US steps up criticism of Egypts leaders

The Obama administration sharply stepped up its criticism of Egypt’s ruling council for its role in a wave of violence that has left 29 dead in the last four days, and demanded that military leaders hand over power to civilians as promised before July.The standoff since Saturday has become Egypt’s most sustained challenge to nine months of military rule and has plunged the country into crisis. While the United States was slow to back the protesters who ended Hosni Mubaraks three-decade authoritarian rule, it is now scrambling to leverage what little influence it still has to ensure the Egyptian military sticks to its election timeline and adopts a softer approach to the civil unrest.That is because the U.S. still sees the council of generals under Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as the best hope to shepherd Egypts difficult transition to democracy. The ideal transition would start with free and fair parliamentary elections next week and end with a civilian president taking the reins by the end of June, as Tantawi promised Tuesday. But much of that vision depends on civil order being re-established.“The violence needs to stop,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. “The Egyptians need to be able to decide their future and decide it in a peaceful manner.”State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Monday called the deaths “deplorable,” but refused to directly criticize Egyptian authorities. She spoke Tuesday in far shaper terms.