Damn American Aid… Die Free and Don’t Eat from Its Hand

When will the U.S. stop threatening to cut off aid? Will the aid affect the priorities that make us swallow our pride whenever Obama “fought with his wife” and threatened to cut it?

Is this aid from a friendly state that wants to teach us democracy and hopes for the best for us as it alleges, or does the state want to exert pressure upon us? Can we completely cease our dependence upon this aid, especially since the American Age has begun to diminish? When and where will the pride and glory return to us so that we can respond to insults with insults without embroiling ourselves in war?

Indeed, the process of American threats is analyzed out of the right context… Now, the U.S. is a broke businessman who lives in memories of past days of glory which may never return! It follows that Obama’s threats to Egypt after the capture of Mr. Sam LaHood, general secretary of the International Institute for Democracy (IID), in the Cairo Airport before his departure to Dubai may be aptly described as not fitting with the precepts of international law. Egypt has long been dependent upon military aid, especially now, as it was before the January 25th Revolution. In reality, it was offering its priceless strategic services, but the picture will clearly be changed as the new regime comes and serves the people and not America’s interests in the region.

Accordingly, we will respond to the descriptions of the American media that described Mr. LaHood’s situation as displaying a lack of consistency on the Egyptians’ part. The man went to spread democracy and figure out how to deal with regulatory agencies. He is a democratic radical and the son of the American Minister of Transportation, supported by the American Right, which cares deeply about spreading radical democracy in strategic states. Obama may be interested in the problem of Mr. LaHood and all other Americans held with him in Egypt and the decision of the Egyptian attorney general to investigate their activities. Obama officially responded to General Tantawi in a television address with violent rhetoric, threatening to cut off all American aid to Egypt, according to this newspaper. All the words are in “al-Hijays,” the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, but outside of that we say “Damn you and your aid.”

This should be the quick and effective response to these continued threats of severing aid, done calmly and with a smile in Arabic literature and not the Zionist depravity which describes the capture of our country as due to the “lack of a parent.” We say “Thank you, Abo Hussein” and “Damn the father of aid.” Tomorrow we issue a decision to increase access fees to the Suez Canal by 15 percent. Surely this increase will raise the price of basic materials, such as oil, therefore increasing the current global recession. This threat does not have a solution if we play our role properly. At least we will have the capacity to pressure and threaten rather than be subjected to continued threats without real justification. We learn again from the experiences of others even if those that taught us to respond to arrogance say leave it alone.

The U.S. Congress will study the issue of aid to Egypt in the coming days, which amounts to $1.3 billion annually. I believe that the size of aid in the coming term will be completely linked to the ability of Egyptians to “close their eyes,” as the amount of increased submission has been equal to the amount of increased aid. However, after reading America’s situation, its ongoing financial crisis, and the new global changes in the Middle East, such as the fall of U.S. client states previously influential in decision making, we can be assured that even if Egyptians completely submit to U.S. wishes, the amount of economic aid won’t approach the previous level of $1.3 billion. Rather, it may gradually decrease if Egyptians think to behave as an independent, sovereign state and not a rudderless agent as America knew it in past decades.

Congress, which cut the defense budget by a great amount, up to $259 billion over the next five years, still has the American army with a budget of $181 billion annually, while cutting salaries, pensions and health care for retirees. Of course, this process will add pressure to cut the size of the U.S. army by 80,000 soldiers and because of financial pressure, will temporarily cancel contracts to buy new ships and submarines that had been agreed upon with manufacturers. I don’t think that aid to Egypt will remain unless we put our necks under their shoes and promise to carry out all their wishes for our security and the Arab world. This is a dream that the January 25th Revolution changed, and a nightmare that haunts the American administration, which tries to renege on its agreements about the number of political spectra in Egypt, as it looks to find a new way to exert influence and pokes its nose once again in our affairs under the pretext that it was previously laughing at us for the defunct regime. The U.S. threatens to cut or reduce aid in case the U.S. is defied, and this threat helps now that we make decisions in response to the U.S. and we say to them: We will depend on our own resources and we won’t accept your threats. Go. Damn the father of aid! Die free and don’t eat from its hand!!!