Image courtest of Bret Baier
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ hon if it ain’t free…”
Sandmonkey is a gutsy blogger in Egypt who I have been following for years. He pens a blog called “Rantings of a Sandmonkey.” His blogroll includes Hyscience and Gateway Pundit. Ideological allies include The Cato Institute and the Atlas Foundation. His postings have drawn attention to himself- to the point that his is on the Ansar Al Sharia death list.
Yesterday he tweeted out an important message:
Dear World, pay attention: Muslims protesting in the millions against Islamism. This is Historic. #June30
Egyptians are protesting- against Islamism. By the millions. Here is a picture tweeted by Jon Williams
They are protesting the rule of Mohamed Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood– the very regime that is supported by Barack Obama.
Anti-government demonstrators in Egypt expressed anger and contempt for the Obama administration as they took to the streets on Sunday to demand the removal of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi.
Millions of anti-Morsi activists were expected to gather today in historic Tahrir Square, the site of the same demonstrations that brought down former President Hosni Mubarak.
Violence is expected throughout the day as pro-democracy demonstrators clash with Muslim Brotherhood allies.
Seven people, including an American, have been killed so far in the clashes and hundreds more have been wounded, according to VOA.
The protesters are angry with Obama
The demonstrators maintain Morsi has become a power-hungry autocrat who is intent on making the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt’s permanent ruling party.
They also blame the Obama administration and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson for propping up Morsi and facilitating the Muslim Brotherhood’s power grab.
“We are very critical of the Obama administration because they have been supporting the Brotherhood like no one has ever supported them,” Shadi Al Ghazali Harb, a 24-year-old member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Youth Coalition, told the Washington Free Beacon on Friday afternoon during a telephone interview from Cairo.
The White House is “the main supporter of the Brotherhood,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the American support this president would have fallen months ago.”
Al Ghazali Harb specifically dubbed Patterson “the first enemy of the revolution,” claiming “she is hated even more than Morsi.”
Activists hung pictures of Patterson with a red “X” drawn across her face at Egypt’s Defense Ministry during smaller protests Friday afternoon.
“She’s done a lot to harm our relations with the United States,” Al Ghazali Harb said.
Barack Obama has been a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood- so much so that he directed Hillary Clinton to skirt the law is sending $1.5 billion in aid:
This year’s allocation of aid — more than $1.5 billion, with the bulk earmarked for the military — was withheld amid the country’s crackdown on pro-democracy groups, including several U.S.-based organizations with close ties to political parties in Washington.
A law passed by Congress in December forbids funding unless the State Department certifies that Egypt is making progress on basic democratic freedoms.
But Clinton will waive those restrictions on national security grounds, according to administration officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the decision because it has not been formally announced.
It’s been argued that the money isn’t directly earmarked for the Muslims Brotherhood but rather it’s for the government that is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Morsi promised intolerance of anyone trying to overthrow his government.
The Obama administration is apparently preparing to assist Morsi in dealing with the protesters:
(KCEN) — A group of soldiers are preparing for their deployment to Egypt with riot training on post.
They’re planning ahead for violent protests or riots and the possibility of protecting the country’s border with Israel.
Soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and other dangerous items in the training.
Lt. Matthew Wilkinson says, “Just what I’ve seen over the course of the past week than we were a week ago.”
PFC Perez Alexander says, “We want to be as professional as possible… Know what we’re doing.”
They wrap up training today before preparing to ship out in the near future.
Over at Powerline they wonder why Obama is supporting this democracy-killing regime:
What is bizarre is that Obama hasn’t just tolerated the Brotherhood’s rise to power, he has abetted it. It would be defensible to argue that we have little power to influence events in Egypt, and, moreover, attempts on our part to exercise influence are likely to backfire; therefore we should stand aside and do nothing. But why Obama would consider it a good idea to put America’s thumb on the scale on the side of the Brotherhood is beyond me.
I think we know the answer to that.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaK-DB894c[/youtube]
Tyranny home and tyranny abroad. They call it the “progressive agenda.”
The Arab Summer is here and Obama is helping- to strangle it. After all, government always knows best.
UPDATE
Protesters dying
Cracking down on democracy
Promising to crush anyone who tries to change the government
Isn’t that why Obama bombed Gaddafi to hell? Isn’t that why Obama is trying to remove Assad?
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
All that hatred of US Ambassador Patterson.
Why?
U.S. ambassador Patterson was trying to prevent Egyptians from protesting—including the Copts.
The June 18 edition of Sadi al-Balad reports that lawyer Ramses Naggar, the Coptic Church’s legal counsel, said that during Patterson’s June 17 meeting with Coptic Pope Tawadros, she “asked him to urge the Copts not to participate” in the demonstrations against Morsi and the Brotherhood.
