What Is The US Trying to Do?

The New York Times this morning is reporting that Western government, including the US, want Egyptian VP Suleiman to pursue a slow, gradual transition to a more democratic society.  Here's what the protesters themselves think:

Protesters interpreted the simultaneous moves by the Western leaders and Mr. Suleiman as a rebuff to their demands for an end to the dictatorship led for almost three decades by Mr. Mubarak, a pivotal American ally and pillar of the existing order in the Middle East.

“What they are saying behind closed doors, they are backing Mubarak,” said Noha el-Shakawy, 52, a pharmacist with dual Egyptian and American citizenship. “We are nothing to them. The United States wants to sacrifice all of our lives, 85 million people.”

Just days after President Obama demanded publicly that change in Egypt must begin right away, many in the streets accused the Obama administration on Saturday of sacrificing concrete steps toward genuine change in favor of a familiar stability.

“America doesn’t understand,” said Ibrahim Mustafa, 42, who was waiting to enter Tahrir Square. “The people know it is supporting an illegitimate regime.”

In other words, they don't trust the US and Europe. After supporting Mubarak and dictatorship for 30 years, we have not earned the trust of the Egyptian people. I'm not sure I trust us in that regard. Our foreign policy has not been conductive to true democracy around the world.