Egypt was weak and Mubarak was weaker. Egypt – or, rather, Egypt’s government and army – relied on 3 billion dollars of US aid per year, and was allied with the relatively unaggressive but super wealthy Saudi Arabia and associated Arab Emirates. So when ambiguous protests germinated, with a sprinkling of democrats and liberals, Obama and the State Department saw a golden opportunity – to get rid of the weak little dictator with zero cost to the US. Now, however, the US (never mind the Egyptians themselves) have the powerful, radical, and well organized Muslim Brotherhood to deal with, and the endgame may be very much to America’s detriment.
Libya, too, was an interesting opportunity – a time to capture oil interests that were controlled by an erratic and vindictive megalomaniac. England had Lockerbie to avenge; France, to regain long lost influence; and Germany, its Gadhafi-instigated nightclub bombing. And no one loved Gadhafi, a meddler in countless countries. So the Libyan regime was ostensibly easy pickings for the US and NATO, even though a large contingent of Jihadist fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan came from (the now rebel-held) eastern Libya, and even though the rebel alliance is as amorphous and problematic as that currently emerging in Egypt.
What’s more, while taking on these weak and petty dictators, the West has continued to appease the strong and dangerous ones in Iran and Syria. Iran – along with its crucial lackey Syria – have been the world’s most significant destabilizing forces. They have supplied the majority of armaments and fighters in Iraq and much in Afghanistan. They provided funds, political support and materiel to those who have so far killed thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Arab citizens. They support Hamas and Hezbollah, arming them as well with over 50,000 unguided rockets, good only for indiscriminate killing of Israeli citizens, yet useless against a regular army.
What’s more, Ahmadenijad and Assad hated Mubarak, who largely kept a peace treaty with Israel, blockaded Hamas in Gaza, controlled the Muslim Brotherhood and took handouts from America. Egypt too was the most populous Arab nation, vying with Teheran for preeminence and influence in the Middle East.
So America, England and France and others (try) to do away with the little dictators in front of all the media and adoring democracy acolytes, yet they say nary a word about replacing Assad and Ahmadinejad. Riots are prevalent – both in Iran and Syria, where journalists are banned and governments are more than tone-deaf to international opinions. Almost a thousand demonstrator in Syria have already been shot as well as an undetermined number in Iran, where most are preemptively imprisoned, tortured and worse – courtesy of Ahmadinejad’s goons, his VEVAK.
The world is irritated by Gadhafi and Mubarak, but fear intensely Ahmadinejad and Assad, who have both proven their limitless vengefulness – witness the Buenos Aires bombing (80+ dead), the Marine base 1983 bombing in Beirut via their surrogate Hezbollah (300+ dead), the car bombing of Saad Hariri in Lebanon (20+ dead), the extermination of the opposition in Hama, Syria in 1982 (20,000 reportedly dead), the ongoing (and uncounted) extinction of all opposition in Iran.
So we appease those we fear, who have and can still do most damage to our soldiers, our countries and our future, and we knock down like practice skittles the weaker dictators. Tunisia started the rolling ball, Yemen is on course for an exchange of dictatorship and Bahrain was teetering until the Saudi army intervened to consolidate the powers that be.
Ahmadinejad calls for America’s and Israel’s annihilation (the big and little Satan respectively). Iran builds intercontinental ballistic missiles, whilst Syria goes after nuclear facilities, destabilizing the Middle East and undercutting Western interest. We turn away from the tens of millions of disenfranchised and terrorized citizens in those countries, we ignore their pleas for the bare minimum of support, we leave them to the vicious machinations of their secret police and prisons, while we, dilettantes of democracy, continue to play skittles with Egypt and Libya.
WSJ – The Syria Lobby
WSJ – The Tehran-Damascus Axis
Published on News Blaze
Published on SlantRight
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This entirely misses the point that a) the Mubarak government was fighting the Muslim Brotherhood, and the US government, both under Bush and Obama, was pressuring Mubarak to come to terms with the Brotherhood b) during the very violent — monumetally violent — protests this year, Obama and other Western leaders, not to mention the Vatican, put tremendous pressure on Egypt to dump Mubarak and put a Brotherhood friendly government in power. NOT in order to get rid of a dictator (as if the goal were introducing democracy ) but an opportunity to install an Iran-friendly government in power. The aggresiveness with which the US and Britain pursued the goal of Brotherhood power is stunning.
Jared Israel