Army As Kingmaker, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

Brian Ulrich tries to gauge the motives of military leaders, who met with Mubarak yesterday:

Opposition leaders led by Muhammad el-Baradei have also expressed a desire to negotiate with the military. What is happening within it? Publicly they have sided with the demonstrators, using force mainly to try and bring order by rounding up looters, as just reported a few seconds ago by al-Jazeera English from Alexandria. They may be hoping that if their credibility increases, they can work a transition to the military-friendly Omar Suleiman rather than risk the unknowns of a non-NDP government following a successful revolution.

He later adds, "the more I think about this, the more I suspect the military leadership is seizing the opportunity to install Omar Suleiman now and forestall the possibility of a Gamal Mubarak presidency." Earlier thoughts by Noah Millman here.

(Photo: Egyptian army soldiers take position in front of the Giza pyramids in Cairo on January 31, 2011 as protesters called for an indefinite strike in Egypt upping the stakes in their bid to topple President Hosni Mubarak's regime. By Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images)