Tag Archives: Egypt

In Case You Thought Egypt Would Quiet Down Now That The Muslim Brotherhood Has Been Removed From Power

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This video appears on the website Gates of Vienna and on YouTube:

The comments made do not bode well for the future. The Muslim Brotherhood is Shiite Muslim. They are naturally aligned with Iran. The are part of the dream of a worldwide caliphate. If they are removed from power, part of Egypt’s economic problems will be solved with aid from Saudi Arabia—Sunni Muslims who fear the increased power of Iran. Saudi Arabia is the home of the Wahabi branch of radical Islam, and also the original home of Al Qaeda. Frankly, the Egyptian military is the only possible pro-American and pro-Israel group in this bunch. This is going to be a nasty civil war. I seriously doubt the Muslim Brotherhood will go quietly.

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Was It A Coup?

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The Tampa Tribune posted an article today entitled, “Was the overthrow of Egypt’s government a coup?” Sounds like a very technical question, but right now it is a very important one. USA Today is reporting tonight that Egypt’s military suspended the constitution Wednesday, put President Morsi under house arrest,  and ordered new elections.

The article in USA Today reports:

Al-Sisi  (Army chief of staff Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, speaking on national television in front of a row of prominent political and religious leaders) said the chief judge of the constitutional court, backed by technical experts, would have full powers to run the country until the constitution is amended and new elections are held. Adli al-Mansour, the 67-year-old head of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, is to be sworn in Thursday as interim president, state media.

The Tampa Tribute reminds us:

“U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree,” U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a key decision-maker on U.S. foreign aid, said Wednesday. He said his foreign assistance committee “will review future aid to the Egyptian government as we wait for a clearer picture.”

As soon as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was removed from office, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) began consolidating their power in Egypt. Their goal was to set up a country ruled by Sharia Law, similar to Iran. Elections were held quickly because the MB was the only organized group in the country that could mount a successful campaign. The MB quickly took over the parliament and wrote Sharia Law into the constitution. There really was never to true chance for democracy in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood.

The people of Egypt are dealing with an economy that has collapsed. That may be part of the reason for their going back to Tahrir Square. The military has at least temporarily brought some order to the country, but it remains to be seen where we will go from here.

Much of the Egyptian military has been trained in the United States, and many members of the Egyptian military have positive feelings toward America and its people. Having the military run the country for a while would not be a bad thing for either America or Israel.

The military has at least temporarily taken over Egypt, but I am not sure what they did is an actual coup. It will be interesting to see what the Obama Administration does in terms of aid to the military during this transition period.

 

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Egypt A Year After The Revolution

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It has been a year since Mohamed Morsi became President of Egypt. Egyptians are not happily celebrating that anniversary. Yesterday the Christian Science Monitor reported that as large crowds protested in Cairo, a small crowd attacked the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The article reports:

A Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad El Haddad, said on Twitter that a group of “thugs” was attacking the headquarters, and said two police captains left their posts protecting the headquarters to join the attack. No eyewitnesses reported seeing police engage in the attack. But Morsi has struggled to bring the security forces, long used for suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood, under his control. The police’s refusal to protect the Brotherhood headquarters and other Brotherhood offices are a telling sign.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al Banna. Hassan al Banna was killed in 1949 by Egyptian security services. A ban on Muslim Brotherhood activities was lifted in 1951. In 1952, the Muslim Brotherhood worked with Gamal Abdel Nasser and some young officers who overthrew King Farouk. Nassar began a crackdown on the Brotherhood in 1954, and much of the organization left Egypt and began operating worldwide. In the past, when Egypt had a leadership crisis, the military took control, and whomever they supported took power. However, President Morsi quickly moved to prevent that from happening.

In August, I reported (rightwinggranny.com) that President Morsi ordered Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to retire.

I stated:

This move essentially transfers power away from the military and strengthens the power of the President and the Parliament. The Parliament that was elected in Egypt was largely fundamentalist Islamists who support Sharia Law. Taking control of the military breaks down the last barrier to Sharia Law and to Egypt becoming what Iran became after the 1979 revolution there. The next step will be the official breaking of the treaty with Israel (which will only happen when Egypt feels that it has gotten all the U. S. foreign aid money it is going to get).

By taking power away from the military, President Morsi consolidated his power within Egypt. However, the people who began the revolution in 2011 were not all supporters of Sharia Law. Many of them wanted democracy. Democracy does not mean one election and then tyranny. Because it has become evident that President Morsi is steering Egypt toward being a caliphate, many of the people who originally wanted a change in government do not like the change they got.

It remains to be seen whether or not Morsi will hold power. The Muslim Brotherhood is very powerful and is not above using force to maintain power. It would be wonderful to see freedom come to Egypt, but I seriously doubt that will be the way this ends.

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What Happens When Our Government Does Not Understand The Culture It Is Dealing With

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Front Page Magazine posted an article today showing the cultural differences in the way America and Egypt view our foreign aid to that country.

