Morsi Lies to Obama

Remember this story narrated by the great writer Mohammad Hassanein Heikal during the mass demonstrations that broke out in protest at Morsi’s authoritarian announcement:

In an interview with anchorwoman Lamis El-Hadidi, Heikal said — after meeting Morsi at Al-Itihadiyia Palace — that when the latter was informed about demonstrations coming to Al-Itihadiya Palace, he pointed to his palm, saying: “They will be just a handful.” The hand-palm signal meant that the size of the demonstrators as predicted would not exceed 5,000.

Nonetheless, the protesters went against his expectations, and hundreds of thousands rallied in front of Itihadiya Palace. The story means that Morsi and the ruling family and clan did not expect at all that such huge and mass demonstrations could erupt against them. Meanwhile, leaders like Khayrat al-Shater and Mohammad el-Beltagy announced that the number of demonstrators did not exceed 60,000. Most of this number was made up of Christians, with the rest numbering no more than about 20,000 people — almost the number of opponents of Morsi’s authoritarian declaration.

This story gets directly to the heart of what the world has seen through aerial photography, which showed the size of demonstrations on Sunday as well as those broadcast by satellite channels the day before. The imaging revealed land in Cairo was filled with humans: millions upon millions on bridges and in squares. However, the aerial photography did not disclose the squares of other governorates that were overwhelmed by demonstrators. In Alexandria alone, the number of demonstrators was estimated at about 2 million.

Huge human crowds were in Dakahlia, Al-Gharbiya, Al-Sharqiya, Al-Menoufia, Kafr el-Sheikh, and the Canal governorates. Upper Egypt governorates have also participated in the mass protests. All these governorates, alongside other villages, were not covered by the aerial photography. This was a new event; even though it was not as strong the demonstrations during the January 25 revolution against the Mubarak regime. What if the photography included all these demonstrations? How could one count the number of demonstrators, accordingly? Some said that the number was 25 million, others estimated the number at 30 million, while some said 17 million. The truth came through American satellite channel CNN, which said that throughout the history of the world, no one has borne witness such crowds.

In his phone call with the U.S. President Obama, Morsi said that the number of demonstrators on Sunday was no more than 160,000 people. This was the same lie expressed by the hand-palm signal during the Constitutional Declaration; this time, in expressing these figures, he lied to Obama. Does Morsi think that a country the size of America lacks the capability to reveal the truth of his words?

Unfortunately, Morsi, his family, and his clan dealt with the Western circles in the same way that the 25 January TV channel dealt with its viewers, and indeed the same way that the Freedom and Justice newspaper dealt with its readers. The website of Freedom and Justice released a report on Sunday, indicating that the streets of Cairo were empty and that the demonstrations were just delusional; the 25 January TV channel made the same claim. Did Morsi rely on the two reports before speaking with Obama, or was he aware of the truth and ignored it? In both cases, he did not talk about the truth; he only talked about what appealed to him and what he liked. He has talked about a nation that he did not actually govern. In fact, he talked about a country which he does not know. The reigning family and clan did not believe these crowds; they put forth plans to drag people into infighting and civil war. Mohammed Beltagy called for martyrdom; they are fighting a battle against the Egyptian people who rejected their reign. A ruler who does not see the truth does not deserve to survive.