The military coup in Egypt is a blow to Islamist totalitarians and a slap at their facilitator, Barack Obama.
After massive demonstrations led to the ouster of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt began a process for establishing a new constitution and an elected government. The problem was that the strongest faction was the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamists who did not want to take Egypt into a free, modernist future but, rather, wanted to drag it back to a repressive, primitive past.
In 2009, with hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the streets demanding an ouster of their Islamist despots, Obama refused to raise a voice for their liberty.
In disputed elections the Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi was elected president and a new constitution that the Islamists favored was adopted. But a democratic process is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a mechanism for protecting the liberty of individuals. George W. Bush foolishly heralded democracy out of its proper context. The 2006 electoral victory of Hamas thugs in Gaza, and the murderous and repressive regime they established should have made this point clear.
Yet during the 2011 revolution in Egypt Obama failed to articulate those principles. This should have come as no surprise. After all, in 2009, with hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the streets demanding an ouster of their Islamist despots, Obama refused to raise a voice for their liberty.
By contrast Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were loud and clear in their support for the millions of people suffering under communism, a message that gave hope and inspiration to those in the Soviet bloc struggling against repression.
Obama followed his moral cowardice over Iran with support for Morsi. This is the same Morsi who in 2012 mouthed assent when local religious leader Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour prayed “Oh Allah … grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder.” Morsi’s anti-Semitic sentiments did not deter Obama from agreeing to give the Islamists advanced weapons with which they might slaughter their own people or their neighbors.
So while the story has been ignored by the mainstream American media, it is no surprise that the Egyptian protestors who’ve been in the streets demanding the ouster of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood also despise Obama. Here is a sample of their protest signs :
“Obama: Your bitch is our dictator.” “Wake Up America: Obama Backs a Fascist Egyptian Regime.” “Obama you jerk. Muslim Brotherhoods (sic) are killing Egyptians.” Obama’s ambassador to Egypt also has been a target of the protests: “Ann Paterson: You and your country go to hell. Liars. Shit!!”
While America should be circumspect to say the least about becoming militarily involved in the Middle East, its leaders certainly should articulate the principles of individual liberty. Perhaps it’s because Obama does not believe in these principles that he remains silent.
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Hudgins is director of advocacy at The Atlas Society.
For further information:
*William R Thomas, “ Egypt's Democracy Activists Get What They Wished For. ” May 30, 2012.
*Edward Hudgins, “ Israel vs. Palestinian Moral Smuggling. ” June 3, 2010.
*Edward Hudgins, “ Iran and Obama’s Hollow Moral Core. ” June 25, 2009.
*D Moskovitz, “ What is the Objectivist View on Democracy? ”
Edward Hudgins is research director at the Heartland Institute and former director of advocacy and senior scholar at The Atlas Society.
Edward Hudgins, former Director of Advocacy and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society, is now President of the Human Achievement Alliance and can be reached at ehudgins@humanachievementalliance.org.