Op-ed: Egypt’s disintegration highlights president’s Mideast ignorance, policy failure
Yigal Walt, YNET
The deadly clashes between Egypt’s Copt minority and security forces further stress what should have been clear for a while now: America’s insistence on President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster helped create a catastrophe, with Israel’s southern neighbor increasingly descending into the throes of chaos.
While tensions between Copts and Muslims have persisted for some time, such bloody clashes mark a new low in interethnic relations within Egypt. The violence followed growing attacks against Egypt’s Christian Copt minority in the wake of Mubarak’s dismissal. Needless to say, this would not be happening had the longtime president remained in power.
Premature Enthusiasm?
Arab Spring myth exposed / Yigal Walt
Op-ed: West faces quickly radicalizing Mideast after foolishly lauding Arab uprisings
The growing pandemonium across Egypt is evident on all fronts. The turning of Sinai into a terror hotbed, the reckless popular raids on Israel’s Cairo embassy, and the ascent of the radical Muslim Brotherhood movement all indicate that Egypt’s situation is spiraling out of control.
However, much of what has transpired could have been easily predicted, given a modicum of familiarity with and understanding of the Middle East. However, President Obama, armed with lofty words and meaningless slogans, refused to address the region’s harsh realities, instead focusing his efforts on creating a make-belief world adorned with ludicrous notions and fancy rhetoric. Ever since his embarrassing speech in Cairo shortly after his elections, the entire region has been plunged into growing turmoil.
Mideast going downhill
While the removal of dictators is a welcome development, the manner in which it was done turned the Middle East into a worse place, not a better one. Egypt is disintegrating, Syrians are being butchered en masse, Libya faces a civil war and possible Islamic takeover, and Jordan’s moderate monarchy is feeling increasingly uncomfortable and vulnerable.
Obama was quick to issue his unworkable messages on the Israeli-Palestinian front as well, leading to a lengthy impasse in negotiations, a unilateral Palestinian statehood bid, and general despair on both sides of the divide. Not surprisingly, after lavishing residents of the region with his promising – but ultimately dangerous – words, what we mostly hear from the US at this time is silence, while the fires of the region continue to rage.
However, there is one glimmer of hope despite all: Faced with a tough reelection battle, President Obama is likely to shun the Middle East in the coming months while focusing his attention on domestic affairs. Given the damage he already caused with his reckless intervention, staying out of the region’s affairs may be the best Obama move we can hope for.
As President Reagan said about Jimmy Carter – “There SHE Goes Again!”
If Obama had what it takes to be a President of the United States, something unfortunately MOST, if not ALL Democrats lack in spades, he could have quietly stood by Mubarak (maybe yes, he was old, but his son, and pro-West Generals were standing by, until Bonzo pulled the carpet out) – coaxing him QUIETLY to make reforms but also letting the world know we stood by his government. He could have also issued an ultimatium to the Moslem Brotherhood and its adherents like Al-Baradei letting them know we would NOT tolerate another Iranian revolution no matter what they said or did, and that we’d fully expect Egypt to not only protect minorities like the Copts, but remain steadfest to the Camp David Accords – or face, as REPUBLICANS NOT DEMOCRATS have suggested, an end of US aid to Egypt.
He and little Miss Stupid aka Shrillary did nothing of the sort. Now Copts are being massacred, the pro-MB regime that has taken over is examining any way possible to renege on the Camp David Accords, and as usual Obama either does nothing or is still willing to give our money to a regime that is becoming more and more anti-American as each day passes. Heck, he knew how to bomb Libya, but when people are being slaughtered in anti-American Islamic regimes whose butts he kisses – i.e., Iran, Syria, and now Egypt – Obie boy gives ’em a pass. And I’m quite sure that if the Republicans in Congress do try to end aid to Egypt, Obie Buttlicker and Shrillary Dumbling will scream bloody murder or send out Pizza boy Panetta to say we need to continue giving these regimes our largesse. Just as they did with the Palys.
Catmarin can make up any excuses she can – note Dweller, I’m calling her an idiot but hey, that’s exactly what she is, or terribly naive – but in the end Obama could throw this country under the bus and she’d still sieg heil him and Shrillary right up to the end. We Americans deserve much better than someone who doesn’t care for this country and obviously has a visceral hate for our traditional allies.
The U.S. had nothing to do with the ouster of Mubarak. I remember there being discussions in Washington, and I believe V.P. Joe Biden was for helping him, but in the end the U.S. had no choice but to let events unfold without intervention. The man was in his 80s. I don’t think he could have long remained.
The Grand Mufti of Syria, Amad Badreddine Hassoun, has issued a warning to the U.S. and EU not to interfere in or attack Syria in the midst of its uprisings. The Mufti said, “I say to all of Europe, I say to America, we will set up suicide bombers who are now in your countries, if you bomb Syria or Lebanon. From now on an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The prospect of such intervention seems to have rattled the Assad family. The Western Alliance said it had no intention to intervene in Syria. (But thanks for giving them the idea.) This is the same Grand Mufti who a few years back said that the Quran was being misinterpreted by many. He says the Quran says Muslims should protect and honor the Jews in their covenant with G-d and their land.
Personhood in the U.S. is getting curiouser and curiouser. The state of Mississippi has put on their ballot an amendment that defines a person as existing at the moment of fertilization. On the other hand, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a corporation is a person. Is it any wonder the U.S. is suffering?
The Democrat apologists like Sol and Catmarin will keep saying Mubarak’s ouster was for the best and even come up with comments like Sols – even though there was NO evidence that Mubarak’s security forces were about to disintegrate, UNTIL we and our sanctimonious friends like Sarkozy started pressuring Mubarak to step down. Even the ugly scenes of Lara Logan being attacked by these so-called “freedom fighters” would have never caused a Catmarin to change her mind. Heck, this is the Leftard mindset that gave us wee Jimmy’s betrayal of the Shah, and now the even more incompetent and gutless Obama’s pandering to vicious regimes popping up in Egypt and Lebanon.
Whereas President Bush’s policies, even flawed, guaranteed a real Arab Spring, Obama’s in the end will not only mean a return to the Dark Ages in these countries, but will also put Mohammed Atta types in power and isolated Israel even further. We have evidence of this in Pizza Boy Panetta’s recent visit and warnings to Israel that unless they be nice to Palestinian scumbags, they will be isolated further.
Catmarin prides herself (Sol, e tu?) in claiming Obama’s policies benefit America. Mubarak was an ally and a friend of many years standing. Granted, he wasn’t exactly Mister Human Rights – but neither was the Shah, and what Carter allowed in Iran has turned out to be many times worse than the Shah ever was – Now Mubarak and Egypt –
With Copts being slaughtered in the streets and their churches burned down, with an Egyptian military ready to tear up the Camp David Accords, his sick, lack of thought policies may bring Israel – and America – much closer to a Third World War, a peace of the grave – but hey, that’s what Obama, Hillary and most Democrats apparently want. Ask Jimmy Carter, and do ask Barry HUSSEIN Obama.
Under what scenario could Mubarak have stayed? At the end, even his own guards would have turned on him.