The military coup of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi last week may well empower forces that are more friendly to the U.S. than the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s new leadership is taking action on two fronts after removing Mursi a year into his term as the first democratically elected civilian president. His exit followed four days of mass protests in the capital and across the country. The Egyptian authorities moved to arrest Muslim Brotherhood leaders as a military-appointed interim president was sworn in with the challenge of healing a polarized nation following the removal of Mursi. In the past, the U.S. has stood by as tanks have rolled into downtown Cairo and brought down the curtain on modern Egypt’s first democratically elected government. This latest development signals the end of a decade-long U.S. project to bring democracy to the Middle East.