It’s kind of understandable that conservatives are remembering that George W. Bush talked about a democracy agenda for the Middle East, are seeing a movement towards democracy in Tunisia and Egypt, and are drawing the conclusion that Bush is responsible for the present crises in the Arab world. Of course, this is supposed to be a good thing.
It should be remembered that the elections that took place during the Bush era were not exactly successful. The elections in Iraq brought to power a bloc of pro-Iranian, religiously conservative Shi’ites, much to the alarm of the rest of the Sunni-dominated Arab world. The Sunnis in Iraq initially boycotted the elections, making the problem even worse and leading to massive ethnic cleansing with dozens of headless bodies littering the streets of Baghdad each morning.
Elections in Lebanon led to increased power for Hizbollah and, ultimately, a destabilization of the central government. Within a year, Israel would invade Lebanon and essentially lose in their battle to disarm Hizbollah. This was hardly the outcome the neo-cons were looking for.
In Palestine, the elections were won by Hamas. When Israel refused to accept such an outcome and began arresting Palestine’s newly-elected officials, the U.S. went along with them. Within a year, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and threw Fatah officials out. Then we witnessed the Battle of Gaza. Hamas remains in control of Gaza today.
The elections in Egypt and Afghanistan were rigged. The municipal elections in Saudi Arabia didn’t amount to much.
The one thing we can say is that the Middle East is experiencing a lot more democracy than ever before. We may not have liked the outcome, but Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine did have relatively fair elections. Maybe Tunisia and Egypt will soon be able to say the same thing. I don’t think Bush deserves much credit for this, except, perhaps, in an unintentional and ironic way. But I never opposed or disagreed with Bush when he said that the Middle East needs more democracy. I just thought he was a fool for thinking it would lead to any short-term advantage for Israel or the United States.
All the advantages are in the longer-term, and they depend on us doing a true pivot and becoming very supportive of these new democracies. There is no reason why we can’t be even better friends with a democratic Egypt than we are with an autocratic one. But we are going to have to adjust. The Egyptian electorate is going to have a lot of disagreements with us on long-standing foreign policies.
Yeah, big on democracy. Also big on torture. Here is a comment about extraordinary rendition, from the ACLU site:
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/fact-sheet-extraordinary-rendition
Abrams, a war criminal, is the big defender of Bush. He’s a huge liar.
But Weiss, always on target.
The Egyptian revolution is coming to the U.S.
by Philip Weiss
Sad to see daily kos FP ignoring all the political ramifications.
Sad, but not surprising.
What do you expect from TGOS? Its focus was always more on domestic matters.
Lol:
“Our friendship is strong. It’s a cornerstone of — one of the main cornerstones of our policy in this region, and it’s based on our shared commitment to peace, security and prosperity. I appreciate the opportunity, Mr. President, to give you an update on my trip. And I appreciate the advice you’ve given me. You’ve seen a lot in your years as President; you’ve got a great deal of experience, and I appreciate you feeling comfortable in sharing that experience once again with me. I really appreciate Egypt’s support in the war on terror.”
~President Bush
Control.
GOOD FIND!
I’m wary of Global Research because of LaRouche ties but the information appears to be correct. Moreover, not enough attention has been placed on the rise in food prices in Egypt, which have ignited opposition to Mubarak. I think there’s a tendency to overlook bread & butter issues and see their problems through the lens of political oppression.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/resurgence/2010/240-241/cover01.htm
I’ve included an excerpt from a report by Tim Jones, who’s a Policy Officer for the World Development Movement, a UK-based anti-poverty campaigning organization. I strongly recommend reading the entire report.
This issue is also being covered by Ed Schultz and Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC.
