Open Letter to the American President
Published in Youm 7
(Egypt) on 8 July 2013
by Hany Ayyad (link to original)
(Egypt) on 8 July 2013
by Hany Ayyad (link to original)
Translated from
by Kristine Anderson.
Edited by Rachel Smith.
Dear Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America,
The Egyptian people fully understand why you are all suffering from great confusion and alarm. We understand why you overstepped boundaries to blatantly interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs, to the point of openly supporting an outlaw group that publicly threatens its citizens with seas of blood on satellite television. We understand all this but we will not forgive and will not tolerate it.
The Egyptian armed forces intervened at the request of 33 million citizens who went into the streets to demand the ouster of the regime, a fascist, outlawed religious group. We know, as does the rest of the world, that this upset you, simply because it has aborted your scheme to repackage the region with regimes that hide behind religion to guard their own interests and abet Israeli security. But what we don’t know: What is the relationship of democracy and legitimacy to the U.S. Army’s deeds in Iraq?
Less than 10 years ago, the U.S. arrogantly and incompetently stomped on international legitimacy, as represented by the Security Council. It turned a deaf ear to the voices of people around the world demonstrating against the savage invasion of Iraq and pushed the U.S. Army into bringing down the Iraqi regime and tearing apart the nation. When you were here in Cairo in 2009, you felt it sufficient to state — from the podium of Cairo University — that it all could have been carried out differently and then you went and gathered the defeated remains of your army in Iraq.
It was a great shock to you when you lost your bet that violent terrorist groups would rule the Arab Spring countries, these groups having blinded you and made you spread lies purporting a military coup in Egypt. Instead of making us listen to your loathsome howls about military coups, you should have told us first why the Egyptian army has no right to overturn the regime, while it was within the right of the U.S. Army to topple the Iraqi regime.
It’s unfortunate that at the head of the U.S. empire sits a man who does not read history and, therefore, does not know that in the Suez War Egyptians toppled greater empires, turning them into second- and third-rate nations. Meanwhile your country was living in the dark ages of McCarthyism and racial discrimination.
While authorities in your nation were throwing out the great (and black) leader Martin Luther King, Cairo was opening its doors wide. If you were familiar with history, then you would be ashamed of what your most unwelcome ambassador is saying and doing in Cairo.
Unfortunately you not only ignore history, but you do not comprehend that you reap what you sow. You planted the seeds of the Taliban in Afghanistan and then reaped the result in New York. You abetted global terrorism and ended up with innocent human victims in all corners of the world, in metro stations, commerce centers, streets, nightclubs and marathon courses ...Yet you still foolishly put your support behind gangs which openly threaten to terrorize and murder Egyptians while rivers of blood run in the streets. You have your persona non grata ambassador in Cairo visiting and coordinating with persons whose history of terrorism and criminality is known worldwide and whose official status in the nation is not known.
You speak so high-handedly about democracy, while in your country the laws prosecute anyone who even thinks of criticizing Israel, not only within the U.S. but in all four corners of the globe. This law is by all standards a smirch on humanity. Suffice it to say that it has lowered the U.S. to the role of policeman to Israel, the very nucleus of global terrorism. If you wish to safeguard Israel’s security, that is your business, but you yourselves must bear the consequences of this.
It is not the Egyptians’ fault that you bet on a lame losing horse, assuming that the populace that had revolted against corruption, dictatorship and dependency would be just fine with being murdered by the terrorist gangs in power — even though they had, for many different reasons, granted these gangs a chance to prove their ability to rule the nation and see to the needs of its people.
Egyptians did not place their bets on anyone as you have done, and we will not bear the brunt of your loss. It’s not our fault that all your bets end in failure, from the Taliban to Iraq to Egypt, and it is your, and only your, responsibility to bear the consequences of your foolishness and to reap the fruits of the seeds of terrorism that you planted all over the world.
Finally, do not stick your nose in Egypt’s business, because Egyptians will just cut it off.
The Egyptian people fully understand why you are all suffering from great confusion and alarm. We understand why you overstepped boundaries to blatantly interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs, to the point of openly supporting an outlaw group that publicly threatens its citizens with seas of blood on satellite television. We understand all this but we will not forgive and will not tolerate it.
The Egyptian armed forces intervened at the request of 33 million citizens who went into the streets to demand the ouster of the regime, a fascist, outlawed religious group. We know, as does the rest of the world, that this upset you, simply because it has aborted your scheme to repackage the region with regimes that hide behind religion to guard their own interests and abet Israeli security. But what we don’t know: What is the relationship of democracy and legitimacy to the U.S. Army’s deeds in Iraq?
Less than 10 years ago, the U.S. arrogantly and incompetently stomped on international legitimacy, as represented by the Security Council. It turned a deaf ear to the voices of people around the world demonstrating against the savage invasion of Iraq and pushed the U.S. Army into bringing down the Iraqi regime and tearing apart the nation. When you were here in Cairo in 2009, you felt it sufficient to state — from the podium of Cairo University — that it all could have been carried out differently and then you went and gathered the defeated remains of your army in Iraq.
It was a great shock to you when you lost your bet that violent terrorist groups would rule the Arab Spring countries, these groups having blinded you and made you spread lies purporting a military coup in Egypt. Instead of making us listen to your loathsome howls about military coups, you should have told us first why the Egyptian army has no right to overturn the regime, while it was within the right of the U.S. Army to topple the Iraqi regime.
It’s unfortunate that at the head of the U.S. empire sits a man who does not read history and, therefore, does not know that in the Suez War Egyptians toppled greater empires, turning them into second- and third-rate nations. Meanwhile your country was living in the dark ages of McCarthyism and racial discrimination.
While authorities in your nation were throwing out the great (and black) leader Martin Luther King, Cairo was opening its doors wide. If you were familiar with history, then you would be ashamed of what your most unwelcome ambassador is saying and doing in Cairo.
Unfortunately you not only ignore history, but you do not comprehend that you reap what you sow. You planted the seeds of the Taliban in Afghanistan and then reaped the result in New York. You abetted global terrorism and ended up with innocent human victims in all corners of the world, in metro stations, commerce centers, streets, nightclubs and marathon courses ...Yet you still foolishly put your support behind gangs which openly threaten to terrorize and murder Egyptians while rivers of blood run in the streets. You have your persona non grata ambassador in Cairo visiting and coordinating with persons whose history of terrorism and criminality is known worldwide and whose official status in the nation is not known.
You speak so high-handedly about democracy, while in your country the laws prosecute anyone who even thinks of criticizing Israel, not only within the U.S. but in all four corners of the globe. This law is by all standards a smirch on humanity. Suffice it to say that it has lowered the U.S. to the role of policeman to Israel, the very nucleus of global terrorism. If you wish to safeguard Israel’s security, that is your business, but you yourselves must bear the consequences of this.
It is not the Egyptians’ fault that you bet on a lame losing horse, assuming that the populace that had revolted against corruption, dictatorship and dependency would be just fine with being murdered by the terrorist gangs in power — even though they had, for many different reasons, granted these gangs a chance to prove their ability to rule the nation and see to the needs of its people.
Egyptians did not place their bets on anyone as you have done, and we will not bear the brunt of your loss. It’s not our fault that all your bets end in failure, from the Taliban to Iraq to Egypt, and it is your, and only your, responsibility to bear the consequences of your foolishness and to reap the fruits of the seeds of terrorism that you planted all over the world.
Finally, do not stick your nose in Egypt’s business, because Egyptians will just cut it off.