Obama’s ”policy” in North Africa and the ME can be seen clearly in only relation to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The U.S. has been supporting anyone and everyone opposing Muslim Brotherhood leaders—in Libya against Gaddafi, in Egypt itself against 30-year U.S. ally Mubarak, and now in Syria against Assad.
However, as a cover story, in all these cases, the U.S. has presented its support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the name of the human rights and freedoms of the people against dictatorial leaders.
What is happening in Egypt right now is the largest political rally on earth….ever in history.
Is this article any surprise? Obama supported this regime since Day 1. I always look for the motive behind Obama’s actions. The first motive I can always rule out is sincercity- because it’s not about the other person, it’s always about Obama. Is this move part of his agenda for a new world order? Is this some pathetic plea for peace in the Middle East? I don’t know. However, I wonder how long it will take the Egyptians to use the money, buy weapons and use them against our soldiers.
The CNN reporter’s heads must be imploding after seeing the anti obama posters. But then again they might just be in their rooms hiding under the covers.
A reasonable introduction to what we’re dealing with when one says Muslim Brotherhood can be gotten from the writings of Sayyid Qutb. His Milestones is only 160 pages and pretty quick to read as I recall.
It’s pretty clear to me that either Obama has never read any of Qutb’s writings, or that he is on his side.
@ML/NJ: #4,
Good note, ML/NJ. Qutb was a self-approving intellectual who became fanatical, and locked in the restrictions of fundamental religious beliefs. From that perspective, he could not see the obscenity of hate and oppression which he spread. Qutb seems to have been a typical specimen of the elitists who believe themselves intelligent and wise.
Unfortunately for Qutb, but particularly unfortunate for a society which enjoys freedom, free of fanatics, a few extra functioning neurons do not automatically translate to any intelligence, or wisdom. Qutb lacked both. Aren’t we lucky?
Obama reading Qutb? What? Does anyone have evidence that he reads anything but the teleprompter? He seems to know nothing about anything if his speeches of the last 5 years are any indication.
Following the overthrow of the Hosni Mubarak regime, the U.S. provided the Egyptian military with $1.3 billion in assistance.
The Egyptian military has now given Mohamed Morsi 48 hours to meet the demands of the Egyptian people, or his administration is history.
So, who or what does it sound the the Obama administration was actually supporting?
Given the political situation in Egypt immediately following a populace revolution, when elections hadn’t really meant much of anything for 30 consecutive years, how likely did it seem that the first elected Egyptian president would turn out to be a long-term proposition?
It sounds to me, Greg, that Obama is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood led government, unless you want us to think you actually believe he was supporting the military with the intent of overthrowing Morsi if he gets out of line or threatens Israel. That’s not what you are selling, is it Greg?
Obama chooses sides poorly; he has supported the radical Islamists in Egypt, failed to support the people in Iran and now fails to support the people in Egypt. He is either incompetent or likes those who openly profess to want to kill us. Or he still thinks the sheer power of his magnetic personality can will all these enemies over. None of these options is good for us.
@Greg:
I thought Morsi replaced many of the military leaders with his own lackeys. Which makes sense in order to consolidate and keep power.
@Nan G: #1,
You sure wouldn’t know that from the confused and clueless reaction from the W.H.
Some estimate the total to be close to 30 million people across Egypt. Evidently the Administration backed the wrong horse as in the 3rd picture above. What a surprise. Has such an incompetent, blundering cluster of fools ever been assembled under a single roof?
@bburris, #7:
What I’m suggesting is that the one constant in Egypt during the Mubarak years, through the revolution, and on into the current period of transition has been the Egyptian military. That’s the real power base. If you want to place a bet in the hopes of having some useful long-term relationship, that’s where you put down your chips. It’s always more politic to do that while smiling and shaking hands with the civilian authority the military is currently backing.
@Mully, #8:
No doubt Morsi would have liked to have done so, but the Egyptian military power structure probably has too much internal cohesion for anyone to get away with it. Morsi has been displaying increasingly authoritarian tendencies, directly on the heels of a revolution to get rid of that very sort of thing. His own people are fed up with him. Now he’s rejecting the military’s ultimatum. Who or what does this guy imagine his own power base is, to be defying both the Egyptian people and the Egyptian military?
I think he’s probably toast.
(Sorry. I somehow double-posted.)
@James Raider, #9:
The confusion is in Egypt. What sort of clarity can we expect until it’s more apparent what’s likely to happen?
So far as I know, the White House hasn’t had a psychic or astrologer on speed dial in recent years.