The article reports:

As earlier suggested, the wonderful thing about Salafis—those extra “radical” Muslims who seek to emulate as literally as possible prophet Muhammad’s teachings and habits—is that they are so unabashed and frank about what they believe.   Such is the degree of brainwashing that they have undergone.  Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded much earlier, doublespeak is not second nature to the Salafis.

The most recent example comes from Al Hafiz TV, an Egyptian Islamic station.  During a roundtable discussion on the U.S. and foreign aid to Egypt, an Islamic cleric, clearly of the Salafi bent—he had their trademark mustache-less-beard—insisted that the U.S. must be treated contemptuously, like a downtrodden dhimmi, or conquered infidel; that Egypt must make the U.S. conform to its own demands; and that, then, all the money the U.S. offers to Egypt in foreign aid can be taken as rightfully earned jizya.

For those of you who may be new to this site, I need to explain what these terms mean. Under Sharia law, which is the legal system the Salafis want to bring to Egypt, non-Muslims are to be given three choices–convert to Islam and conform to Sharia, submit as second-class citizens (dhimmis), or be killed. The jizya is the money paid to the Muslims by the dhimmis every year in a ceremony which is designed to demean them as people and to remind them that the government is generously allowing them to keep their heads. There is no honor in being a dhimmi.

The article further reports:

When the host asked the sheikh “Do the Americans owe us jizya?”  he responded, “Yes,” adding that it is the price Americans have to pay “so we can leave them alone!”  When the host asked the sheikh if he was proclaiming a fatwa, the latter exclaimed, “By Allah of course!” The sheikh added that, to become a truly Islamic state, Egypt must “impose on America to pay aid as jizya, before we allow it to realize its own interests, the ones which we agree to.”

If giving Egypt foreign aid is interpreted by the Egyptian clerics as our acceptance of dhimmi status, then we need to stop that aid immediately. It is not in our best interests as a country to continue feeding this idea. Under Sharia Law, Muslims are not at all obligated to be truthful to dhimmis or to threat them well.

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Common Sense In A Muslim Society

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The International Business Times reported today that Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has stated that the recent diarrhoea epidemics in rural Egypt are caused by breastfeeding women who were cleaning themselves properly before feeding their children.

The article states:

Qandil previously caused widespread anger by offering a bizarre solution to Egypt’s power crisis. He urged the Egyptians to wear cotton clothes and gather in a single room to conserve power.

Has anyone asked about the quality of the water the people in rural Egypt are drinking or bathing in? It’s obviously much easier to blame women.

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The Visit That Occurred After The F-16’s Were Delivered

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The Blaze is reporting today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has visited Egypt and met with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi today. This is the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian leader since the 1979 Iranian revolution. The visit also occurred two days after Egypt received its shipment of F-16’s from America.

The article reports:

Though Egypt’s shifting alliances are unavoidably apparent, the United States is continuing to arm the country.  On Sunday U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson held a ceremony in Cairo to mark the arrival of four F-16 fighter jets from the United States.  Twenty in total are due to be delivered throughout 2013.

“Today’s ceremony demonstrates the firm belief of the United States that a strong Egypt is in the interest of the U.S., the region, and the world,” she declared.

According to the United States Embassy website, the U.S. has delivered 224 F-16 aircraft to Egypt.

It is interesting to me that the visit occurred after the planes were shipped. I really do question the wisdom of arming the present Egyptian government. This may easily be something we will regret later.

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The Results Of Sharia Law

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Sharia Law is the justice system of Islam. It discriminates against women in the way it regards the testimony of a man versus the testimony of a man, and it allows for honor killing–the murder of a family member for improper behavior. Sharia Law does not allow religious freedom and treats non -Islamic members of society (if it allows them to live) as second-class citizens. It prohibits Bibles, crosses and Christian literature. It also preaches anti-Semitism. It is the law of the land in Saudi Arabia, and soon may be the law of the land in Egypt.

One of the uglier sides of Sharia Law has recently come to light in Saudi Arabia. The Washington Examiner reported on Sunday that Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic cleric who killed his five-year-old daughter because he suspected that she was not a virgin, has been released from prison.

The article reports:

Saudi media reports say Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a frequent guest on Islamic TV programs, was arrested in November on charges of killing the girl. The reports said he questioned the child’s virginity.

Saudi media say he was freed last week after serving a short prison term and agreeing to pay $50,000 in “blood money” to avoid a possible death sentence.

That is the face of Sharia Law.

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Democracy As We Know It Has Ended In Egypt Before It Even Began

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Democracy in some countries means one election one time and no further voting. In Egypt it took three elections–one for the President and two for the constitution. The Australian reported today that the second vote on the constitution in Egypt will cement the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement saying:

“The Egyptian people continue their march towards finalising the construction of a democratic modern state, after turning the page on oppression,” the Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, said in a statement.

This will mean the end of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. They will no longer have the freedom to worship that they previously enjoyed.

The article reports:

Rights groups say the charter limits the freedoms of religious minorities and women, while giving the military too much power.

Mr Morsi had to split the voting over two successive Saturdays after more than half of Egypt’s judges said they would not supervise the polling stations.

