EGYPT - The US In A Tight Spot.

Egypt's approach to the Brotherhood has already put the US in a tight spot. The Bush administration has been pushing hard for more democracy in the Middle East, notably including Egypt. But while the Brotherhood - like most of Egypt's democracy advocates - would seem to be on board with President Bush's reform agenda, it is also deeply hostile to US policies in the region.

The Brotherhood and groups like the Kifaya (Enough) movement - a range of secular organisations with limited grass-roots support - react with hostility when asked if they think the opening is a result of US policy. Instead, they say, the US props up undemocratic regimes, and its use of force in Iraq was both illegal and immoral.

Mubarak has allowed unlicenced protests in recent months by Kifaya. But an emboldened Muslim Brotherhood, which has offices in every province and is the country's largest opposition organisation, was too much for the government to take. The Christian Science Monitor has quoted Ahmad Ramy, a Brotherhood member, as saying: "The reason for the escalation by state security is the difference in size and influence between the Muslim Brotherhood and the other opposition groups".

The Monitor notes that "truly free" elections in Egypt might result in the Muslim Brotherhood forming the government, a move which "could complicate US policy in the Middle East". This is because the Brotherhood is strongly opposed to peace with Israel and, once in power, it would abrogate the peace treaty between Egypt and the Jewish state which was signed in 1979 by then President Sadat.

In his efforts to placate the Bush administration, Mubarak has been putting pressure on Syria to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. After meeting in Paris on March 24 with French President Jacques Chirac, Mubarak said Syria will announce "within a week" its timetable for the withdrawal of the remainder of its forces from Lebanon. Mubarak was also seeking French support for Egypt's candidacy to become a member of the UN Security Council; in return, Egypt is backing both France and the US in their efforts to get Syria out of Lebanon. (Mass Beirut demonstrations - following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, a murder blamed on Syria and its allied regime in Beirut - forced the resignation of the Lebanese cabinet on Feb. 28 and pressured Syria into pulling back its 15,000 troops and intelligence agents into eastern Lebanon).