In the name of Almighty God, Allah, The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The entire world, Americans included, have been captivated in recent days by the events unfolding in Egypt. What has been very interesting is to see how political partisans in the US have reacted to these events. You all know that I'm a staunch conservative. I believe in the necessity of personal liberty and limited government. So my natural inclination when seeing such events in Egypt, where the people are rising up against a tyrannical regime, is to whole heatedly support them in their efforts.
To my dismay, many of my fellow conservatives, including many prominent conservative personalities like Bill O'Reily, Sean Hannity and one of favorite conservative personalities Mark Levin, seem to be at least partially SUPPORTING Mubarak (Egyptian dictator). Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand why they are saying that. Mubarak has been a 'friend' to the US, in the sense that he has cooperated with the US in the War on Terror, and he has maintained the peace treaty with Israel. The fear is, and I think its a legitimate fear, is what's going to take his place once he falls? There is a severe fear that the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that gave birth to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, will rise to the occasion and take over the Egyptian government. Hosni Mubarak had fought to keep them out of politics in Egypt for a long time.
However, we have to keep a few things in mind. We have provided 1.5 billion dollars A YEAR to the Mubarak regime in order to train their army, and help with combating terrorism in the region. Therefore it is reasonably deduced that Mubarak isn't really our 'friend', he's only our 'friend' because we pay him. Anyone knows you shouldn't have to pay people to be your friends. If we had stopped that funding long ago, it would have been interesting to see how long that "friendship" continued, and frankly the same goes for Israel. I believe Israel has a right to exist, and I condemn groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and the leaders of Iran for suggesting that Israel ought to be wiped off the map, however Israel is not innocent of wrong doing with regard to creating the tense and often violent political climate of the Middle East. They have a right to defend themselves, but they are wrong in their oppression of the Palestinian people and the use of umbrella blame tactics, punishing the entire Palestinian population for the actions of a few. Understandably, Israel is worried about what's going on in Egypt. A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has said recently, "prepare for war with Israel". That wouldn't be good for the Israelis OR the Egyptians OR the Palestinian people.
So there is good reason for fear of the uncertainty of this uprising. However, we must stand for what is right and what is just. The Egyptian people are the only ones who have a right to determine their future. My sincere hope is that the majority of the Egyptian people will reject the Muslim Brotherhood as only a band of thugs who are willing to sacrifice the lives of countless innocent Egyptians to accomplish their theo-fascist goals, and not take them seriously or give them much credence with regard to the new Egyptian government. I pray that the Egyptian people embrace the concepts of freedom; of liberty and justice for all Egyptian men and women, Muslim and Christian.
I am disappointed with many of my fellow conservatives who seem to care only about the interests of the US and Israel in this conflict. A true conservative believer in liberty, justice and freedom should not and can not accept that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is justifiably denied to one population of people in order to secure it for another. Our founders said that ALL men are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We, as Americans, as the people of this shining city on a hill, cannot be so hypocritical as to profess our own unalienable rights and that of the people of Israel, but yet justify the denial of such rights on others strictly on the basis of our "political or economic interests". If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over, that's bad, but we will deal with that when we get there. We can defend ourselves, and Israel can defend itself as it did during the Six Day War.
We must remember where we Americans come from. When shots were fired and men killed at Lexington and Concord, we didn't yet know what kind of government would rule us once the smoke had cleared. We only knew that we had to get rid of the British as King George III was a brutal tyrant. We didn't really know what kind of government we were going to have until the drafting of the US Constitution in 1787, four years after the end of the Revolution. It turned out ok for us, so there's no reason to think that it can't for the Egyptian people. The key is for us, Israel and every other country to STAY OUT OF IT, and allow the Egyptians to chart their own course. If that means violence, then so be it. Our revolution was indeed violent. But, it has to be left to the Egyptians. It isn't our business to try and influence the outcome. Our trying to influence political outcomes in such countries is what gave us Osama Bin Ladin, Saddam Hussein, and The Ayatollah in Iran.
I pray that the Almighty showers the Egyptian people with divine guidance and divine providence, just as He did our founding fathers, and maybe, just maybe Egypt will be a beacon and symbol of liberty and justice in a part of the world that sees very little of either. Then Egypt will TRULY be a friend to the US, and a friend to Israel.
...And Allah Knows Best...
