Does Egypt matter to the US public? You better believe it does!

Most Americans are not focused on the unfolding events in the Middle East because they see them as irrelevant to the US and their own personal lives. They don’t have any idea of how they have been, and will be impacted, in the future. Our misguided policy of supporting dictators in Middle East has aroused the rage of folks in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Jordan, and if you do not think events will affect the American public, hearken back to the horrible disaster of 9/11 which occurred because of our foolish policy in the Middle East. Although American media has done its best to cover up the real reason for 9/11, the perpetrators themselves told us exactly why they did it. After the failed attempt to destroy the Twin Towers of New York in 1993, the perpetrators issued a statement explaining why they attacked the towers, and also issued a warning, claiming they would try again if policy did not change.

Clearly they told us in written message; they attacked because of our policy of supporting dictators in their countries, of having US military bases on their soil, and because of our on sided policy regarding the Palestinians. The policy did not change, and as promised the perpetrators retuned, this time to tragically succeed in bringing down the towers and killing many innocent Americans. Osama Bin Laden then repeated the exact same message after 9/11. Strangely after almost every single subsequent terrorist act against the US, the same kind of warning and threat followed, which US media, for some inexplicable reason failed to convey to the US public. Warnings have consistently mentioned our one sided policy regarding Palestine, maintaining military bases in Middle East nations, and supporting dictatorships.

So here we are, for the past 25 years having supporting a powerful dictator in Egypt, and even as the Egyptians have taken to the streets in an effort to end dictatorship and establish a more representative government, the Obama administration has failed to enthusiastically support the quest of Egyptians for freedom from dictatorship, but has chosen to take the political “fence” position by tepidly supporting both sides.

Years ago the US bought Mubarak, and we have given him almost as much foreign aid as Israel with the understanding that he would carry water for the U.S. and Israel. So far we have given Egypt about 70 billion dollars to cover for Israel. We attempted to purchase with our money, security for Israel, and Mubarak has proven himself a loyal puppet and has maintained a false peace with Israel, while participating in the US –Israeli attempt to starve Gaza for voting Hamas into power. U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey, in a just released Wikileaks cable, said in 2009: “Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread." The cable describes in detail the torture and repressiveness of the Egyptian government, but our government did not care about the fate of innocent Egyptians. The great unspoken fear in Congress and within the administration, is that if Mubarak falls and a new more representative government is formed, it might not be willing to participate any longer in the starvation of Gaza and open the Rafah crossing and allow food to get to the starving Gazans. It might not be willing to carry the water for Israel and the US. This would be disastrous for Israel, but because all of US policy in the Middle East is designed to cover for Israel, we continue to support the dictator. The entire US Middle East policy, including supporting a repressive brutal dictator with huge sums of aid money, participating in the starving 1.5 million people, condoning a brutal attack on Gaza in which over 1,500 innocents were slaughtered, two thirds of whom were children, invading Iraq to eliminate Israel’s main rival, defending Israel’s attack on a humanitarian relief ship in international waters resulting in nine innocent deaths, including an American citizen, defending the illegal seizure of lands from Palestinians, maintaining a racist apartheid national policy, provoking a war on Iran to eliminate another of Israel’s many enemies, is simply designed to insure Israel’s security. This is a disastrous policy for Americans, as evidenced by 9/11, and it is clear that both the Congress and the President have put Israeli interests ahead of American security.

How many more American lives must be shed to insure Israel’s security? That depends upon how much longer the US Congress and the administration will continue to put the wishes and interests of Israel ahead of the interests of the American people, but keep in mind the “insurgent math” of General McChrystal, who said for every innocent person we kill, ten new enemies are created.

The US government continues its policy of supporting dictators and punishing democracies.

Last week Baby Doc Duvalier returned to Haiti and the US government said nothing. For readers who might be too young to remember, he, like Papa Doc, his father who preceded him, was a cruel murdering dictator who looted his country of millions. Baby Doc murdered thousands and prospered by selling drugs and body parts. After supported the Duvalier’s for years the US finally tired of Papa Doc and helped oust him in a popular uprising in 1986.

On the other hand, Haiti's first ever democratically elected president, the former Jesuit priest Jean Bertrand Aristide, was ousted from power with US assistance, primarily because he wanted a minimum wage law of one dollar per day for Haitian workers. U.S. corporations would not allow this and he was undermined, eventually kidnapped, and flown out of Haiti by the US, and forced to live in exile. When the scoundrel and murderer Baby Doc returned, Jean Bertrand Aristide asked for permission to return as well, but the Obama administration flexed its muscles and prevented the return of the only democratically elected leader in Haiti’s history.