We will now be watching Egypt become an Islamist state similar to Iran. Sharia Law will eventually be instituted. This does not bode well for peace in the Middle East.

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Why Are We Sending Fighter Jets To Egypt ?

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On December 11, the Debka File reported that on December 11th, President Obama announced that four F-16 fighter planes – of the 20 approved in a $1 billion US foreign aid package to Egypt – would be delivered Jan. 22.

The article reports:

The opposition has clipped President Morsi’s wings once by making him annul the near-dictatorial powers he gave himself. Forcing him to forego the referendum would further undermine his authority.

So the president (President Obama) fought back by authorizing the military to secure state buildings and arrest civilians in the incendiary days leading up to Saturday’s referendum. Debkafile’s military sources report that Monday, six Egyptian Air Force F-16 fighters flew symbolically over Cairo.

With this shipment of planes, President Obama is sending a message to Middle Eastern countries that he supports the Muslim Brotherhood in the region and its takeover of Egypt.

The article reports:

At all events, President Obama has made his choice, opting for Egypt’s Islamists against the pro-democracy and liberal opposition – a choice that he might have found embarrassing when he campaigned for his second term.
Israel had a dark premonition of what was coming.  Obama began laying the background for his strong alignment with Islamist Egypt last month with the dramatic announcement of a ceasefire in Cairo on Nov. 20, that was delivered jointly by Morsi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

…Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was ready to fit into the role cast Israel by the US president. He therefore chose to hold back from a ground incursion in the Gaza Strip and then agreed to the radical Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal visiting Gaza last week.
His reward came at the same time as Washington’s announcement of the 20 F-16 fighters for Egypt: The US has appropriated $650 million worth of ordnance to refill the Israeli arsenals depleted by the massive Pillar of Defense air offensive in Gaza.
Under this deal, the US will supply the Israeli Air Force with 6,900 satellite-guided “smart bombs;” 10,000 mixed bombs – including 3,450 one-tonners and 1,725 bombs weighing 250 kilograms – as well as two kinds of buster-bunkers – 1,725, GBU-39 bombs and 3,450 BLU-109s.

In essence we are arming both sides of the conflict, a move that will eventually bring war–not peace. Instead of letting Israel deal with the problem of rockets coming from Gaza, we promised them more defensive weapons if they would not take the necessary steps to end the flow of rockets into Israel.

President Obama has turned his back on the pro-democracy in Egypt, and he has also put Israel in danger. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East where women have equal rights and people are free to practice the religion of their choice. Why are we not supporting Israel and other pro-democracy forces instead of the Muslim Brotherhood?

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One Of The Dangers Of The New Media

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The credit for this article goes to DaTechGuyBlog. DaTechGuy truly represents the new media–he has his own radio show (Saturday morning 10-12 on WCRN 830 AM or on the internet at wcrnradio.com), he is on twitter, and he will go anywhere to follow a story. He lives in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and was picking up a pizza in a local pizza place recently where the owner was watching a satellite channel in Arabic. The owner was talking to DaTechGuy about the use of violence by the Muslim Brotherhood to suppress the protests. Naturally, DaTechGuy looked into this.

The article posted at DaTechGuyBlog today shows some of the tweets coming out of Egypt describing what is happening. He posts capture shots of some tweets by Sandmonkey.  One of the tweets of Sandmonkey cites another tweeter, Gehad El-Hadd. Sandmonkey claims that El-Hadd is a liar.

My purpose in pointing this out is to show that the new media can be used for bad or for good. DaTechGuy points out that you have to go through five pages of El-Hadd’s tweets before you get to tweets in Arabic. Sandmonkey tweets both in Arabic and in English. So if most of El-Hadd’s tweets are in English, what audience is he aiming at?

An article in the Egypt Daily News posted yesterday stated:

The Muslim Brotherhood is waging a war of perception, not just for domestic consumption but for a western audience, too. Perception is crucial for two reasons: To defeat non-Islamist opponents, who may lose faith quickly when watching the endless number of pro-Morsy protestors in comparison to their relatively lower number in Tahrir and, secondly, to convince western nations that Islamists are the only reliable, powerful force in Egypt and that they are backed by the “majority” of Egyptians.

Eighty years of a mushrooming underground within Egyptian society has resulted in deep mistrust of mainstream establishments. Islamists view members of these establishments and other non-Islamist forces with deep suspicion and consider them elitist, anti-religious snobs. The strict, rules that govern the Brotherhood’s internal structure were partly introduced to protect the group from outside “corruption.”

This combination plus simmering resentment and years of grievance have finally exploded in the recent crisis in Egypt, and it partly explains the abrupt, odd way that Morsy has chosen to deal with it.

The situation as I see it is that Morsi wants to consolidate his power in Egypt and set up his part of the world-wide caliphate the Muslim Brotherhood is planning to build. This will be easier for him to do if he can convince the West that he is actually the good guy and the people protesting him are the bad guys. He will do his best to put down this rebellion against his power grab, but he doesn’t want the West to think that he is creating the caliphate he is creating. Morsi is an expert at propaganda. It is no surprise that he will use traditional and new media for his purposes.

