Who lost Egypt”
Dick Morris
In the 1950s, the accusation “who lost China” resonated throughout American politics and led to the defeat of the Democratic Party in the presidential elections of 1952. Unless President Obama reverses field and strongly opposes letting the Muslim brotherhood take over Egypt, he will be hit with the modern equivalent of the 1952 question: Who Lost Egypt?
The Iranian government is waiting for Egypt to fall into its lap. The Muslim Brotherhood, dominated by Iranian Islamic fundamentalism, will doubtless emerge as the winner should the government of Egypt fall. The Obama Administration, in failing to throw its weight against an Islamic takeover, is guilty of the same mistake that led President Carter to fail to support the Shah, opening the door for the Ayatollah Khomeini to take over Iran.
The United States has enormous leverage in Egypt – far more than it had in Iran. We provide Egypt with upwards of $2 billion a year in foreign aid under the provisos of the Camp David Accords orchestrated by Carter. The Egyptian military, in particular, receives $1.3 billion of this money. The United States, as the pay master, needs to send a signal to the military that it will be supportive of its efforts to keep Egypt out of the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists. Instead, Obama has put our military aid to Egypt “under review” to pressure Mubarak to mute his response to the demonstrators and has given top priority to “preventing the loss of human life.”
President Obama should say that Egypt has always been a friend of the United States. He should point out that it was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel. He should recall that President Sadat, who signed the peace accords, paid for doing so with his life and that President Mubarak has carried on in his footsteps. He should condemn the efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood extremists to take over the country and indicate that America stands by her longtime ally. He should address the need for reform and urge Mubarak to enact needed changes. But his emphasis should be on standing with our ally.
The return of Nobel laureate Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has to Egypt as the presumptive heir to Mubarak tells us where this revolution is headed. Carolyn Glick, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, explains how dangerous ElBaradei is. “As IAEA head,” she writes, “Elbaradei shielded Iran’s nuclear weapons program from the Security Council. He [has] continued to lobby against significant UN Security Council sanctions or other actions against Iran…Last week, he dismissed the threat of a nuclear armed Iran [saying] ‘there is a lot of hype in this debate’.”
As for the Muslim Brotherhood, Glick notes that “it forms the largest and best organized opposition to the Mubarak regime and [is] the progenitor of Hamas and al Qaidi. It seeks Egypt’s transformation into an Islamic regime that will stand at the forefront of the global jihad.”
Now is the time for Republicans and conservatives to start asking the question: Who is losing Egypt? We need to debunk the starry eyed idealistic yearning for reform and the fantasy that a liberal democracy will come from these demonstrations. It won’t. Iranian domination will.
Egypt, with 80 million people, is the largest country in the Middle East or North Africa. Combined with Iran’s 75 million (the second largest) they have 155 million people. By contrast the entire rest of the region — Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan, UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar combined– have only 200 million.
We must not let the two most populous and powerful nations in the region fall under the sway of Muslim extremism, the one through the weakness of Jimmy Carter and the other through the weakness of Barack Obama.
The Moslem Brotherhood is the strongest opposition bloc which presents a great problem since there is no charismatic leader to take over from Mubarak leaving these fundamental extremists waiting in the wings.
Recent polls of the Egyptian population suggest that-
30 % are pro Hezbollah
49 % are pro Hamas
20 % are pro al-Qaeda.
82 % want stoning for those who commit adultery;
77 % want to see whipping and hands cut off for robbery or theft;
84 % favour the death penalty for any Moslem who changes his religion.
27 % support modernisation while 59 % want traditional or fundamental Islam:
This suggests that a popular revolution is unlikely to bring democracy –
Shy, I’m sorry we can only seem to agree on our most pessimistic comments. The Jews don’t have a corner on the “Stupid” market. They have pulled their share of bloopers, though. If a person is stupid, though, or otherwise impaired, it’s wise to trust in Hashem.
These events prove once again that it is critical for the US to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. It is oil that makes the Arab/Islamic middle east important and it is oil that funds radical Islam.
Many commenters have offered their opinions on what the US should do in managing Egypt. Before we go manage Egypt we need to manage ourselves and cut our consumption of foreign oil. This means more drilling and heavily subsidizing the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles (much of this subsidy will come back to the general economy in the form of lower gas prices for everyone).
