There is little doubt President Barack Obama gave a well-delivered speech to the Muslim world today. For that, he deserves credit. Where he ultimately failed was his avoidance of the tough issues.
While his lofty rhetoric touched on some of the bones I am about to pick, it wasn’t specific enough to make a difference. Here is where he fell down and fell short:
1. Religious tolerance. Jews are vilified and persecuted throughout the Muslim world. From outright murder to blood libel, many Islamic nations equate Judaism with evil. If you will recall, Egyptian television even made a mini-series based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the tsarist libel of a people and a religion. That should have merited a mention.
What also should have received attention is the sad state of Coptic Christians. While they comprise ten percent of Egypt, a secular nation, they are the subjects of periodic perseuction both state-sponsored and, usually, private ventures on the part of extremist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.
2. Holocaust equivalence. As Erick has pointed out, and related to the above, was the passage where Obama compared the plight of Jews at the hands of Nazis to the Palestinian issue. If there were any comparison at all, there would be no Palestinian issue because the Palestinians would have been murdered by the Israelis. I think that about sums it up, doesn’t it?
3. Iranian nuclear weapons and power. For the love of Pete, why in the hell does an oil-exporting nation need “peaceful nuclear power?” Let me submit for the same reason the North Koreans once claimed they did, Mr. President. Since you are so gung-ho that the petro-states get nuclear power, Mr. President, why do you oppose it in the United States? That contradiction is inexplicable unless you think the United States needs to be deprived of energy to level the economic playing field. And while we are at it, today would have been a nice time to emphasize Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian nukes even if that means a first strike.
4. Torture. You apologized for American “torture” in Egypt, Mr. President. Do you know which nation continues to perfect torture? It ain’t America, sir. And the hypocrisy of Egyptians applauding your condemnation of waterboarding is beyond words.
You could have been a brave man today, Mr. President. Instead you went for the cheap applause lines and delivered an eloquent and ultimately empty speech.
Steve Maley
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Egypt's Torture Video Sparks Outrage, Torture kit found at Egypt police station, Egypt’s Torture Epidemic
izoneguy (Diary) Thursday, June 4th at 2:00PM EST (link)Egypt’s Torture Video Sparks Outrage
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1581608,00.html
Torture kit found at Egypt police station
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070717145026700C798292
Egypt’s Torture Epidemic
http://www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2004/02/25/egypt7658.htm
In the September-November 2003 period alone, Egyptian human rights organizations reported four cases of deaths in custody.
The Cairo-based Human Rights Centre for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP), reported thatMuhammad `Abd al-Sattar al-Roubi, a 26-year old engineer, died on September 19 while in State Security Investigations (SSI) custody in Ebshiway detention center in Tibhar (al-Fayyum), after being tortured in an attempt to extract from him a confession regarding his political affiliations.
The HRCAP reported that SSI officers told al-Roubi’s father that his son had committed suicide. No autopsy report was made public stating the cause of death.
The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA), an Egyptian human rights organization, reported that Muhammad `Abd al-Qadir, thirty-one, died on September 21, 2003, after being tortured in SSI custody in Cairo. Family members who saw Muhammad while he was still in custody said he told them that he had been beaten and tortured with electricity, and that marks of this torture were visible on his face and body.
On September 21, police reportedly told his family that Muhammad had been moved to al-Sahil hospital; hospital officials then told the family his body had been moved to the Zainhum morgue for forensic examination. No forensic report was made public. AHRLA reported that medical personnel at the hospital told the family that Mohammad died as a result of being harshly beaten, and family members who saw the body said it bore evident signs of torture and ill treatment.
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) reported that Mahmud Gabr Muhammad–a worker and resident of the al-Sayyida Zainab neighborhood– died on October 4, 2003, while being detained without charge in the al- Sayyida Zainab police station.
Mahmud was arrested that day while he was in a café. A relative of the victim told EOHR that there were visible injuries on the corpse, including bruises under the knee, bleeding from the mouth, and other injuries all over the body. EOHR called for an investigation and a forensic examination in order to determine the cause of death.
On November 6, 2003, the EOHR reported the death in custody of Mas`ad Muhammad Qutb, an accountant at the Engineers’ Syndicate. He was reportedly arrested on November 1, 2003, by the SSI for being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. He died on November 4, 2003, while being transferred from the SSI office in Gabir Ibn Hayan to Umm al-Masryyin Hospital.
EOHR, citing al-Duqi police station report (No. 9214/2003), said that the Prosecutor General’s investigation confirmed signs of inflicted injuries on the corpse and ordered a forensic examination to determine the cause of death.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
All the things you list here, spanishirish, are just
janis (Diary) Thursday, June 4th at 2:09PM EST (link)some of the reasons why O’s speech is just words. All of his speeches are just words, they mean nothing. It is only what is omitted that is usually important. And the things he says he will do, those are the things we have learned he not only won’t do, he will do the exact opposite. Good diary.
Thanks, janis. If Obama were to "speak truths," as he put it, in Egypt,
spainishirish (Diary) Thursday, June 4th at 5:02PM EST (link)he would be hustled out of the country. So he bowed and scraped, said some things that are indeed true but are as trite as the sky is blue. By avoiding some unpleasant realities, he further isolated the more moderate Islamic peoples who really don’t want to live in either a police state or a theocracy–but see him in both saying little more than “it wasn’t me, it was…I’m sorry.”
And izoneguy: that list was awesome.