Talk of rolling back the dictatorships of the Muslim world has so far focused on Iran, Iraq, and the West Bank and Gaza. These, along with Lebanon and perhaps Saudi Arabia, are the areas where the opportunities for progress toward freedom and democracy are most likely, and the need for such progress most urgent. But, according to a front-page report in yesterday’s Washington Post, the tyranny at Cairo is now finding its way onto the agenda of the Washington policymakers. The Post reports that the Bush administration will make any additional foreign aid to Egypt above its usual allocation of about $2 billion a year conditional on the country’s performance on human rights. The Post reports further that “As part of the administration’s efforts to expand free speech and democracy to Arab countries, the State Department has embarked on a study of U.S. aid efforts in Egypt.”

American foreign aid has long been a salve for governments too stubborn or wrongheaded to adopt intelligent economic policies. So it’s tempting to suggest that the Bush administration isn’t going far enough, and that what would really be nice would be a symbolic cut to the $2 billion — or even zeroing it out. While Egypt has signed a peace treaty with Israel, it has been playing a destructive role in the Middle East. Now Mr. Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, is reportedly grooming his son as his successor. The state-controlled Egyptian press disseminates the basest anti-Semitic libels. The portion of the $2 billion that goes to Egypt in military aid goes to support an army whose training, procurement and strategy are geared to an invasion of Israel.

In fact, there are serious analysts of the Middle East who reckon that of all the countries in that region, Egypt is the most hostile to the Jewish democracy. So linking any incremental aid to progress on human rights is an idea that can take on a kind of urgency. That “study of U.S. aid efforts in Egypt” is likely to be an illuminating exercise. If the $2 billion a year were to be channeled to advocates for freedom, democracy and the rule of law in Egypt rather than to the sclerotic Mubarak government and the military that keeps it in power, it could probably do a lot of good.