All of us need to be very careful in deciding exactly who and what what we believe.

One Election Does Not Make A Democracy

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Fox News is reporting today that Egyptian President Morsi’s recent changes to Egyptian law are being criticized by the top judicial body in Egypt.

The article reports:

In a statement carried on MENA Saturday, the Supreme Judicial Council says they regret the declarations President Mohammed Morsi issued Thursday.

The council is packed with judges appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak. It regulates judicial promotions and is chaired by the head of the Court of Cassation.

Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered Saturday to protest in central Cairo, where supporters and opponents of Morsi clashed the day before in the worst violence since he took office.

The Times Union of Albany, New York, reports:

Morsi and the Brotherhood contend that supporters of the old regime are holding up progress toward democracy. They have focused on the judiciary, which many Egyptians see as too much under the sway of Mubarak-era judges and prosecutors and which has shaken up the political process several times with its rulings, including by dissolving the lower house of parliament, which the Brotherhood led.

His edicts effectively shut down the judiciary’s ability to do so again. At the same time, the courts were the only civilian branch of government with a degree of independence: Morsi already holds not only executive power but also legislative authority, since there is no parliament.

The timing of this is important. On Wednesday, Morsi brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and on Thursday, the new edicts were issued. The Obama Administration had just praised Morsi for his work on the cease-fire and was put in a position where it would have been awkward to criticize him. We have been snookered again.

Don’t look for democracy in Egypt. Sharia Law will be in effect shortly, and it is incompatible with democracy.

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What Was Gained By The Middle East Cease Fire ?

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Obviously, one of the main things gained by last night’s cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is that at least for the moment no one is getting attacked by rockets or suicide bombers. That is a good thing, but what is the price of this cease-fire?

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line posted an article yesterday listing the pros and cons of the agreement.

Some of the pros:

First, the agreement puts an end, at least for now, to the bombardment of Israel.

...Second, the agreement means that Israel will not undertake, at least for now, an invasion of Gaza. Such an invasion would have been bloody. Now, that bloodshed is avoided.

A third advantage exists to the extent that the U.S. made secret promises to Israel in exchange for its agreement to the cease fire (one hopes that Israel demanded some). Abstract promises and guarantees from Obama regarding Israel’s security are meaningless. But let’s hope that Israel received concrete promises pertaining to weaponry and the like.

Mr. Mirengoff points out that Hamas might have made the agreement because it was running out of rockets.

Unfortunately, there are also some problems with the cease-fire.

The article reports:

First, Hamas won. Why? Because it bombarded Israel and was not crushed for it.

…Second, because Hamas wins, Israel loses. There is no such thing as a win-win deal with an enemy whose goal is your destruction.

…A third disadvantage is that Israel reportedly has agreed to cease the targeting of terrorists like Ahmed al-Jabari, who was killed by an Israeli air strike at the outset of this conflict. This means that Hamas operatives can kill Israelis, or cause them to be killed, and then walk the streets of Gaza without fear of Israeli retaliation.

The article also notes some of the effect this conflict and truce will have on Iran‘s view of America‘s role in the Middle East. It appears that America acted as a neutral party rather than a supporter of Israel. We have told Israel that they could not target terrorists as we ourselves are targeting terrorist with drone strikes.

The article reaches some troubling conclusions:

More broadly, the fact that Hamas came out ahead — a bombing campaign against Israel produced Israeli concessions — will strengthen Israel’s many enemies. It will confirm their view that the Arab spring has turned the tide against Israel, and that history is on their side. The importance of this kind of cosmic confidence cannot be overstated.

The fact that Egypt is credited with brokering the deal will be part of the narrative. For one thing, of course, the radical Islamist government that brokered the deal is a creation — indeed, the flower — of the Arab Spring. For another, the fact (or even the perception) that Israel needed a radical Islamist government to bail it out of conflict it didn’t win militarily is a huge victory for the Muslim Brotherhood and, by extension, to Israel’s Islamist enemies everywhere.

This bring us to Iran. What will the mullahs think of this saga? One takeaway is that Israel did not defeat the weakest of its enemies. This follows Israel’s failure to defeat Hezbollah in the last Lebanon war. Iran will believe that, increasingly, Israel is a paper tiger that has lost the will to fight. This, in turn, will embolden Iran and its allies/puppets.

Stay tuned.

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The Cost Of The Arab Spring

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This is not another post about Benghazi, although I suspect that there will be one by the end of the day–it is a post about Egypt. President Morsi visited Gaza this week to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. While he was there, the Palestinian people fired rockets on Israel from Gaza. No problem. The fact that Egypt supposedly has a peace treaty with Israel was evidently not important to either President Morsi or the Palestinians. Well, it gets worse.

Yesterday the Weekly Standard reported that rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula into Israel on Friday night. Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula during the six-day war of 1967. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in a treaty signed in 1979 between Israel and Egypt.  That treaty was the reason the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat. The Muslim Brotherhood is now in charge of Egypt.

