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Egypt: Cold-blooded, power-obsessed tyrants preferable to freedom
Edited for digression. Hat tip LGFColumnist Bassyouni Al- Hilwani wrote in the Egyptian government weekly 'Aqidati: "It appears that the American president, Little Bush, relies on a group of hashish-smoking advisors. Not a week passes without him addressing the world with naive proposals, false and random accusations, and idiotic demands, as if he were living on a desert island with his spoiled dogs. al-Hellwhiney's lips fell off here. "Bush has forgotten that the Arab and Islamic peoples prefer to be ruled by a dictator such as Saddam Hussein than by a democratic president of the likes of Bush, who lies to the world every day, deceives his people, sows hatred towards it in the souls of all the peoples of the world, and annihilates the lives of his people in battles that do not concern them at all. Oh Mr. Bush, if you were a democratic president as you claim to be, you would abandon your post immediately and disperse all your Zionist aides and advisors, since your lies, your fraud, and the fact that you do not respect Iraqi and Afghan human rights have been exposed to the eyes of the entire world — particularly since your forces, your planes, and your missiles have executed more than 50,000 Iraqis and Afghans who sinned not at all towards you and your people." [3] 50000? That would explain that twang I heard, of a harp bursting a string. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher stated that Bush's address was misunderstood, and that Bush was in fact not criticizing Egyptian democracy but praising Egypt's leading role in democratization and Egypt's democracy as a model that should be applied in other countries in the region. This view was emphasized in an editorial in the Al-Ahram government daily: "The simplest rule of democracy is that it cannot be imposed from without. As first-year college students learn, and as is clearly evident in the Greek term from which the word is derived, democracy means that the people rules itself by itself and for itself. Thus, it is inconceivable that anyone external, whatever their intentions, can come to teach the peoples how to rule themselves! "That is better left to us tyrants." "Recently, voices have arisen in the American government demanding direct intervention in order to impose democracy on the peoples and on the governments, as if the peoples were minors or mentally retarded and needed their hands held! These demands are in themselves a violation of the rules of democracy. This intervention is reminiscent of the abhorrent idea of previous centuries regarding the white man's responsibility for the other peoples, for liberating them from ignorance and backwardness. The result was that this white man maintained colonialism of these peoples for centuries, and this caused the backwardness from which they [the Americans] want to rescue us today! What short legs this guy has! "The fact that Egypt is marching on the path of democracy demands no proof. It is impossible to cast doubts on [the fact that] this land enjoys freedom of the press that is nonexistent in many countries of the world. Likewise, no one can cast doubts on [the fact that] Egypt has a great many political parties and freedom of expression. Naturally, there is always striving to achieve more, as this is the law of life: but it is clear that importing ready-made, packaged democracy — 'turnkey democracy' — will be of no benefit to this deeply-rooted people. "And besides, democracy's a Jewish plot!" "Our people, whose civilization is 7,000 years old, does not expect, and does not need to expect, others to give it lessons in democracy or in anything else. Therefore, attempts to impose democracy from without will fail." [4] Then he turned into a pillar of NaCl and could say no more. Continuing in the same vein as Foreign Minister Maher, an editorial in the government daily Al-Gumhouriyya discussed the possibility of exporting the Egyptian democratic model to other countries in the region: "There is no doubt that in the next phase, Egypt will be witness to more than the democracy it is experiencing under Mubarak's rule, [and this will come about] of its own free will [as opposed to imposition from without]. [This democracy] can be a model for implementation for other countries interested in democracy, as a way of development and welfare." [5] Posted by: Atrus 2003-11-24 |
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