Egypt is on the midst of Revolution. They are deposing their current Leader, President Hosni Mubarak. The protesters have demanded Mubarak resign. Large groups of protesters, in the thousands, gathered across Cairo, their Capital city. The marchers are demanding Mubarak step down. They are tired of the division of classes, the mistreatment of women and years of neglect, rampant poverty, continuous unemployment and rising food prices. For years, they had been promised Democratic elections. With years of broken promises and with his plans for Mubarak to hand over his Presidency to his son, the people revolted.
There were smaller protests in Assiut south of Cairo and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula. Regional television stations were reporting clashes between thousands of demonstrators and police in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Minya south of Cairo. At the upscale Mohandiseen district, at least 10,000 of people were marching toward the city center chanting "down, down with Mubarak." The crowd later swelled to about 20,000 as they made their way through residential areas.
Foreign governments have been leery about getting involved in this internal strife. However, they have stepped up their warnings about travel to Egypt, with several urging their nationals to evacuate as soon as possible, further fueling uncertainty over where the Arab nation is headed after nearly a week of mass protests.
We, in America, are very fortunate to have level heads in Washington. The U.S. appealed for an orderly transition to lasting democracy in Egypt even as escalating violence in the Mideast threatened stability in that Region and put President Barack Obama in a diplomatic bind.
Why is there a Diplomatic Bind in the Middle East? Even though Mubarak is a Dictator and has broken his promises regarding Democratic elections to his people, he has been our ally in the Middle East. This is so critical since we still have our military in Iraq and Pakistan. For decades, Egypt's Mubarak's administration helped maint
ain stability in the Middle East. Mubarek was the first Nation to sign the Peace Treaty with Israel. And those of us over forty remember when Iran's people rallied on the streets for Democracy in the 1980s, ousted the Shah of Iran and brought back the Ayatollah Khomeini, putting him back in power; and one of the student leaders who helped put him back in power was the current President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who we are now struggling with as Iran attempts to build up their nuclear weaponry. We remember the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1980 when these same students who overtook the American Embassy and kept our people hostage for 444 days. However, some may argue, that at least part of the responsibility for these tragic events was due to America's/CIA's continued involvement in other countries' governments.Today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to speculate on the future of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or his teetering government. But she and U.S. officials said, "obviously we want to see people who are truly committed to democracy, not to imposing any ideology on Egyptians."
Hillary warned against a takeover resembling the one in Iran in 1980, with a "small group that doesn't represent the full diversity of Egyptian society" seizing control and imposing its ideological beliefs. Hillary's comments came as President Obama's administration continued to observe the fast-moving situation in Egypt. Left largely unsaid is the growing fear that a government hostile to the U.S. could gain control of such a large and important Arab nation.
I, for one, am glad of one thing. We have sane, level, thinking heads in Washington right now. Sarah Palin and John McCain's song "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" continues to resound in my head. And GOP Conference Chairman Thaddeus McCotter saying to stand behind the Dictator Mubarek and stop the protestors. (Yikes...How Dangerous!)
We need to stay out of this mess until their own country determines their destiny. We need to support our people in getting out of Harm's Way and returning home to America. We The People Need to Support our President and our Secretary of State. Let Level Heads prevail!
PS: My Fellow Americans -- Know that at the end of the day, one thing that will surely impact us as a result of all of this conflict: OUR GAS PRICES ARE SURE TO GO UP! Please... DO NOT BLAME OUR ADMINISTRATION FOR THE INEVITABLE!
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New York Times : Senator John Kerry ( Democrat, Massachusetts ), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, writes today Tuesday in the NYT asking Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
The New York Times
Allying Ourselves With the Next Egypt
By JOHN KERRY
January 31, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/opinion/01kerry.html
Some excerpts :
EVEN if the protests shaking Egypt subside in the coming days, the chaos of the last week has forever changed the relationship between the Egyptian people and their government. The anger and aspirations propelling a diverse range of citizens into the streets will not disappear without sweeping changes in the social compact between the people and the government — and these events also call for changes in the relationship between the United States and a stalwart Arab ally.
President Hosni Mubarak must accept that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure. One of the toughest jobs that a leader under siege can perform is to engineer a peaceful transition. But Egyptians have made clear they will settle for nothing less than greater democracy and more economic opportunities.
Ushering in such a transformation offers President Mubarak — a great nationalist ever since his generation of young officers helped their country escape the last vestiges of British colonialism — the chance to end the violence and lawlessness, to begin improving the dire economic and social conditions in his country and to change his place in history.
It is not enough for President Mubarak to pledge “fair” elections, as he did on Saturday. The most important step that he can take is to address his nation and declare that neither he nor the son he has been positioning as his successor will run in the presidential election this year. Egyptians have moved beyond his regime, and the best way to avoid unrest turning into upheaval is for President Mubarak to take himself and his family out of the equation.
Further, he must guarantee that the election will be honest and open to all legitimate candidates and conducted without interference from the military or security apparatus and under the oversight of international monitors. The Egyptian people are demanding wholesale transformation, not window dressing.
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This is what $1.5 billion in annual foreign aid to Egypt bought us. Why did the U.S. support Mubarak for 30 years without insisting on reforms that the people are now insisting on. What a waste of taxpayer money!
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