The article reports:

This new front comes a day after a rocket landed near Tel Aviv and on the same day Israel’s capital Jerusalem was the target of rocket fire. Those attacks were courtesy of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“After Tel Aviv metropolitan area, capital under fire too: An air raid siren was sounded in Jerusalem and surrounding communities early Friday evening. After residents reported hearing blast sounds, security forces confirmed that one rocket had landed in the Gush Etzion area near a Palestinian village,” Ynet reports.

“There were no reports of injuries or damage. This was the first air raid siren sounded in the area since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Air raid sirens were sounded in southern communities throughout the day and a barrage of missiles hit the area.”

Israel needs to defend herself, and she needs to defend herself in a way that makes it a bad idea to launch rockets against her in the future. Unfortunately, when Israel fights back, most of the world community chooses to blame her for the violence.

 

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Now That Israel Is Defending Itself Egypt Is Calling For A Truce

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Reuters is reported today:

(Egyptian) Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited the Gaza Strip officially to show solidarity with the Palestinian people after two days of relentless attacks by Israeli warplanes determined to end militant rocket fire at Israel.

You need to pay attention to the last part of that statement. Prime Minister Kandil wants to show solidarity with the Palestinian people because they had been attacked for two days by Israeli warplanes. The warplanes were sent to end the constant rocket fire at Israel that has been going on for much longer than two days. So where was the concern when the rockets were coming down on Israeli civilians?

The article reports:

Israel’s military strongly denied carrying out any attack from the time Kandil entered Gaza, and accused Hamas of violating the three-hour deal.

“Even though about 50 rockets have fallen in Israel over the past two hours, we chose not to attack in Gaza due to the visit of the Egyptian prime minister. Hamas is lying and reporting otherwise,” the army said in a Twitter message.

Kandil said: “Egypt will spare no effort … to stop the aggression and to achieve a truce.”

If you look at the history of the Middle East wars, you will see a pattern. Any time Israel comes close to putting an end to the groups that constantly attack her, someone (usually the United Nations) steps in and demands a cease fire and a truce. It is fine when Israel is being attacked, but when Israel strikes back, there is outrage. I cannot think of another country in the world that would exercise the sort of restraint under fire that Israel has shown.

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Why Are We Giving Money To Egypt ?

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Why are we giving money to Egypt? The short answer is very simple–it keeps the Suez Canal open. However, giving Egypt aid is beginning to look look like a losing proposition.

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line posted an article yesterday about an interview the New York Times did with Egyptian President Morsi. It is no secret that President Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Has the press bothered to see what the Muslim Brotherhood stands for? The creed of the Muslim Brotherhood is: “God is our objective; the Koran is our law; the Prophet is our leader; jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.” The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is a world-wide caliphate under sharia law. According to the documents introduced in the Holy Land Foundation Trial (the first part of the documents are in Arabic, the second part is the English translation), the Muslim Brotherhood has a plan to turn America into an Islamic state (part of the world-side caliphate). Part of that plan is to bring Muslim Brotherhood leaders (known and unknown) close the the centers of power in America. Please note the following:

Breitbart.com reported on Friday that Bill Clinton will be hosting Egyptian President Morsi at the eighth annual meeting of Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative in New York next week. President Morsi will be a ‘featured participant’ in the event.

The article at Power Line reports:

Morsi told the Times that it is up to Washington to repair relations with the Arab world and to revitalize its alliance with Egypt. Morsi added that the U.S. needs to fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world, showing greater respect for its values and helping build a Palestinian state. “Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region,” he explained.

If American taxpayer money has caused the Arab world to dislike us, why are we still giving them money?

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More Under The Radar

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The New York Post is reporting today that the Obama Administration is in negotiations with the new government of Egypt to release the blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman to Egypt as a gift to the new government of Egypt. The Obama Administration denies that this is the case, but the story can be found on at least two reliable internet sources that I am aware of. As I am sure you remember, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman was responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

The New York Post reports:

His incarceration was the subject of Arabic-language message-board rants two days before protesters stormed the US Embassy in Cairo and later killed the American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, according to a Department of Homeland Security report obtained by Fox News.

They wrote he should be released, “even if it requires burning the embassy down with everyone in it.”

King and other congressional Republicans sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying, “The release of Abdel-Rahman or any terrorist who plots to kill innocent Americans would be seen for what it is: a sign of weakness and a lack of resolve by the United States and its president.”

I will bet anyone a steak dinner that sometime after the election, when the Obama Administration thinks no one is looking, the Blind Sheik will be sent back to Egypt. It may be framed as a compassionate move, as the Sheik is elderly, but he will be sent back to Egypt.

Please consider this when you vote in November.

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Bad Decisions Have Consequences

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Today’s Washington Free Beacon reports:

Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”

It really is a shame that Americans are not allowed to sue the government. The article reports that if this information is true, Ambassador Patterson failed to do her duty to protect American interests in Egypt. The American Embassy is considered U. S. territory, and Ms. Patterson’s job (and oath of office) is to protect that territory.