While the middle eastern oil is only a modest part of the our oil imports, oil is a world wide commodity. Cut US usage and prices fall. The fact that demand is increasing in China complicates this effort, but also makes it more critical.
The range of potential outcomes in Egypt is vast. If we are lucky and a stable regime focused on economics emerges then we have more time to get our necks out of the guillotine of foreign oil. If things turn out badly and fundamentalist fever sweeps through the middle east then we will learn the very hard way, that just as the governments of Egypt and Tunisia shouldn’t have spent the last thirty years ignoring the growing threats of income inequality and corruption, we in American shouldn’t have spent the last thirty years ignoring the dangers posed by excessive imports of foreign oil.
The uprisings in N. Africa are being initiated now because Obama lost in November. The forces of revolution have less than two years of Obama to get the job done without fear of resistance or reprisal from the US.
I agree with Andy. Obama (and assorted big-lie State Department lackies in general) have never hidden the fact that they’re pro Muslim Brotherhood. They’ve all perpetrated the whitewashing of Islamic naziism. They’ve all supported (along with the bogus ‘republican’ leaders too) the Islamification of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Palestine, Sudan…
The US isn’t ‘weak’, ‘impotent’ or ‘over extended’, IMO. Mubarrak is under attack just like Hussein was under attack, just using different techniques.
Carter’s “mistake” was no mistake. It won’t be this time, either.
I wish you were right Susan but I’m very skeptical. I don’t see anything positive emerging if the Mubarak regime falls.
I’d like to know how Shiite Iran managed to dominate the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood or how a country 1000 miles away with no direct land/sea/ air access is going to control a vastly larger country? Also, are you going to tell me that the only opposition force in Egypt is the M.B.? Sorry but the two countries are so different in so many ways. And if we do intervene, you plan on volunteering. Even Bush would stay on the sidelines here.
Because that is what you are being fed. it is correct? There is no proof at all this revolt was spearheaded by the MB. It is not to say however the MB have jumped on the wagon. I adore Barry Rubin and seldom disagree with him but this time the poll he uses to compare a segment of Egyptian society to what is going on in the streets is again politically driven by bias.
Sorry to say, the majority of Egyptians are secular and want nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood. This is all politics as unusual and I find that a real pity. I have never felt we need to pander to the street however this time knowing the majority of people on the street are driven by pangs of democracy, what would be served but to not stand with them to some degree?
Then we talk about this supposed peace with Egypt as if it is any kind of peace at all. Look. We have no peace with Syria but do you see them as a threat that Israel can not handle? Furthermore, how much worse is the MUslim brotherhood than Syria a proven state sponsor of terror, puppet of Iran?
In the mean time we forgive Jordanian Royal Family our “good friends and allies in the war on terror”
(cough cough, wink wink) for fueling the insurgency simply be cause our guys at the time in power saidliedtheir guys were ok, so we overlooked it while possibly the our boys brought back in body bags died at the hands of the insurgents we wrongly stood by. Ditto the murderous evil Mubarak.Nothing now can convince me this desire to stand next to the current status quo in Egypt is anything less than political.
Mubarak is the lesser evil to the jihadist muslim brotherhood. I stand by that.
Susan, with all due respect, you are completely wrong. This is being spearheaded by the muslim brotherhood. Also the overwhelming majority of Egyptians do not want western style democracy, they want a sharia state. Please read Barry Rubin’s article where he cites a poll of Egyptians on their attitudes toward the death penalty for muslims who convert to another religion, whipping, stoning for adultery and cutting off the hands of thieves and their overwhelming support for islamists over modernizers.
I’m not saying Mubarak is a good guy. He isn’t. But the forces of jihad will be far worse for all of us. We will have another Iran on our hands.
It is our business because we are at war with jihadists, which the brotherhood is a part of. So long as America remains under threat, it is our business.
I stand by my position. America is leader of the free world and should act like it. We are responsible for safeguarding the interests of the free world.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE USED IN THE FOLLOWING CONTEXT IS A COMPLETE OXYMORON.
The arrogance is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. And I say that as a proud native US citizen.
Yamit82
Because America is in bed with the Saudi’s. Period. End of story.
