A year ago I wote about Egypt suggesting that even though it was going through a messy transition it was the Middle Easts best bet for sanity. That we needed to be vocal about their direction, but that if they did the right thing we would give them our support. Lets take a look at their progress. They elected former head of the military Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the new President. In the past month Egypt has spearheaded peace talks between Isreal and Hamas, even being called Middle East Mediators. They are currently in three way talks with Ethiopia and Sudan over the controversial Nile dam. Along with the Saudis they are seeking a united front against militant Islam in Iraq and Syria saying the extremist group is not an Islamic State. They are working on a project to modernize the Suez Canal which is getting attention from the World Bank. I dont know about you, but it sounds to me like they have come along way in the past year. Unfortunately the Obama administration continues to give them the cold shoulder which is forcing Egypt to make some hard choices. Russias Putin has vowed to boost arms sales to Egypt and Sisi will make his second visit to Russia on Tuesday. I find this unacceptable and believe that it is not too late to save our relationship with Cairo. Do we really want one of the most stable nations in the Middle East to be sided with Moscow? Will Putin beat Obama again because he wont accept that the Muslim Brotherhood was a destructive force and that Sisi did what he had to do for the sake of the Egyptian people? Obama needs to immediately accept the Sisis Presidency, persuade Sisi to abandon Moscow and release the frozen annual aid with the promise that if Egypt continues to see progress addictional aid would follow. A year ago I think I had a better view of what was going on in Egypt than our own President and I still think I do today. Time to get on board Obama, accept you were wrong on this one and lets move forward. The following is my post from August 18, 2013. On December 17, 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi poured gasoline on himself and lit himself on fire marking the start of the Arab Spring. The protests that followed brought down the Tunisian government and spread across the Arab world. Long term rulers of many Arab countries resigned or were otherwise forced out. Elections were held and the people freely chose their own leaders and in some cases rewrote their constitutions. At first western governments saw this as a positive action however it soon became apparent that in many countries radical elements were much more organized than the moderates and used the electoral process to legitimize their agendas. Billions of American tax payer dollars were spent to help take down governments that were replaced with democratically elected radical Islamists that imposed strict Islamic law on their people thus proving that democratic elections do not always lead to democratic governments. As you are aware, Egypt has been in the news lately due to the military crackdown on followers of The Muslim Brotherhood. Let’s look at how they got to this point and why I believe it is more important than ever to support the Egyptian military’s vision. In February 2011 after weeks of protests the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak resigned followed by the Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik in March leaving the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military to run the country. Elections were held and in June 2012 Egypt’s election commission announced that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi had narrowly won the presidential runoff election. Parliament elected a Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution. Many factions refused to participate in the assembly due to the overwhelming number of Islamists included. In November 2012 Morsi granted himself unlimited powers to “protect” the nation and the power to legislate without judicial oversight. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest what was seen as Morsi’s abuse of power. One week later the Constituent Assembly ratified the 234 article constitution during a 19 hour marathon session. On June 30th 2013, the first anniversary of Morsi’s election, millions of Egyptians flooded the streets of Cairo demanding the resignation of President Morsi. Crowds swelled to approximately 14 million at which time the Egyptian military gave Morsi a 48 hour deadline to make the changes necessary to bring calm to the country or he would be relieved of the presidency. When he refused, the military placed him under protective custody and relieved him of his presidential powers. The military then suspends the constitution, appoints interim leaders and calls for early elections. Almost immediately Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters began protesting. US President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry make it very clear to the Egyptian military that they were not happy with the way they deposed a democratically elected president. Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum were calling for the suspension of US aide. It was clear that the administration was siding with the Muslim Brotherhood and their corrupt president who was persistent on bringing Islamic law to all Egyptians. Empowered by this perceived support the Morsi supporters grew more and more confident in the face of threats from the Egyptian military. Deadline after deadline passed as foreign negotiators attempted to mediate the situation. After weeks without any progress the military moved in breaking up two large camps and after being shot at first, killed over 600 protesters and injured thousands more. Again the American administration condemns the actions of the Egyptian military and threatens to withdraw support. Even now the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi supporters continue to protest and engage in violent behavior under threats from the Egyptian military. So why should the American administration abandon its fascination with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood? Because the Egyptian military has a better idea on how to turn the country around and they are very well aware that radical Islam is not the way. So why are the American administration and many politicians siding with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi? Because Morsi was elected freely by the Egyptian people through a democratic process. Well, isn’t that what the United States stands for and isn’t that the process we desire for all countries? Of course, but what started out in the right direction quickly turned into a tragedy. The first thing that went wrong was when Morsi granted himself unlimited powers to “protect” the nation and the power to legislate without judicial oversight. Basically this made him the supreme leader who could make or change laws without the approval of parliament. The Constituent Assembly saw this as a threat causing them to try to limit this power and urgently completed the constitution. The final result was a president that was assured a lifetime in office with supreme powers and a constitution that imposed radical Islamic law making it impossible to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the legislative process. Many saw this as a one vote, one person, one lifetime political process not a democratic one. When you consider that the constitution excluded the rights of almost half the Egyptian population which is non-Muslim or western leaning moderate Muslims it became apparent that it was only a matter of time before some kind of confrontation occurred. So why should we care what happens in Egypt, after all it’s not that different from many other countries in the area? From the surface this appears to be true, but if we look deeper we can find some differences that could prove to be real game changers in the region. Now we all know that peace with Israel is important and keeping the Suez Canal open is paramount to the world economy, however there are several other reasons why it’s important to look at Egypt differently. First, Egypt has the largest population in the Arab world. Second, a large portion of that population is non-Muslim or are western leaning moderates with no interest in radical Islam. Third, the Egyptian military is not interested in becoming a radical Islamic state and understands the value of peace with the rest of the world. Fourth, Egypt has a diverse economy whose people aren’t dependent on oil entitlements. These factors and many others could make Egypt a great model for the rest of the Middle East. Let’s face it, when you look at what we got for our blood and money in Iraq and Afghanistan the $1.3 billion a year we give Egypt is a huge bargain. We’ve spent an estimated $3-4 trillion over the last ten years on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with very little to show for it. That’s 300 times what we gave Egypt over the same time period. I believe the following needs to happen to aide Egypt complete its democratic transformation and become a successful model for the rest Middle East. The American administration needs to let the Egyptians know that they understand that the Morsi Muslim Brotherhood government was not democratic. That the Egyptian military gave Morsi ample warning that he needed to make changes and when he refuse they had no choice but to remove Morsi and dissolve the government. The situation must not be taken out of context, we should condemn violence, but we must understand that the Muslim Brotherhood does not have the right to incite violence without consequences and that burning churches and firing at government forces will not be tolerated. Before you condemn the Egyptian military ask yourself this, if the Occupy Wall Street protesters were burning banks and when the police came in to clear the camps they were fired upon how do you think it would have ended? We have to understand that things in the short term are going to be messy. If we want to speed up the process it must be made clear that the democratic process needs to be reset and that in order to be democratic it must work for and protect all people not just the winning majority. The next president cannot give himself supreme power and the constitution cannot be hijacked by one group to insure only their agenda is heard. We need to be very vocal with the Egyptians that if they can achieve this goal that we are willing to provide additional aide to help restart their ailing economy. Jobs for young people will divert their attentions away from the promises of radical Islam which will make keeping the peace much easier. One year from now Egypt could be on its way to having a prospering economy with a democratic government that recognizes the rights of all its people. In contrast, one year from now Iraq and Afghanistan will still be crap holes dominated by Islamic radicals with no regard for life or respect for human rights and who are hell bent on the destruction of America.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 02:48:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015