The article further reports:

Given that the siege of the Cairo embassy unfolded over many hours, the source wondered if new orders pertaining to the rules of engagement were ever issued.

Ambassador Patterson was in Washington D.C. during the attacks, according to reports.

“I cannot believe that over an eight hour period that nobody … in that chain of command did not ask those questions of their superiors,” the source said. “These protestors did not just appear and within 20 minutes climb the wall.”

A Marine spokesperson at the Pentagon denied the Free Beacon’s report in a statement to Fox News.

Of course he did. I think we need some new security people.

UPDATE:

Special Report on Fox News is reporting that this story is not true. I will post more after I find out who is telling the truth.

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What Happens When America Does Not Show Strength

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The American Embassies in Egypt and Libya were attacked yesterday on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attack on America. The supposed cause of these attacks was a film clip shown on YouTube that was unflattering to Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Four people were killed, including the American Ambassador to Libya–the first American Ambassador to be killed overseas since 1979.

Stop and think about this for a minute. Four people are dead because a film showed something a group of Muslims found offensive.

Violence in response to violence is not generally a good idea, but what do we do now? We helped the revolution in Libya and we have given money to the new government of Egypt. This is the thanks we get. Al Qaeda and Muslim extremism is partially funded by the money Americans spend to put gasoline in their cars. There is an immediate response that will get some results and a long term response that will get permanent results.

A friend of mine recently lent me the book, The Arab Mind. In the opening chapters of the book, the author, Raphael Patan, talks about some of the roots of our current battle with radical Islam. The book points out that the Egyptians and Arabs saw the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel as a Muslim victory. This emboldened them, and the oil embargo and rapid rise in the price of oil followed. The new-found riches caused by the sharp spike in oil prices allowed Arab countries to buy anything they wanted to exert their power.

There is a two-fold way to end the Muslim crime-wave of the last forty years. The first step is to cut off all aid to Egypt and Libya. The second step will take a bit longer. America needs to develop its own energy resources–NOW! We need to build oil refineries, build the Keystone Pipeline, and drill offshore in America instead of paying Brazil to drill off their shore (we loaned them the money and they are selling the oil to China). If green energy is viable, it will develop naturally without taxpayer money. If the government stops over-regulating the energy business, America can be energy independent within five to ten years. American energy independence is the only answer to Muslim extremists.

 

 

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Are We Back To The Days Of Czechoslovakia ?

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On Tuesday, Frank Gaffney posted an article in the Washington Times about the treatment of Israel by the Obama Administration.

The article begins by reminding us:

In October 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a prophetic warning: “Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938, when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a ‘convenient temporary solution.’ ” He declared: “Israel will not be Czechoslovakia.”

Mr. Gaffney compares the statements of the Obama Administration that indicate Israel is on its own to the statements made by western nations in 1938, which Hitler took as a green light to invade the nation of Czechoslovakia. The Obama Administration does not seem to notice that Iran is closely watching the statements the administration is making regarding Israel.

The article reminds us:

Even more troubling has been the cumulative effect of Obama policies toward the Middle East that are helping transform large swaths of the region into a festering Islamist sore, prone to jihad — most immediately against Israel and, inevitably, against the United States. In particular, Mr. Obama’s determination to legitimize, empower and enrich the government of Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi adds materially to the danger confronting the Jewish state and American interests.

The legitimization will reach new heights later this month when Mr. Morsi gets the red-carpet treatment in New York and Washington. The empowering included not just demands conveyed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in July that the Egyptian military surrender power to the Brotherhood-dominated presidency and legislature. It also apparently entails U.S. acquiescence to Mr. Morsi’s moves to remilitarize the Sinai in violation of the Camp David Accords. The enriching piece involved an unconditional, lump-sum payment earlier this year, over bipartisan congressional objections, and is reportedly to be followed by the incipient transfer of a further $1 billion.

Predictably, as with the sellout of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, what such concessions will produce is an emboldening of freedom’s enemies. That will not be good for its friends — here or abroad.

We can sit and watch as Egypt remilitarizes the Sinai Peninsula or we can choose to develop a backbone and cut off any aid to Egypt until it removes its troops and weapons from the area. Unfortunately, I think under President Obama, we will sell out Israel just as Europe sold out Czechoslovakia. Selling out Israel may bring us a temporary period of something that looks like peace, but it will not bring us peace.

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Can American Aid Buy Peace ?

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Today’s Wall Street Journal is reporting that the American State Department is working out a deal with the new Egyptian government to give them $1 billion in debt relief. Aside from the fact that America faces its own debt problems, what in the world are we supporting? This is obviously an effort by the State Department to encourage Egypt to keep the peace treaty it signed with Israel that returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Unfortunately, that peace is danger due to the actions of the new Egyptian government.

On August 6, the Los Angeles Times reported that Islamic militants have increased their presence in the Sinai Peninsula since the revolution in Egypt. We need to understand the the new government of Egypt will align itself with Iran and is fundamentally opposed to the existence of Israel.

