Egyptian Democratic Coalition Responds to Obama -- Newsmax

[bsteadman]

Egyptian Democratic Coalition Responds to Obama

Newsmax
8/16/2013

The National Salvation Front, a coalition of pro-democratic and secular parties in Egypt, set out its objections to remarks made by President Barack Obama Thursday on the escalating violence in Egypt.

Led by Ahmed Said of the Free Egyptians Party, the group issued the following letter:

"Like most Egyptians, we listened with attention to your statement on Egypt's latest developments. As representatives of the non-Islamic political forces in Egypt, we believe in the same fundamental values on which the U.S. was founded. Be we also have 7,000 years of civilization and history that give us a special identity that we are fighting to keep since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.

"Let us first inform you about who the Muslim brothers are: They’re an unlawful organization operating outside the realm of Egyptian law, receiving foreign funding and laundering money in a flagrant breech of international law. Their aim is to rule the world through a so-called Islamic Caliphate as they believe in their absolute supremacy.

"They pretend they are God’s emissaries and they will not rest until they have forced the whole world into submission. For them, Egypt is the launching pad to achieve their fascist dream. Their international reach spans the globe and they command the hearts and minds of many unsuspecting politicians. They have used deceit, soft speeches, international funds and whenever required, violence, to impose their will.

"The rule of (deposed President Mohammed) Morsi showed how in less than a year they abused the people, reneged on their promises and overturned the rule of law by issuing constitutional diktats monopolizing the judiciary as well as the legislative arms of the state. This was enough to impeach any president in a democratic nation. Unfortunately, Egyptians couldn’t refer to their Supreme Sourt as it was besieged by thugs for over 60 days back in November of 2012.

"So finally, Egyptians took to the streets and this century’s second Egyptian 'peaceful unarmed' revolution took place in June 2013 to recall the president and reject the rule of the Brotherhood. Egyptians deposed their president not because he was not inclusive, as you so kindly represented, but because he broke his constitutional oath and became another dictator reminiscent of the previous dictator this same great people of Egypt removed in January 2011. This was the will of the people that the West is now trying to bend pretending they are doing so in the name of democracy with no intention of interfering in Egyptian affairs!

"Now, I would like to address a few points in your address:

"Despite the perception, well-intentioned or ill-intentioned, history will tell of a Western media consistently portraying only one side — the Islamist's. We have to let you know some facts and some truth.

"Since July 3, 2013, the day deposed President Morsi was ousted by popular demand of millions of Egyptians, the Western media and prominent emissaries from the U.S. and Europe have consistently described the sit-ins that paralyzed a large part of Cairo as 'peaceful demonstrations.' They chose to ignore what was happening across Egypt from torching churches and killing randomly and destroying private and public properties.

"Mr. President, peaceful demonstrators do not have the capacity to kill more than 50 police personnel in just a few hours.

"Peaceful demonstrators do not attack a police station with RPG and kill the police chief and his deputies, strip them of their clothes and drag their naked bodies down the street.

"Peaceful demonstrators do not threaten Christians with genocide as many of the Muslim Brotherhood declared in hate speeches from the sit-in stage. Peaceful demonstrators do not raise the black flags of al-Qaida while marching with pictures of bin Laden and al Zawahri on their chests.

"While the Western media was focusing yesterday on the clearing of the sit-ins, more than 45 attacks were made on Christian installations across Egypt, resulting in the torching of 19 churches and cathedrals, some built in the 6th Century.

"The list goes on, but your intelligence reports will enlighten you, we are sure. The attached video here will also give you an idea.

"Mr. President, it is important that you see reality, especially that the great American people have themselves suffered from the darkness of Islamists and unfortunately thousands of great Americans died from their terror.

"The Muslim Brotherhood and their jihadist allies have never known and will never know peace. It might be useful to remind you that these same people had a three-week sit-in that started on the next dawn after election day and lasted almost two weeks to declare that they will burn Egypt if their candidate is not declared the winner.

"Mr. President, we are on the side of freedom, we are on the side of human rights. We are on the side of justice for all. We also hurt to see mothers mourn their children and children mourn their parents. Have you seen, Mr. President, the video clip of the Muslim Brotherhood supporter throwing 14-year-old children off the roof of a six-floor building? One mother died of sorrow when she saw the video clip of her son thrown off the building. She did not have time to mourn.

"Today Mr. President, you chose to consider one side of the picture and to punish the Egyptians by cancelling Operation Bright Star. Well Mr. President, Operation Bright Star means nothing to most Egyptians, but it is the misunderstanding and misleading of the American people that we care most about. Egyptians have always stood by the American people when attacked by terrorists because we are freedom lovers and individual liberty champions like the American people. The only difference is that we have always been deprived of these great principles and rights.

"Is it too much for Egyptians today to have the support of the American people during our own war on terror? How can the same group be named terrorists in the U.S.A. and peaceful demonstrators in Egypt?
"How can these be the ones the U.S.A. will never negotiate with while the U.S. government demands that Egyptians not only negotiate with them but also partner with them in the building of modern Egypt?

"Mr. President, the interest of peace in the region is served best by truly peace-loving people and democratic values.

"Finally, Mr. President, we hope that this letter will get your attention for, after all, we are now representing the majority. Our present government represents us, the secular, civil and liberal political forces. We hope that you will find it of value to probe more and investigate more and ask more. When you do, we are ready to come to you in a small delegation and discuss and explain more. We are sure that you will realize that, after all, Egyptians are indeed a great people deserving a great future."

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[bsteadman]

Whose Side Is Obama On? -- FrontPage Magazine, Daniel Greenfield

Whose Side Is Obama On?

