It is now the third day of renewed intense street battles around Tahrir Square and in other places in Egypt. Some 40 people have been killed so far and thousands wounded.
The people want their revolution back. The immediate reason for these renewed protest is a paper that was somehow published last week:
The rally was called to protest a document floated by the government which declares the military the guardian of “constitutional legitimacy,” suggesting the armed forces could have the final word on major policies even after a new president is elected. The document, which includes guiding principles for Egypt's new constitution, also introduces clauses that would shield it from civilian oversight.
Most of Egypt’s pro-democracy groups object to the document, calling it an attempt to perpetuate military rule past the post-Mubarak transitional period which is supposed to end with the election of a new parliament and a new president.
A democracy with the military as a guardian of “constitutional legitimacy" would not be a democracy at all. It would be military dictatorship with a pseudo-democratic face.
To keep it like that would be very much in the U.S. interest. The personal well being of the generals in the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) depends on the yearly U.S. stipend of $1.5 billion and that will only flow if Egypt does what Israel wants it to do.
After the ousting of Mubarak the military first gave in to public demand and said it would open the Rafah crossing to Gaza. But it did not do so. After the foreign minister Nabil el-Araby, seated by the military, united the Palestinian factions against Israel's will, the military moved him away to head the Arab League. On these and other issues the military did not adhere to the will of the Egyptian people, it adhered to the will of the U.S. government.
A really democratic Egypt would elect a government responsible to the will of its people and such a government would not do what Israel wants. The people in Tahrir can therefore not hope for any support or help from the U.S. or any other "western" government. A real democracy in Egypt or any other Arab country is about the last thing the U.S. wants.
The people will have to fight this out. The chances are slim but it is unlikely that the military will risk to send any troops, aside from the military police, into the street. The allegiance of the rank and file soldier to the generals is dubious as several defection during the last protests and the Mubarak ouster have shown. If the pressure from the street and the workers (the military forbid strikes and took other worker rights) becomes big enough the SCAF will have to give in and will have to hand over its current power to a civilian government.
Only then can the process to a genuine democracy in Egypt begin.