The article in the Wall Street Journal reports:

But the election in June of Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, Mohammed Morsi, has called the strength of the old alliance into question. Mr. Morsi selected Beijing last week for his first official trip outside the Middle East, followed by a trip to Iran—moves some observers saw as a deliberate snub to Egypt’s traditional Western backers.

The arrival of an Islamist government followed by political upheaval and disconcerting moves on the international stage fueled questions over the reliability of Mr. Morsi as a U.S. ally. But his efforts at internal stability and his public criticism of Syria’s regime while visiting Tehran last week, which angered his hosts, have helped balance U.S. views of the new Egyptian leader.

At the present moment, America is dealing with record budget deficits and facing drastic cuts to our military. I realize that I am only an ordinary citizen, but it makes absolutely no sense to me to give $1 billion to a country that is in the process of aligning itself with countries that do not wish us well.

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The Muslim Brotherhood Makes A Move In Egypt

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Reuters is reporting today that Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, has ordered Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to retire.

The article reports:

President Mohamed Mursi also cancelled a constitutional declaration that limited presidential powers and which the ruling army council issued in June, as voting in the election that brought Mursi to power drew to a close.

There had previously been much debate over the fate of 76-year-old Tantawi, who had ruled Egypt as head of the military council after Mubarak was toppled last year, but the timing of the announcement to replace him was a surprise.

The move sidelines Tantawi, whose presence had cast a shadow over Mursi’s rule, and appeared to whittle away at the remaining powers of the military, from whose ranks every president for 60 years had been drawn until Mursi’s election.

This move essentially transfers power away from the military and strengthens the power of the President and the Parliament. The Parliament that was elected in Egypt was largely fundamentalist Islamists who support Sharia Law. Taking control of the military breaks down the last barrier to Sharia Law and to Egypt becoming what Iran became after the 1979 revolution there. The next step will be the official breaking of the treaty with Israel (which will only happen when Egypt feels that it has gotten all the U. S. foreign aid money it is going to get).

Unfortunately, the outreach initiative by the Obama Administration to the Arabs in the Middle East has resulted in a loss of  freedom for the people of the Middle East, heightened tensions in the area as the countries align against Israel, and the probable loss of Iraq and Afghanistan to extreme Islamists.

I am not sure a new administration in Washington can solve these problems, but I can pretty much guarantee that four more years of President Obama will make them worse.

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Candid Camera In Egypt

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Hot Air posted a video yesterday of a candid-camera-type show in Egypt. The video has been taken down supposedly due to copyright infringements. The ‘joke’ of the program was that the people who were being interviewed were told halfway through the interview that they were being interviewed by an Israeli television station. In the three instances shown, the interviewees then  physically attacked either the person interviewing them or a member of the stage crew. The interviewees only calmed down after being assured that no one of the set was Jewish. What does this tell you about the chances for peace in the Middle East?

The article at Hot Air quotes an article by Jonathan Tobin via MEMRI TV:

Viewing the invective about Jews and Israel being spewed on the show by three apparently prominent members of the Egyptian arts community is damning by itself. It says a lot that the show’s producers thought one of the most outrageous things they could do to Egyptians was to trick them into sitting down with Jews. Nor is it surprising that the response generated hate speech about the character of the Jewish people and the authenticity of the Holocaust.

But the punch lines of each segment in which the subjects are informed they are on a candid camera show, which was required in two cases to avert more violence if not bloodshed, is also illustrative. There were no reproaches from the hosts for the violent behavior that followed when the guests were told they were on Israeli TV. It was only when they were pretending to be Israelis that they tried to push back against the slanders. Once they were back in their own identities, all was forgiven. The host only had praise for her dupes — even the one who slugged her — for demonstrating what she described as “patriotism” by their anger about being set up to talk with Jews.

Racism and bigotry are not the path to peace.

How’s That New Diplomacy Initiative Working For You ?

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CNN is reporting today that protestors threw tomatoes at the motorcade carrying Hillary Clinton in Egypt. The protestors shouted, “Monica, Monica, Monica” as Mrs. Clinton left the U.S. Consulate in Alexandria. That’s just tacky. This is Hillary Clinton–not Bill. She wasn’t the one involved with Monica. I just think it is tacky and cruel to do that to a wife who has been treated badly by her husband. I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton, but I think that was over the top. Anyway, back to the story.

The article reports:

But after this year’s elections, the military council issued a decree stripping the presidency of much of its power. And more than two weeks after Morsy took office, the country remains in the throes of domestic political chaos. The president has no Cabinet and the country has no parliament.

Clinton met with Morsy on Saturday and urged him to assert the “full authority” of his office. She stressed that it is up to the Egyptian people to shape the country’s political future, but also said the United States would work “to support the military’s return to a purely national security role.”

Morsy, the new President of Egypt, resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party shortly after the results were announced, in an apparent effort to send a message that he will represent all Egyptians. Lifelong members of the Muslim Brotherhood don’t just resign. This would be like resigning the Mafia (or the CIA)–it really doesn’t happen. The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is the establishment of the worldwide caliphate through social, political, and military action. The Muslim religion includes the practice of Taqiyya, generally described as lying for the sake of Islam–particularly toward infidels. We need to keep this in mind when dealing with Egypt.

