Posted on 05/30/2006 3:49:07 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
CAIRO -- In Washington this month, George Bush met with Gamal Mubarak, heir apparent to the Egyptian throne, and sent regards to Mr. Mubarak's father, President Hosni Mubarak. The House Appropriations Committee turned back an effort by Wisconsin Democrat David Obey to withhold a fraction of Egypt's $1.7 billion annual aid allocation. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that any cuts would damage a "strategic partnership" that is "a cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Middle East."
Also this month, in Cairo, pro-democracy activists such as 39-year-old Ahmed Salah of the Egyptian Movement for Change and dozens of his colleagues were beaten, arrested and detained -- ostensibly for congregating publicly in groups larger than five. The emergency law through which Mr. Mubarak has ruled for 25 years was extended again. The judiciary -- the only semi-uncorrupted branch of government -- is under political assault. And Ayman Nour, the imprisoned liberal politician who ran second to Mr. Mubarak in last September's rigged presidential election, lost his final appeal against a five-year prison sentence on forgery charges.
Maybe there is no connection between the first and second set of events. Maybe Mr. Mubarak did not need tacit American acquiescence to embark on his latest campaign of repression. Maybe there are plausible reasons for the administration to go soft on the regime for now. But speak to opposition figures here and the sense of American betrayal is palpable.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
There are Hillary voters in Egypt?
Note: this topic is from 05/30/2006. Thanks Tolerance Sucks Rocks. Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal:Also this month, in Cairo, pro-democracy activists such as 39-year-old Ahmed Salah of the Egyptian Movement for Change and dozens of his colleagues were beaten, arrested and detained -- ostensibly for congregating publicly in groups larger than five. The emergency law through which Mr. Mubarak has ruled for 25 years was extended again. The judiciary -- the only semi-uncorrupted branch of government -- is under political assault. And Ayman Nour, the imprisoned liberal politician who ran second to Mr. Mubarak in last September's rigged presidential election, lost his final appeal against a five-year prison sentence on forgery charges. Maybe there is no connection between the first and second set of events. Maybe Mr. Mubarak did not need tacit American acquiescence to embark on his latest campaign of repression. Maybe there are plausible reasons for the administration to go soft on the regime for now. But speak to opposition figures here and the sense of American betrayal is palpable.
I’ve under the assumption that Mubarak was like Gadaffi in Lybia — that he brought stability to the Middle East.
Christians could survive under Mubarak’s leadership. And I bet that women were also better off.
Large Islamic populations are always unstable, always prone to wanton violence and tyranny, especially against women, Christians, Jews, Hindus, and anyone outside each narrow Islamic murder-sect.
Ghaddafy was a creepy bastard who ruled by force, associated with jihadists, and got along with nobody. Mubarak followed the rule of law, but it so happens that Egyptian law wasn’t like, say, that of the EU or the US. Or should I say, as US law used to be, pre-Obama...
but he was old. His son Saef was bringing about change
Hillary done him in at the bidding of unknown Euros that certainly made large donations to the foundation.
You know more than me about this. Just offering a general observation —
Historically speaking, creepy SOBs are the only kind of leaders to bring any sense of stability to an Islamic population.
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