So what, we should keep our mouths shut forever or only when it is political to do so. Hey, the whole of the Jordanian royal family including the ‘little king’ was in bed with Saddam, big time. What galled me to death was Jordan was called a good friend and ally of the U.S in the war on terror when it was a known fact Jordan sent in thousands of insurgents to Iraq (even more then Syria!!) which helped to tip the scales of the number of OUR BOYS who came home in body bags.
I say liars all.
But sorry this still has nothing to do with what was said to Mubarak concerning democracy! I dislike Obama so bad there are no words to express it but I am not so haughty to have this stick in my craw that what he said concerning democracy to Mubarak was untrue and by Obama of all people. Come on, is this not what we have been waiting to hear out of the mouth of the current
appeaseroccupier of the oval office who we all have such incredible disdain for?? Be honest.Laura.
In deference to your intelligent writings to which I have great respect, on the following I disagree. You say Mubarak is
Who says? What is a lesser evil?
Like it or not, what we see in Egypt
is one of the most democratic displays for freedom we have seen anywhere up until now. It is time we allow the majority protesting who are secular to take a handle of their future.After all, while that future as we would like to see it still remains a long time off, this is a step in the right direction. You have to admit it. Yes, even if it is one step forward and two back. Perhaps this is a first step going to a positive place. Look at it this way,the majority of protesters are secular who by craving freedom are striking out against oppression. Make no mistake, even at loss of their own lives they will stomp on the Muslim brotherhood as well if in fact the MB take over.
Most importantly I can tell you for sure those that lost their loved ones because of arms smuggled through tunnels from Egypt in clear sight of Hosni Mubarak and his American benefactors who had the unmitigated gall to perpetuate the lie that he was a “good friend of the U.S. and ally in the war on terror” would tell you right that by mincing words on who is the worst terrorist amounts to political fodder, nothing more.
How come America never demanded the Saudis democratize? Hypocrites!
America pays lip service to Democracy and human rights only to countries that they don’t have a financial vested interest or countries to powerful to be told what to do like Russia and China even N. Korea and Pakistan are given a pass.
The rioters in the ME and especially in Egypt have more to do with the economic deprivation of the masses than with either Human and political rights. most Egyptians are making less than 5$ a day if they have a job at all. Half of Egypt’s population is under 25. No housing no work no prospects for a future while the rich get richer and none of Egypt’s economic success has filtered down to a majority of the people. Mubarak ruled his police state often brutally and the scene was set long ago for a revolt of the have-nots or as they like to call it the Arab Street.
This is a long overdue revolt whose time has come. Funny it caught all of the worlds Intel agencies flatfooted. SNAFU
Laura:
With all due respect, this is not our choice. this is very much an internal Egyptian matter. In the words of BB- “please make no comment.”
Forget about Mubarak he is finished and is probably using his time to get all of his assets out of Egypt and deciding which country he wants to settle in.
There is mounting evidence that America is behind the movement to replace him.
Clinton put the final nail in his coffin today.
All this is true. But Mubarak is the lesser evil. This is the choice we have. Either his regime or the jihadist muslim brotherhood.
Yeah, he was so helpful as a shield for Iran in their nuclear run-up. Your comment about Israel making peace…pull your head out of it man. The only thing that hasn’t been tried is asking if we could all march into the sea voluntarily. Putz.
What worries me is that Mubarak is spoken way to highly of, like what has he done for Israel other than allow state run newspapers to continue to poison their populace by running Antisemitic caricatures and editorials unabated? What has Mubarak done that an islamist would not do toward Israel? Let’s be honest here, Mubarak allowed tens of thousands of weapons tunnels dug which wrought death upon innocent Israelis after all!! Let’s start talking about this. If not, for sure there are no real friends of Israel.
I ask, beside an apparent air of walking into the unknown as to what is next for Egypt, we as a free society should be happy to finally see revolt in the Arab world. No spin can convince me this revolt is not a step in the right direction. How is it possible we can side with Mubarak while no one can really say exactly what he has done for his ally the U.S which makes his regime the closest ally to the U.S. in the ME…while in the same breath refusing to mention what he has allowed to happen from his soil to the soil of Israel.