An added thought — I just wanted to make clear that the recent commodity speculation exacerbated a situation which — among other things — was apparently primed by the adoption of an IMF regimen. Problems with the Russian wheat crop during the summer have led to a current situation which has been taken advantage of by commodity speculators who dramatically increased the price of wheat in Egypt, a country which is dependent on imports and sensitive to price increases.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/31-business-week/3505-russias-wheat-export-ban-signals-rise-in
-prices.html
From what I’ve been able to gather, that proposed sale of added wheat from Russia to Egypt was blocked by speculators (or perhaps another proposed sale), which has had the predictable effect of increasing wheat prices.
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What we have witnessed:
The thugs on the streets creating havoc the first two days were hired by the repressive police force. The heavy casualties up to 300 kiilled were at the hands of the much hated police. That’s why they were removed and the miltary took over and immediately publicised they would not use force against unarmed civilians. The rampage of a few hours in the National Museum of Antiquities were thugs from Egyptian police. The protesters used a human chain around the Museum to keep the thugs out until the military took over security.
In today’s protest there was a greater presence of the Muslim Brotherhood including women. The protesters hate not only their old President Mubarak, but also the inner circle of his regime and the Jews (Israelis) and America. The effigy hanged in the streets of Cairo depicted Mubarak with a Zionist star on his tie.
The decade of Bush and the Neocons led nowhere on the path of democracy: not in Afghanistan, Iraq or neighboring states. Mubarak had warned Bush for taking the lid off Pandora’s box.The origin of Al Qaeda and Bin Laden was Yemen and the tribes of Saudi Arabia. The excuse was the Israeli occupation, this was only mentioned to aggravate the emotions of Arabs and Muslims throughout the world. The blow back has been an increase of right-wing rhetoric, xenophobia and political gain in elections throughout the Western world: the vast continent of Europe and the Antlantic alliance with the U.S.
The decade of Bush, Sharon, Neocons and Netanyahu wasted an opportunity for peace in the Middle-East. In a shameful manner the state of Israel and some Orthodox Jewish organizations exploited the holocaust for political and monetary gain. Today’s abusers of human rights and international justice are the settlers coming from all parts of the world. In addition Israel uses all means to silence opposition voices as the Soviets demonstrated under their dictatorship. Yes the military conflicts with Hezbollah and especially Hamas in Gaza was to silence the Palestinian people wanting to end the occupation and create an independent state of their own.
My nomination World Press Photo 2011 at the dawn of a new age of freedom for the Arab nations of North Africa and the Middle-East. Seeing those faces of children with expression of hope and a new future … may this come true with no more bloodshed.
If there would have been no 9/11, the crazies like Geert Wilders would not have had a chance in political life. The world is filled with right-wing extremist (and many others), however the events in Egypt gives one hope that change can indeed happen. Netanyahu, Likud and the Liebermans are feeling that comfortable losing an ally in Mubarak.
Cross-posted from my diary – Post 9/11 Failed Bush Policy and Aging Dictators in ME
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Bush was never about democracy in the ME; he was about elections only when he believed (usually falsely, as BooM noted) they would deliver pro-American results. When they didn’t, as with Palestine, he swiftly cast aside the results. And the US also pulled every lever imaginable to try to influence those results. That, too, usually backfired. In places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where the Islamist sentiment was recognized as strong, elections were a sham, and Bush signed off on it. He embraced democracy only where he thought it would give him the results he wanted. Otherwise, dictatorships and thuggery were just fine.
From the standpoint of economic elites, the genius of American democracy has been offering people the illusion of choice, while still generally hewing to favorable policies (e.g., free trade, bank subsidies, military boondoggles) no matter who’s in power. (The Tea Party, loony as it is, is a revolt of the Republican base against being taken for fools by their “representatives”; the left hasn’t followed suit only because it’s lacked media and money resources fanning those flames.) Bush ME policy was a nearly identical approach: the assumption that democracy is a preferable model not because it gives people control, but because a limited set of choices lets people think they have control. When they actually up and seize it, as is unfolding in Egypt, Village People and their global equivalents get very worried.
…Well if anybody should know about rigged elections and unfortunate outcomes … it is truly George the Lesser