FrontPage Magazine
Daniel Greenfield
8/19/2013

Excerpt:

Obama interrupted a hard day of lazing around Martha’s Vineyard to denounce the “arbitrary arrests” of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the “broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters” and then insisted “We don’t take sides with any particular party or political figure.”

It was quite a turn to take in a single speech, but he did have a full day of golfing to get in.

“We’ve been blamed by supporters of Morsi; we’ve been blamed by the other side as if we are supporters of Morsi,” Obama said. “That kind of approach will do nothing to help Egyptians achieve the future that they deserve.”

He did not bother to explain how his efforts to free the leaders of an organization that was burning churches across Egypt would help Egyptians achieve the future they deserved. Unless perhaps he thought that the ethnic cleansing of Christians in Egypt, as in Syria, was the future that they deserved.

On Martha’s Vineyard, Obama disavowed all responsibility for the Muslim Brotherhood while insisting, once again, that its leaders should be set free.

Back in Cairo, in the days leading up to the great speech that was supposed to transform America’s relationship with the Muslim world, his administration had insisted that at least ten members of the Muslim Brotherhood attend the speech.

Obama had ordered Mubarak to step down, ratifying a military/protester coup that was not in substance any different than the one that forced Morsi out of office.

While Obama was forcing Mubarak out, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood was a “largely secular” organization that “eschewed violence.” It was a blatant lie that was unnecessary except to reduce opposition to the future Brotherhood victory.

While his officials seem eager to denounce the actions of the Post-Morsi government on a daily basis, they had nothing to say when Morsi was torturing political opponents.

At his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States had to keep providing weapons to Egypt because “The fact that sometimes other countries elect someone you don’t completely agree with doesn’t give us permission to walk away.”

This June, Kerry insisted that we had to keep providing aid to Egypt, despite Morsi’s abuses and lack of democracy, in order to maintain “a channel to Egyptian military leadership, who are key opinion makers in the country.”

But once Morsi was gone, the F-16s that had been the subject of such controversy, and that Obama had insisted on providing to Morsi, were denied to the Egyptian military. Obama was willing to provide advanced weapons to the Muslim Brotherhood, but not to the Egyptian military.

Obama demanded that the Egyptian military go easy on the Brotherhood protesters, but had made no such requests of Morsi. He repeatedly emphasized that foreign aid was on the line in his threats to the new Egyptian government, but had made no move to warn Morsi that foreign aid was linked to his treatment of the political opposition.

During the Morsi era, the administration insisted that human rights could not be linked to Egyptian military or civilian aid. After Morsi, suddenly the same officials were very interested in human rights.

In the days and weeks after Morsi’s overthrow, administration officials and spokesmen made it painfully clear that they wanted the Muslim Brotherhood to participate in any new government.

Early on, Obama had said that everyone’s voices must be heard, including “those who have supported President Morsy.” There were no such calls the first time around to ensure that the voices of those who supported Mubarak would be heard.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the United States could not support the arrests of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and urged the new government, which covered the spectrum from liberals to Islamists, to be more “inclusive.” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphasized that arresting Brotherhood leaders would make a “national reconciliation” impossible.

There were urgent calls for a rapid transition back to elected civilian government. That policy of rapid elections had led to the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood the first time around as any foreign policy expert had known it would after the earlier victories by Hamas; the Muslim Brotherhood’s arm in Gaza.

This was part of a pattern that would begin playing out across the region.

In Syria, Obama had made the decision to arm the Muslim Brotherhood dominated Free Syrian Army while disregarding its blatant ties to Al Qaeda.

In Libya, an Islamist militia linked to the Muslim Brotherhood had been paid to protect the Benghazi mission, which had been deprived of more conventional security and assistance.

While the protests against the Brotherhood were mounting in Egypt, in Libya the Muslim Brotherhood was orchestrating a wave of protests against the government. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood insisted on its right to power because it was the democratically elected government, while in Libya it was trying to overthrow a democratically elected government.

Libya, Egypt and Syria formed a triangle of conflicts, with Libyan weapons moving on to Syria and Egyptian Jihadists involving themselves in both conflicts. A former Egyptian intelligence officer has recently alleged that the killer of Ambassador Stevens can be found with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. There are other allegations that the Benghazi attackers shouted, “Dr. Morsi sent us.”

A translated Libyan government memo reportedly stated that the captured Benghazi attackers were Egyptians with backing from the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a region as clouded with claims and counter-claims, with conspiracy theories and real conspiracies, it can be hard to know what the truth is, but there is little doubt that whatever pallid denials Obama may offer before embarking on another round of golf, his administration chose to get deep into bed with an international terrorist organization.

All the accusations, true or untrue, are the product of that first conspiracy.

Obama created a set of favorable conditions that would allow the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists to take over country after country. When they couldn’t do it non-violently, he went to war, as he did in Libya. When he couldn’t go to war for them, he supplied them with weapons and training, as he did in Syria. When they were overthrown, he supported them to the hilt, as he is doing in Egypt.

The wave of terror spreading over the region has empowered Al Qaeda and endangered America, bringing no stability, only an endless conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and everyone else. Threading through the center of the relationship between Obama and the Brothers is the web that links the various conflicts, the alliances between Islamist militias and the Muslim Brotherhood and the wave of attacks on American diplomatic facilities that took place on the anniversary of September 11.

The son of Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat Al-Shater, the man who was originally meant to be the President of Egypt, has come forward to claim that the Muslim Brotherhood is blackmailing Obama with documents that could put him in jail.
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