This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.
The United States supports democracy and detests autocracy. Except when it doesn’t.
What’s been happening in Egypt may be one of the excepts. Huge angry crowds have taken to the streets, threatening to overturn the dictatorship that’s been misgoverning and mismanaging the country for as long as most people can remember.
Since President Hosni Mubarak took power in 1981, he has systematically crushed any opposition groups that posed a serious threat to his rule, rigging elections and sometimes brutalizing his opponents.
The complication is, he’s also been a crucial American ally …
