The Egyptian demonstrations are not the equivalent of Iran's 2009 Green Revolution.  The Egyptian demonstrations are the reprise of Iran's 1979 radical revolution.

Thus, America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform; and prevent a tyrranical government capable of harm.

For if Egypt is radicalized, all of the reforms sought by the Egyptian people and supported by the United States with them - including consensual and constitutional government; free elections; open and unbridled media; and Egyptian control of their natural resources - will be lost.  Nascent democratic movements in the region will be co-opted and radicalized. The world's free and open access to the Suez Canal's vital commercial shipping lanes will be choked.  And the Sinai Accord between Egypt and Israel - which must be protected as the foundation and principal example for Mideast peace - will be shredded.

Though many will be tempted to superficially interpret the Egyptian demonstrations as an uprising for populist democracy, they must recall how such similar initial views of the 1979 Iranian Revolution were belied by the mullahs' radical  jackbooted murderers, who remain bent upon grasping regional hegemony and nuclear weaponry.