McCain, Foolish Statements

The official presidential spokesman of Egypt, Ahmed al-Muslimani, issued a statement describing the task assigned to U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., in Egypt to mediate between Morsi’s supporters — the Muslim Brotherhood — and the new government. The statement struck me — not only because of the characteristics used to describe McCain’s role, but I was also shocked by the actual words used, as well as the context and stance.

Egypt’s presidential media adviser also issued a statement rebutting McCain’s remarks about what occurred in Egypt on June 30 and July 3 and the isolation of President Morsi as being a coup. The statement fully condemns McCain’s remarks as “foolish” and “completely and wholly unacceptable.”

So, during his visit, McCain interfered in Egypt’s business, delegating and giving his legal opinion without knowledge on matters: The U.S. senator has earned the title “idiot.” An idiot, as defined in the Lisan al-‘Arab dictionary, is an idiotic man characterized by his corrupt opinions, little sense and the absence of knowledge, which make the man unable to recognize the consequences of his actions. Do McCain’s remarks put him in this category, or has McCain been described as such because he has angered Egyptians by meddling in their matters and giving hope and attribution to the ousted president Mohammed Morsi, only in order to gain more time and allow the Muslim Brotherhood to cling to power, thus fueling social unrest and sectarianism?

Are such actions in Egypt’s interest, or are they in the interest of America, whose position is now unclear, divided, marred and wrapped in mystery — especially since it has come to light that there was cooperation between the U.S. administration and the Brotherhood, mostly backdoor and under-the-table dealings. This is after they had maneuvered Morsi into power by legitimizing the vote and negotiating to convince Morsi’s opponent to leave, all while scaring Egyptians into believing that if Morsi did not win, Egypt would break down into war and chaos.

Returning to the dictionary, I find that the word “idiotic,” used to describe McCain’s statement, released June 30, regarding Egypt’s new revolution as a coup, is different than that of “foolish.” There is a distinction between an idiot and a fool, and the difference is in the degree and not the type, meaning that the two share the same characteristics, with the idiot being the more extreme form.

It appears that the Egyptians respected the foreign mediators, especially the Europeans, one of whom was Catherine Ashton, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the European Union; there were other personnel, such as the German foreign minister, as well as some Arab officials like the Emirati foreign minister, not to mention dozens of phone communications and a royal visit to Cairo by Jordan’s King Abdullah II. There was even the visit by the deputy U.S. secretary of state — which had barely come to an end, and yet they managed to understand the needs of the Egyptian people in toppling the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, all this was not enough to catch the attention of Sen. McCain, whose argument was only for the sake of arguing, as he released his most aggravating statements. But the question remains: Are Egypt’s new leaders — the ones truly able to lead Egypt to safety — truly alert to the buying of time by foreign parties? This is McCain’s game — done for the benefit of those occupying the squares, those bandits in the streets who are crippling economic life and affecting tourism with their support of violence, determined to disobey the rule of law.

There have been attempts to halt the progression of the revolution and hold it captive and under siege, confine it and pen it in — and those who hope for it — to wait out the Brotherhood’s sit-in and return to their homes, a hope that is not very plausible. The fact is that the Muslim Brotherhood are seekers of authority and will not return while they use religion as a mask for their true intentions — their goals have now been exposed to the Egyptian street, and even to the Arab street.

The Brotherhood’s true intentions have now been revealed in Tunis, Morocco and other places. We can only hope that their statements can serve as proof that politics is more important to them than religion, that to them religion is as philosopher Ibn Rushd once described it: the infant son of politics. They use such religion only as a tool to enhance their influence on the streets; otherwise, how can they explain the statements of a leader who fled from justice in Egypt, who had stated that Morsi’s ousting was worse than destroying the Ka’aba, not to mention one of the members of the Shura Council stating that standing in the square of the Rabia al-Adawiyya was holier than standing on the Arafa?

The Muslim Brotherhood will not back down without force, and McCain is trying to buy time in order to form an alliance with them.