Judges
Ashraf el Ashmawy and Sameh Abu-Zeid hold a press conference
in
Cairo to announce the results of their investigation into non-government
organizations
operating in Egypt. Beyond the question of foreign funds that
support
the NGOs, the two highlighted maps discovered in the offices of
the
U.S.-based International Republican Institute, and recommended the
criminal
trials of 43 foreigners, including 19 Americans.
Amal al-Oumma, Egypt
Egyptians Refuse to Accept What America Would Reject
"Would the United States
accept what these NGOs were doing here - undermining the nation's sovereignty -
on U.S. soil? It would absolutely refuse. So why should we have to accept it? …
Should Egypt accept such a situation in return for aid which is given in return
for favors the previous regime performed for the U.S. in Iraq, the Gulf and
Afghanistan, all at the expense of our Arab nation?"
Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: He and his associates appear to be whipping up anti-Western sentiment to be able to win the approval of the public, which is less than satisfied with the nation's democratic transition.
The shouts of the
revolutionaries in Tahrir Square - and all of Egypt is for all intents and
purposes Tahrir Square - were heard around the world, north, south, east and
west, and everyone knew that an earthquake had happened in Egypt.
As Ahmed Shawqi once said: “We were separated from the world by mail, but joined at the horizons by broadcasting." [Writing at the beginning of the last century], the poet was referring to radio - which transformed the world into a small village.
But somehow, news of the
revolution failed to reach the administrations in America and Germany, which
insisted on taking the same approach they followed with the previous regime,
when submission and unquestioned approval was the norm. As Georgetown
University Professor John
Esposito has said: “The administration only sees what it wants to see, and
only hears what it wants to hear.”
With many others, I watched
the press conference of the Egyptian investigative judges on the involvement of
some American non-governmental organizations in political activity. Under the
guise of charity work and spreading democracy, they and their money entered the
country illegally - the cash going to Egyptian organizations in an effort to
create strife and chaos in an attempt to influence the outcome of the revolution.
The American reaction was
tense and angry. In the face of the Egyptian people, Washington then drew its
sharpest weapon: it threatened to cut U.S. aid to Egypt.
Some American papers
described the Egyptian position as reflecting a “lack of moral principle.” So
is reclaiming our dignity, which was lost during the previous regime, considered
a lack of moral principle? Then what should we call your arrogance toward us? Shall
we call it a “lack of civility”?
Few of us have forgotten your
$1.3 billion. But while Egyptians have not forgotten that, they have also not
forgotten the story of the Aswan Dam and how you refused to finance it unless
certain humiliating conditions were met. So the Egyptian people built it
themselves with their daily bread. The people are more than willing to do
without your aid.
The people will never forget your
biased siding with Israel in
1967, and will not forget your threats to our military in
1973 and your airlift to Israel to save it from certain defeat at the hands
of the heroic Egyptian Army. We will not forget the way you suborned President Sadat
at Camp David until you stripped our victory of all substance. This is why
large sectors of Egypt's population doesn't trust you. You kept the oppressive
“Mubarak” regime safe and warm and you aspired to allow the regime
to survive without Mubarak, so you could continue to guarantee Israel's security
with the help of Egyptians.
We ask: Would the United
States of America accept what these NGOs were doing here - undermining the
nation's sovereignty - on U.S. soil? It would absolutely refuse. So why should
we have to accept it? Why does the U.S. want revolutionary Egypt to become a
breeding ground for conspiracies against Egypt's national and societal security,
its territorial integrity and the unity of its people? Should Egypt accept such
a situation in return for aid which is given in return for favors the previous
regime performed for the U.S. in Iraq, the Gulf and Afghanistan, all at the expense
of our Arab nation?
If the Americans were sincere
about their calls to spread democracy, they would have waited a bit until the
end of the investigation into their agents and their leader, International
Republican Institute chief Sam LaHood. But all we
see is the arrogance of "Dulles," "Albright," "Kissinger" and Condoleezza
Rice.
We have a right to ask: What
does charity work and spreading democracy have to do with taking photographs of
churches, noting their locations and numbers? How is this related to
identifying the bases of the Egyptian Armed Forces in cities along the Nile
canal? Isn’t this an act of espionage against our national security for the
benefit of foreign parties? Or does this qualify as charitable work in your
lexicon?
And how can we explain the
existence of maps that divide a unified nation into four distinct states?
Another question: It has been
said that the total amount of money these American NGOs poured into Egyptian
organizations from 2006 to 2010 amounted to $60 million - and that in the year
since the dawn of the revolution, the amount jumped to $400 million. Is such
generosity out of a love for the revolution and support for the revolutionaries,
or something else, perhaps?!
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
I want to say that the U.S. administration
only reluctantly accepted the revolution and had to bite its collective tongue
by removing Mubarak - but then supported the counter-revolution in order to
keep the Mubarak regime without Mubarak. How else can we explain what these
organizations have done to our country?
The Egyptian revolution has
stood against them. It has deviated from the path sought by Tony Blair - who
feels hatred and vindictiveness for everything Muslim, Arabic and Palestinian -
and who said as our revolution began that any change the revolution may bring
must be controlled and consistent with the economic and strategic interests of
the West. Could it be that Egypt's change in course has led to attempts to seek
revenge, drive the Egyptian people back onto the American reservation, and operations
by American and German organizations to spy and cause chaos in support of
counter revolution?
A series of moves to pressure
and warn Egypt came from the U.S. administration and European Union. But so
far, the Supreme
Council of the Armed Forces, expressing itself on behalf of the revolution,
has rejected these threats and announced that they would not give in - and
would not be the instrument for bringing the Egyptian people to their knees
again - even if Washington cuts its aid. Boosting the Army’s position were the
results of NGO investigation and the discovery of the maps dividing Egypt into
four entities!
The message of the revolution
hasn't reached them yet. They have yet to absorb the lessons and the defeats in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. This is the era of the people. A tiny and poor
country south of Egypt, Eritrea, has refused U.S. aid and its so-called non-governmental
organization and is relying on its own resources, which cannot be compared to
the tremendous resources and potential of Egypt - despite its great upheavals
and hard times.
Final words: If America wants
to ensure its interests in our Arab East, and balanced and respectful relations
with Egypt, then it has to recognize revolutionary Egypt is different from the Egypt
of “Mubarak” or his heir “Gamal.”
Oh Allah, save our country of Egypt from all evil, and link our hearts to the people of the cave.