The people of Egypt mostly secular, and young are finally speaking. They range from the educated poor to the uneducated poor. All pretty much in the same sinking boat living an oppressed life in a third world country which again, the seemingly enlightened conservatives all refuse to ignore. The majority of those rioting in the streets have no connection with the Muslim Brotherhood. You know it, and so do I. If our so called best ally cared for the people on the street, the ones who truly suffer Mubarak he would have done something about it a long time ago. If our precious best ally in the ME (another lie) worried so much about Islamic radicalization in his country he would have prevented that as well. If our best friend and ally in the Middle East was exactly that post 9-11, War on Terror, he never would have allowed those weapons tunnels dug. If our best friend and ally really was a best friend and ally the people on the streets wouldn’t be rioting against him.
Why are we as champions of human rights protecting Mubarak while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the basic human rights his people have been greatly deprived?
The joke is not on the rioters but those who believe that majority of those rioters modern beyond ever excepting Islamic rule would even welcome the Muslim Brotherhood.
I agree.
I wonder who printed all those demonstrators signs in English and American slang to boot? Any thoughts on that David?
David, a typical clueless liberal has everything wrong here. First of all America doesn’t “give” Israel ten times the money it does Egypt. Secondly it isn’t “giving” Israel the money, it provides loans on the condition that Israel uses it to buy American made armaments. Those aren’t “settlements” but legitimate Jewish communities. Jews have the right to build in their own homeland. Egyptians don’t deserve better than Mubarak. They deserve to be under his control or someone like him because the Egyptian people’s idea of “freedom” is to place Egypt under sharia law and wage war on Israel. The toppling of Mubarak will NOT lead to the type of free and democratic nation that we have in the west. El Baradai is linked to the muslim brotherhood and provided cover for Iran’s nuclear program. He is NO moderate. There is no peace to be made with the so-called “palestinians” who don’t want peace with Israel but they want Israel abolished.
Please Ted, retreive my last post.
Yes we could if we would act like the leader of the free world.
Dick Morris is a schmendrick who knows less about the consequences of this Egyptian revolt than my cat. The Egyptian military is not aligned with Iran and they will decide. As far as the U.S. being the “paymaster” it gives Israel 10 times the amount of money it gives Israel and can’t even get it to stop building settlements. The Egyptian people deserve a lot better than Mubarak, or for that matter Dick Morris. El Baredei is a moderate and he’s right about Iran. It is a lot of hysterical nonsense that they’re the “Fourth Reich”. If Israel were smart – they’d make Peace with the Palestinians now. It would defuse the situation 2000%.
Egypt Protests — Mideast House of Cards Brought Down In Days by Twitter and the Arab Street
By Edwin Black
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/01/28/egypt-protests-mideast-house-cards-brought-days-twitter-arab-street/#ixzz1CWruLmcr
Edwin Black is the author of “IBM and the Holocaust” and “Banking on Baghdad.” This article is based on his just-released books,” The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance During the Holocaust” and “British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/01/28/egypt-protests-mideast-house-cards-brought-days-twitter-arab-street/#ixzz1CWsJ4jXX
Ouch! I agree with Bland again. 🙁 But many of us have said this for a very long time now: Stupid Jews!
Here’s an article from a CFR guy but it’s pretty much correct.
What a different story CNN International is telling. No mention of any Islamic or Islamic fundamentalist influence in this revolution – only a popular uprising on the part of the economically marginalized against a corrupt government.
Robinfox said,
Obama has a LONG, LONG way to go, to match the stupidity of the Israeli Jews. They have literally released HUNDREDS of terrorists from prison, and invited their leaders to rule in their own country. Obama can’t be more Catholic than the Pope, nor more Jewish than the Jews. That’s the heart of the problem.
If Obama manages to evacuate all Americans from Egypt, including all the Embassy staff, he will have done better than Jimmy Carter. We’ll see, if he has the sense to do this.
Not to be an advocate for Obama which I’m not, it doesn’t matter what Obama does now or says now. The writing is on the wall and any perceived influence America thought she had in this region, will very soon be shown in living color to be the myth and the farce it always has.
Bush would have done exactly what his Saudi masters dictated that he do. Bush was a disaster and only time will show if Obama is a bigger disaster than Bush. The final chapter on Obama is yet to be written.
America doesn’t act on any higher principles but only what is good for a select few moneyed interests. All the rest is puerile spin that gullible Americans eat like corn flakes for breakfast.