Meanwhile, The Blaze reported yesterday that the Reverend Michel Louis and a 39-year-old Boston woman named Lisa Alphonse and a tour guide were kidnapped Friday when an Egyptian Bedouin stopped their bus on a road linking Cairo to Mount Sinai.

ABC News reports:

Jirmy Abu-Masuh, 32, of the Tarbeen tribe, said in an interview that he stopped their tour bus and also kidnapped their 28-year-old tour guide Haytham Ragab as well so he could translate.

Abu-Masuh told The Associated Press that the Americans are being treated well — they’ve been given tea and a traditional Bedouin meal of lamb — but they won’t be released until his uncle, who is in an Egyptian prison, is released as well. He also said that if his uncle is not released, he will abduct more people.

“If my uncle gets 50 years (in prison), they will stay with me for 50 years. If they release him, I will release them,” he told the AP. “Tomorrow I will kidnap other nationalities and their embassies will be notified for the whole world to know.”

Do you think this would be happening if America had a strong President? Does anyone remember Osama Bin Laden saying that when he planned the 9/11 attacks, he never dreamed that America would retaliate. When we vote in November, we really need to consider which candidate is actually willing to defend America and Americans.

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Some Negative Consequences Of The Arab Spring

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As much as many people would like to see democracy come to Egypt, it doesn’t seem as if the situation is headed in that direction. Aside from the political tension in Egypt between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, there is another aspect of the impact of the revolution in Egypt.

The BBC is reporting today that there has been a deadly attack in Israel on the border with Egypt that has killed on construction worker and injured another. The construction workers were building a fence along the Israeli Egyptian border.

The article reports:

Israeli officials said at least three gunmen had opened fire at the convoy of vehicles and also detonated an explosive device.

“A terrorist squad opened gunfire and possibly also fired an anti-tank rocket at an area where [Israel] is constructing the border fence,” Israeli military spokesman Yoav Mordechai told army radio.

“Soldiers arrived on the scene and killed one terrorist.”

They said that a second militant had been killed when the explosive device he was carrying detonated and the body of a third was found at the scene.

He said that those targeted were workers completing the border fence.

The workman who died was an Arab citizen of Israel, according to Reuters news agency.

The entire border area, including a major road near the coastal resort town of Eilat, was closed for a few hours after the attack and roadblocks were set up.

Military officials said they believed other militants involved in the attack had escaped back across the border into Egypt.

During Mubarak’s time, the border between Israel and Egypt was kept relatively secure. There were tunnels, but generally the border was not a staging area for terrorist activity in Israel. Since the fall of Mubarak, the border has been used for a number of terrorist attacks against Israel. The so-called Arab Spring will not bring either peace, democracy, or freedom to the Middle East.

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An Interesting Development In Egypt

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Fox News is reporting today that the Islamist parliament in Egypt has been dissolved by Judges appointed by Hosni Mubarak. The Judges have ruled that Mubarak’s former prime minister can run in the runoff election this weekend. A victory by the former prime minister would allow the military and the remnants of the old regime to stay in power.

The article reports:

The rulings effectively erase the tenuous progress from the past year’s troubled transition, leaving Egypt with no parliament and concentrating rule even more firmly in the hands of the military generals who took power after Mubarak’s ouster. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which stands to lose the most from the rulings, called the moves a coup and vowed to rally the street against the ruling military and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, the presidential candidate seen by critics as a favorite of the generals and a symbol of Mubarak’s autocratic rule.

In the past (as in after the assassination of Anwar Sadat) when an Egyptian leader was removed from power, the top person in the military simply took over. There was some belief that when Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, the country would transition to a democracy. That does not seem to be happening. The elections that gave the Muslim Brotherhood a majority were legal, but the danger is that the history of the Muslim Brotherhood is one election to declare democracy and no elections after that. If the Muslim Brotherhood gains full control of Egypt, there will be no freedom for the Egyptians. Sharia Law (the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood) is incompatible with freedom and democracy.

The article further reports:

The dissolution of parliament now raises the possibility the military council could appoint the panel, a step that would fuel accusations that it is hijacking the process.

The legal adviser of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, said the court rulings were “political,” lamenting the outgoing legislature as the country’s “only legitimate and elected body.”

“They are hoping to hand it over to Ahmed Shafiq and make him the only legal authority in the absence of parliament. The people will not accept this and we will isolate the toppled regime,” Mukhtar el-Ashry said in a posting on the party’s website.

A moderate Islamist and a former presidential candidate, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, said the rulings amounted to a “coup” and warned that the youth, pro-democracy groups that engineered the uprising that toppled Mubarak last year would protest the court’s rulings.

A military take-over of Egypt is unfortunate for those who wish to see freedom and democracy in Egypt; however, the election of the Muslim Brotherhood to the presidency and the majority of the parliament will also mean the end of freedom and democracy. There really is no good choice for the Egyptian people.

 
 

 

 
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