmare of 1978-79 when the Carter administration did nothing to help or support the government of our ally and friend, the Shah of Iran. The man from Plains Georgia watched from his White House television the unfolding street demonstrations in Tehran without any move to help resolve the...