When Haiti had its earthquake, the US sent, not food or supplies, but 27,000 Marines, supposedly to insure that rioting did not occur, but the real reason was to insure that Aristide, the popular reform leader, could not return to his country.

Meanwhile in North Africa the government in Tunisia has been overthrown, in part because Wikileaks cables made public just how corrupt the government of Tunisia had been over the years. While many suspected and thought this to be true, the leaked cables proved to the people of Tunisia just how corrupt their government really was, and in a peaceful revolt took to the streets bringing down their government. The cable also revealed the US government was very well aware of the massive corruption in Tunisia’s government but continued to support it.
Far reaching results may follow the Tunisia revolt with two nations being particularly important. Leaders in Jordan and Egypt are backed and supported by the US government with massive amounts of aid. Both are puppets of the US and Israeli governments. Both Jordan and Egypt will do the bidding of the US government, in return the puppets are rewarded with generous sums of aid from the US. While accurate figures are difficult to establish, we know that Egypt’s government which is headed by the repressive dictator Mubarak, is given well over one billion dollars per year to do our bidding. The same is true in Jordan.
Folks in Egypt who have learned much from citizens in Tunisia have taken to the streets in an attempt to duplicate the accomplishment in Tunisia. The US and Israel have grave concerns that both governments could fail. We have helped insure Israel’s security by buying off the leaders of Jordan and Egypt, neither of whom reflects the democratic wishes of their people. The last thing the US government wants is for “democracy “to prevail, for in both countries both puppets would be quickly removed.
In nearby Lebanon the US and Israel attempted to manipulate the UN into putting the blame for the assassination of Lebanon’s prime minister on Hezbollah. If the US can rig this properly, and place the blame on Hezbollah, the party now in control of Lebanon could be labeled a “terrorist organization”, even though it is apparently supported by the majority of Lebanon’s population. Hezbollah is not considered, and never has been considered a terrorist organization by most of the nations of the world, but it has proven to be Israel’s military nemesis by defeating Israel in its attempt to invade and take over Lebanon in the 2006. The US has already threatened to withdraw aid if Hezbollah rules Lebanon. Once again so much for the idea of the US supporting “democracy” in the Middle East.
In nearby Palestine, the Palestine Papers have been released by Aljazeera, demonstrating how the puppet government of the Palestine Liberation Organization has betrayed its own people, which surely will have long term ramifications, one of which could be the supremacy of Hamas, already the democratically elected government of nearby Gaza. Readers will remember when Hamas won the election in Gaza, supervised and declared fair by former President Jimmy Carter’s monitoring organization, both the US and Israel rejected the election results and initiated a policy of starving the poor folks of Gaza for voting the wrong way. So much for democracy in Gaza.
Recent Presidents have preached the spread of democracy, but obviously they mean only if the democracy does what we want it to do. Presidents should be careful in preaching rhetoric about spreading democracy around the world; they might just get what they wished for.

Believe it or Not

A distant relative asks you to loan him money but you cannot afford it. Would you be willing to borrow money so that you could loan it, then have him invest it in a bank and earn interest on the money you borrowed to loan to him?? Of course not! Would you take money out of your family budget and deprive your children of necessities so that you could make this loan to your distant relative? Of course not!! Thanks to your generosity and a Congress subservient to the people and government of Israel, you will borrow 3.4 billion dollars and give it to Israel this year. While some folks in Congress are discussing cutting social programs for American citizens, Israel is to be given more money than ever this year. Few Americans realize that Israel by law is the only foreign aid recipient to receive its yearly money in a lump sum within 30 days of the New Year. The US, on the verge of bankruptcy, does not have the 3.4 billion on hand to give, so it borrows the money from the Treasury and naturally has to pay back millions in interest, while Israel takes its lump sum and invests in US Treasury Bills and notes, earning millions in interest from the US government. So while we borrow the 3.4 billion and lose millions paying the interest, Israel invests the lump sum and makes millions earning interest. So US taxpayers pay millions of dollars in interest to borrow, and then pays millions in interest to Israel. Make sense?? Of course not!!
Want some icing on the cake? Included in the 3.4 billion dollars in aid to Israel is 25 million for “immigrant absorption”. Arizona and New Mexico; sorry we have no money for you.
Israel has received by conservative estimate; abut 115-120 billion dollars in total. What could have been done with 115 billion dollars? Find a cure for cancer? Make Social Security and Medicare forever solvent? Provide housing for the homeless? We will never know.
So why would Congress borrow money, and then give it to a foreign nation, while depriving its own citizens of needed social programs?? Why would Congress increase aid to Israel this year while cutting programs for American citizens? Maybe you should ask.