Former US ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner addressed a special AmCham breakfast meeting held at the Conrad Hotel in Cairo on May 3. Wisner, now vice president of external relations for American Insurance Group (AIG), reflected on the tenuous political situation in the Middle East during his tenure in Cairo, and assessed the current prospects for peace in the region.

“I return to the Middle East troubled,” he said candidly, “for I find the region in its most difficult circumstance virtually at any time in my life. While the rest of the world is in relative peace, I look at this region... and I find it mired in violence, terror and warfare.”

Wisner conceded that the US has contributed to this sense of turmoil, but believes that the US can also be part of the solution. “No one is without responsibility. Not the least my country, the United States, whose actions in this region have contributed in their own measure to the present dangerous and unhappy state of affairs,” he said. “But I equally believe and have dedicated much of my life to the principle that the United States can also be part of making for a better region.”

Referring to the sectarian conflict in Iraq, he said the American presence “de-legitimizes” any political compromise among Iraqi parties at a time when the best path forward rests on finding a political solution. He was, however, certain US forces would soon withdraw from Iraq. “Much has been said, much more will be written, but there’s one thing I can assure each and every one of you, and that is the day of the American military occupation is drawing to an end. In the time shortly in front of us, the United States will leave.”

Wisner also discussed the standoff between the international community and Iran over its nuclear aspirations, the precarious situation in Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he described as “the mother of all crises.”

Turning to Egypt-US relations, Wisner said that the two countries benefit from each other’s strengths. “I believe today, as I did 25 years ago, that a strong Egypt is good for the United States. But I also believe that a strong United States is good for Egypt. We don’t profit if you’re troubled, [and] if the United States is weak in this region, it’s not good for Egypt,” he said.

For the relationship to succeed, however, each side must clarify its position on a few hot-button issues, such as Egypt’s “domestic order.” Wisner denounced attempts by outside powers to impose democracy on Egypt, but also implored Egyptians to consider the issue from a US perspective. Americans would like to see an Egypt “that rests on the pillars of a broad domestic consensus,” he said. “How you create that domestic consensus, how you broaden the basis of political inclusion... that’s a task for you as Egyptians to think through and to pursue.”

Another facet of the US-Egypt relationship is the role of Egyptian diplomacy towards achieving peace in the Middle East, Wisner said. He cautioned that it is not a role to be taken on alone. “Your cards, I would suggest, are stronger if they are played in concert with us and in concert with your friends in the region – today in the present context, with Saudi Arabia, with the Emirates, with Jordan – but Egyptian leadership and Egyptian conceptions are the sine qua non of the road ahead.”

In closing, Wisner asked the audience to reexamine the roots of the Egyptian-American partnership, and offered his own take. “I think we will remember that the best moments for Egypt and the United States over the past 30 years have been those moments when we’ve worked closest together and our worst moments have been when we haven’t worked well together,” he said. “If we can be frank and reexamine the pillars of our relationship, then I’d like to think that the next 30, 40 and 50 years can be as productive as all of us would wish.”

Following his presentation, Wisner fielded questions from audience members covering a range of topics, such as the timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the Iraqi political leadership, negotiations with Iraqi insurgency leaders, the Kyoto Protocol, Egyptian-American relations, US presidential politics, US support for Israel, and Egyptian domestic politics.