Adm. Mike Mullen On Daily Show: Too Many ‘Unknowns’ To Predict Fallout From Egypt

Daily Show viewers may have been expecting a typically madcap program last night when the show led off with a sketch about Jon Stewart and Justin Bieber switching bodies. Yet when Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sat down to discuss the unfolding situation in Egypt, Stewart adopted a far more sober tone, asking Mullen just what the Egyptian uprising meant for the U.S.

“I think starting the show with Justin Bieber and ending the show with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff makes this perhaps the weirdest Daily Show anyone has ever seen,” Stewart said.

Did anyone see this coming, Stewart asked?

“It has taken not just us but many people by surprise,” Mullen said.

Stewart then noted that the U.S. aims to spread democracy to other countries, sometimes, as was the case in Iraq, through military force. Yet now, the U.S. is put in the awkward position of having supported the leader Egyptians want to boot out, while also claiming to promote democracy for all.

“In Egypt, as we see a democratic movement coming from the ground up, we go like ‘hey, what’s that?’ Stewart said. “As a country, do we have to balance this idea of stability and our interests with democracy?”

“Probably balance right now is a terrific way to look at this,” Mullen responded. “In many crises like that there’s just an awful lot of unknowns. So certainty with outcomes, and certainty with what’s going to happen tomorrow, it’s just not there.”

Yet, he added, he was hopeful the situation could be resolved in a way that would benefit both America and the Egyptian people.

“We’re all hopeful this can evolve peacefully with no more violence, and in a way that’s really representative of the Egyptian people.”

Watch the interview:

And watch the Bieber intro: