I recall the Obama Speech to the Muslim World, when he said in Cairo: “I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum. “
Our President had a good intention but by going directly to the Cairo University without first visiting the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak he in fact ignored the president as well as a large part of the Egyptian civil population, who are not followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Christians, the elite, the administration officials and the Egyptian army. Mubarak had been the president of that country for over thirty years and has maintained the entire Middle East in peace. He was well liked by the Saudis and other Gulf nations as well as by Syria. In my view, it is very arrogant for a guest from another country to tell the population what to do while ignoring their establishment and their leader, even if he personally does not agree with them. Furthermore, after the speech, Obama went to visit the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a blatant lack of diplomacy, and emboldened them to prepare the uprising which eventually caused many death and injuries. The population and the Egyptian army were left with a hidden bitterness, as this was a double insult to their leaders, but following their culture which teaches utmost respect for guests they did not show it.
To make things worse, Obama later forced out Mubarak by repeatedly saying on television “Mubarak get out” and certainly facilitating the “democratic” instauration of the Muslim Brotherhood.
After the congressional losses of the Democratic Party in November 2010, the Arab spring uprisings which started in Tunisia and then in Egypt came like a consolation to President Obama. I believe that before he became president he had dreamed of transforming all the Arab nations into democratic countries. He had attended the madrassa (Islamic school) in Indonesia, and studied his African father’s writes and ideas. A new horizon of Muslim religion and culture opened to him. His pro-Muslim attitude was perceived as selectively supporting the Muslims while denying certain free expression rights to Christians. It came to the point that Farrakhan openly called him “our Messiah”. Since then Obama’s actions did not deny this impression.
Beside the American culture that he enjoyed with his mom and grandparents he observed the life of the African community in the United States. This left a significant mark on him, since his childhood. All this gave him another perspective and experience which were not like those of any child he knew, as he saw life completely differently, also from the viewpoint of his African family, when he spent some time with them in Africa.
He concluded that the best way for the people in the United States and in the world is democracy, only according to his own interpretation, not that of Roosevelt and Truman, of Kennedy and Johnson, or that of Clinton. The majority of Democrats do not contradict him, in order to give him a chance to succeed. The majority of the media and of the Democrats are loyal to Obama, despite the economical problems, the “phony” scandals and other difficulties. What Obama failed to realize is that Democracy and Islam contradict each other, as the first should be all inclusive, while Islam is exclusive and does not tolerate any “non-believers”. He hoped to eliminate poverty by creating democracies in the Middle East, but the economic development stems mostly from free enterprise. Democracies as Obama sees them, with very heavy administrations do not foster economic growth, as we have seen in socialist and communist countries.
Obama has forgotten that his success as the United States President depends on unifying first and foremost the American population, as he mentioned. He should let the entrepreneurial spirit live if he wants to create a robust economy which will create jobs for our unemployed. By ignoring his political opponents and their aspirations and by engaging funds without limit he in fact weakened our economy.
When Obama encouraged the Egyptians to oust Mubarak, the Saudis were very upset as they were good friends of Mubarak. The Saudis said that Obama had threatened their friend and ally without consideration for the grace period Mubarak had given to the United States, by enabling them to win the cold war and to chase the Russians from the Middle East.
Mubarak was the man who kept the Middle East quiet for thirty years. In the news we saw the Egyptian rally filling Tahrir Square in Cairo. We could see that most people were men. The absence of women indicates that the Muslim Brotherhood was leading the demonstration. Their success was due to the great number of Mosques in each village and city which helped them to organize the demonstrations. Yes, many people were on the street, 200,000, 500,000, but where was the rest of the eighty million of the population? Can we consider the absent people is the silent majority which stayed home and did not want to endanger their life?
Recently we threatened to cut the 1.3 billion that the US is giving to Egypt every year. We should be aware that this would mean undercutting our own interests. Do we realize that those revolutions are altering the strategic position of the United States in the world and could accelerate a war between neighboring nations in that fragile area? We can see what is happening in Syria. Is this the way we want to treat our allies as soon as they have a problem?
Are we not endangering the peace treaty which Mubarak succeeded to maintain and which was witnessed by the President of the United States and signed in Washington D.C.on the 26th of March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords? Did we forget that President Sadat was killed by the Muslim Brotherhood? Do we now want to help his assassins?
We knew that Egypt had no democratic government but we benefitted from the fact that it kept the peace in the Middle East for thirty years. In my opinion, this is a good reference for a credible government. Even if it had some flaws under President Mubarak who is now an 82-year-old man, and who has been a trusted western ally. He has been loyal to us for so many years and escaped six assassination attempts. Did he not deserve the respect and courtesy of letting him finish his term with dignity and not letting him be disgraced. After all Egypt is a sovereign country.
Those pressures on Mubarak to leave didn’t make any good impression for the Middle East and for the United States. We can say today with all due respect for our President that his actions didn’t leave any good feeling either for us or for the Arabs.
Born in an Arab country I can say that I know the Arab mentality and values. I can say with certainty that telling a man like Mubarak “to get out now” as our president did openly on US TV, is a disgrace. I don’t know an Arab of the stature of Mubarak who would accept such an insult. I believed at that time and even now that the US was wrong in putting pressure on Mubarak and on the Egyptian Army.
In reference to the American economy, Obama would like us to believe in his theory, forgetting that the American people are smart enough and survived many hurdles, such as revolution and wars.
Only the experience can help the people understand life and the way of life. A man alone cannot help a big nation like the United States without cooperating with the people. How can he help other nations with different cultures and different ways of life? I pray that the United States of America will be spared from the consequences of all the damage it inflicted on other nations, be it voluntarily or involuntarily. I know that Obama went to a few universities. Besides our studies or universities that can shape the life of a human being, there are many other factors, independent of us, which can contribute to the development of a human being.
Despite our help and intervention, all the Arab countries are now in disarray! Our elders taught us a good lesson through their sayings. They used to say “We should not throw away what we have, before finding a better replacement.” By saying to Mubarak “Get out”, the president has in fact engaged the responsibility of the United States. After all, Egypt is a sovereign nation which is not posing any threats to our security. We should not forget that the terrorist Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi was indirectly their leader as well. Today many Muslim Brotherhood leaders fled to Hamas. We applauded when Morsi won in the Egyptian election knowing well that the Egyptian people where not ready for democracy. Sure enough, Morsi wanted to convert the entire Egyptian nation to the rule of the Shaaria and he already prepared and trained Salafits in the Sinai behind the back or the Egyptian Army.
The Egyptian Army was not sleeping; they were aware of Morsi’s plot with Hamas and their intention and activities. This is why the army reacted as it did, i.e. saving the country from the democratically elected Islamist dictatorship. Are we blind not to see this?
I believe that the United States made a mistake in supporting Morsi, once it became obvious that the country wanted to get rid of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Saudis who were not happy with our action of getting Mubarak out with disgrace, did not forget their friends in Egypt. Now they are financing the army for all their needs. General El Sassi received a huge amount of money to boost his situation.
Copyrighr 2013 Emile Tubiana
All this recessive Muslim activity trying to turn back the clock reminds me of American “conservatives” efforts to take America back to the 1950s. it also reminds me of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution, long decayed into corrupt free enterprise like Castro's Cuba is returning to. As I said before, the Internet and the young can see through the controlling rhetoric and will not stand for autocratic rule any more, regardless of its source or moral intention.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane