WASHTIMES EDITORIAL: THE EGYPTIANS HATE US…..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/1/egyptians-hate-us/
EDITORIAL: The Egyptians hate us
Mubarak’s fall would spell trouble for America
The Egyptian people are reentering history. The masses have awakened, swarming in the streets against autocracy, chanting “Yes we can!” It’s too bad they hate America.
In June 2009, President Obama launched his much heralded outreach effort to the Muslim people with a speech in Cairo. Now the people of that city are clamoring for reform, but their view of the United States is worse than it was at the height of the George W. Bush administration. According to survey data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project released in June 2010, the United States had a 30 percent approval rating in Egypt in 2006, which at the time was higher than U.S. approval in Spain. This dropped to 22 percent by the end of the Bush years. The burst of enthusiasm that attended Mr. Obama’s outreach effort boosted favorability slightly to 27 percent, but in 2010 disappointment set in and approval dropped 10 points to 17 percent, tying Egypt with Turkey and Pakistan for the most negative view of the United States of any country in the world.
A man identified only as Fathi, wearing the uniform of a captain in the Egyptian army, is carried by demonstrators on Tahrir, or Liberation Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday Jan. 31, 2011. A coalition of opposition groups called for a million people to take to Cairo’s streets Tuesday to demand the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, the clearest sign yet that a unified leadership was emerging for Egypt’s powerful but disparate protest movement. In an apparent attempt to show change, Mubarak named a new government, but the lineup dominated by regime stalwards was greeted with scorn by protesters. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)The worst case scenario in Egypt is an Iran redux, a revolution in which a staunchly pro-U.S. autocrat is replaced by a virulently anti-American Islamic regime. Some say relax, it can’t happen there. Pew survey data from December 2010 showed that only 20 percent of Egyptians are concerned about extremism in their country. But American views of what constitutes the extreme may differ from those of Egyptians. The same survey showed that over 80 percent approve of such hard-line shariah-compliant laws as capital punishment for adultery or for leaving Islam, and 77 percent think that whippings and cutting off hands for crimes like theft and robbery are a great idea.
The events in Egypt are being described as a “leaderless revolution,” but what that means is that the best organized faction will take power. In this case it is the Muslim Brotherhood, the region’s oldest Islamic extremist movement, with deep roots in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition bloc in the Egyptian parliament, and is in talks with protest leader Mohammed ElBaradei to form a “national unity” government. On Monday White House spokesman Robert Gibbs gave a nod to the group when he said the administration believes that a new government “has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be [a] stable and reliable partner.”
This is an odd statement given that the Muslim brothers have long despised America, and see President Hosni Mubarak as a puppet of both the U.S. and Israel. Brotherhood leader Muhammad Ghannem told the Iranian news network Al Alam that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel.” They seem ready. One protestor was quoted on CNN saying “all the people hate [Mubarak]. He’s supporting Israel! Israel is our enemy. We don’t like him … Israel and America supported him. We hate them all.” It is hard to see how sentiments like this presage future stability.
The London-based Arabic outlet Al-Arab Online editorialized this week, “we support the platform of this revolution of the Egyptian people and the historical encroachment towards freedom and democracy … Egyptian-Arab democracy sealed with the blood of martyrs, not U.S.-style ‘democracy’ cloaked in alleged human rights leading to anarchy and chaos.” It would be great if the wheel turned in Egypt and the people in the street ushered in Mr. Obama‘s vision of a liberal democracy with free and fair elections, a competitive party system, freedom of worship, respect for women, a stable judiciary and secure property rights, a friend of the United States and partner for Israel. But don’t bet on any of that.
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