Because ye have said: ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether-world are we at agreement; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves’ Isiah 28
FINAL NOTE TO THIS POSTED QUESTION:
YES! OF COURSE! Did you expect him to do anything else but follow in that potato head’s destructive footsteps?
Yamit,
This posting isn’t a question of whether Obama will repeat Carter’s mistake or not, but if Obama himself supports terrorists and terrorism? Is Obama aiding and abetting terrorists?
Well, he just gave several millions/billions to Hamas and the PLO. he just released several terrorists from prison; he had done NOTHING to protect Americans in Egypt and i am convinced that if Bush had been in charge he would have immediately gone for a rescue.
Obama doesn’t give a DAMN about anyone or anything except to make his friends trillions of dollars of other people’s money, enrich himself, and do as little as possible to actually do something consctructive. In two years the whole world became a ghetoo because of Obama so we should actually stop asking whether or not Obama cares – he doesn’t and his actions speak louder than his words.
GLICK: POPULAR DEMOCRACY IN THE ME MEANS WAR WITH ISRAEL…….
Caroline Glick nails it. Unleashing the ”Arab Street” with real self governing rule means a return to a heightened state of imminent war in the region. The Arabs have never been cultivated for an eventual peace with Israel any more than the Fakesitnians have under Arafat/Abbas and the Hamas. KGS
One Response to GLICK: POPULAR DEMOCRACY IN THE ME MEANS WAR WITH ISRAEL…….
1.
DP111 says:
29/01/2011 at 18:31
Nobel Peace Prizes for
1. Mandela
2. Arafat
3. Mohammed ElBaradei
4. Obama
Who next – Ayatollah Khameini?
ANDREW BOSTOM: THE EGYPTIANS WANT CALIPHATE AND STRICT SHARIA……..
A sobering reminder—based upon hard data—from an essay of mine published in April, 2007:
In a rigorously conducted face-to-face University of Maryland/ WorldPublicOpinion.org interview survey of 1000 Egyptian Muslims conducted between December 9, 2006 and February 15, 2007, 67% of those interviewed-more than 2/3, hardly a “fringe minority”-desired this outcome (i.e., “To unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate”). The internal validity of these data about the present longing for a Caliphate is strongly suggested by a concordant result: 74% of this Muslim sample approved the proposition “To require a strict [emphasis added] application of Shari’a law in every Islamic country.”
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/?nid=&id=&lb=hmpg
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/incl/printable_version.php?pnt=346
THE RISE OF MUHAMED ELBARADEI WOULD SPELL DISASTER FOR THE REGION
What is happening inside Egypt right now is of tremendous importance for it’s immediate non Muslim neighbor Israel. The BBC is now reporting as I write this that Egyptian Intelligence Chief, Omer Suleiman, has been sworn in as VP of Egypt, which is good for Israel.
The fact that the military is still backing Mubarak means that the Cairo government is still in some control, though the civil government has fled as well as the police.
A Hamas source is also claiming govt security forces in plainclothes are damaging property to make the demonstrators look bad but the Muslim Brotherhood is protecting public property, providing healthcare etc. to the demonstrators – which means that in fact its MB/Hamas damaging public property, blaming it on security forces, and then “protecting” the proprerty from their own operatives.
Whilethe worst problem would be an Islamist takeover, a radical populist government is also dangerous. For example, an unnamed source is saying that:
“the reformist group Kifaya is headed by a virulent, even by Middle East standards, an anti-Semite. El-baredei the reformist candidate wants to work with Hamas. If Suleiman holds than the situation will be ok, but this is serious. Have no illusions. We can not assume the Israel-Egypt treaty will hold.”
So stay tuned folks, the western media is giving Muhamed Elbaradei front and center attention, which means they really think that he will be a good change for the better, when in fact, he’s nothing more than a Muslim Brotherhood stooge. The Finnish media no doubt are buying into the “Elbaradei is the One” meme, and could give a toss, if they have even any knowledge about it, that the MB will be calling the shots through Elbaradei.
Jordan’s opposition: Arabs will topple tyrants
By JAMAL HALABY
Jordan’s Islamic Party Brotherhood leader, Sheikh Hammam Saeed: “The unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple leaders allied with the United States.”
I hate to break it to you but the US does not have the final say of win or lose in other nation’s uprisings. There’s also being damned if you do and damned if you don’t.