by Jack Lee
It was pandemonium in Tahrir Square in Cairo as the news spread like wild fire, Mubarak has stepped down! This was an unbelievable, awe inspiring event and perhaps one of the greatest moments in human history for people power.
Words can’t explain the euphoria of so many people and political groups united in an almost delirious happiness. They should enjoy their great victory while they can because tomorrow when the sun rises there will be a new reality and a new beginning. The path they have chosen will have many twists hiding hijackers and bandits ready to steal their new found power.
Among the potential bandits is the political arm of Islam. These are the fundamentalists and this is exemplified by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is estimated that upwards of 20% of the Egyptian population supports this oldest of all fraternal Arab orders.
Leon Panetta, head of the CIA, tells us they are mostly a secular group and fairly moderate, which then begs the question why do they call themselves a religious organization and why are Egyptians so wary of them? And then there are other factions from Iranian sponsored Shiites, Al Qeada to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, all vying for a piece of the action. But for now, the Egyptian army is in change and there is peace.
There is little doubt that the shift towards democracy will be messy, it always is; and it remains to be seen how many challenges and how much insecurity will be tolerated in their quest for freedom. I wish them much luck – they will need it.
Ain’t it great?
Regime change.
WITHOUT 50,000 US soldiers killed or maimed.
WITHOUT half-a-million civilian deaths.
WITHOUT trillions of dollars transferred from the taxpayers to war profiteers.
God Bless Julian Assange!
God Bless TRUTH!
Quentin, if it turns out the way they want, yes. But we don’t know what will happen next, no one does, I hope the
people really do come out winners.
What could seriously jeopardize the future of the Egyptian people are the lies being told by the Right.
Osama bin Laden was once allied with The Muslim Brotherhood, but left them because they weren’t crazy enough to suit him. The Right has used this association to monger fear, telling us they want to impose Sharia Law, so Egypt will become a “terrorist state with control of the Suez Canal.” Admittedly, I don’t know as much as I should about the MB, but it’s for damned sure, that is a lie.
This movement was born of truth.
Lies will certainly not help it.
Quentin do a bit of research on the MB and then tell us what you found. I did and thats how I formed my opinion. When you assume the “right,” whoever that is, is telling lies…I dunno…that is a big stretch of logic, too big for me.
Quentin your comments are sad even for you.
You have an irrational hatred for the “right”, I do hope you check out the Muslim Brotherhood, please.
they tel;l us they want to destroy Isreal, they say they want to kill anyone not of their faith,
Brigette Gabriel lived under Muslim rule and sharia Law, scary stuff, last week I heard a Muslim Cleric as a guest on Sean Hannity’s show he admitted that he wants sharia Law here in the USA, he believes in the ridgity of women wearing burka and etc, I’m not saying this willy nilly, check it out
God Bless You,
By “the Right,” I refer to the Haters on the local AM station, as well as FAUX News. They lie. No more, and no less. We all know it now.
Quentin you are so full of…YOURSELF!
The final outcome of all of this will not become apparent for quite awhile. I hope and pray for the best.
Quentin I think you’re wrong about what it has “taken” to make this happen. For all of the mistakes that America has made over the years we have also been a beacon of freedom and it can’t have escaped many of these very intelligent people that Americans are willing to die for “other people’s freedom” as well as their own. Have our soldiers died in vain? SHUT YOUR MOUTH. Freedom my friend is what America stands for and always has.
I read this tonight and found it interesting. I thought some of you might also:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/11/peddling-islamic-extremism/
Editorial
Thanks Tina and that’s a good reply to Quentin you have posted. I hope he really reads it and will not skip over the facts.
WHAT facts, Jack?
Where are they?
This is an editorial–an opinion piece.
There isn’t one fact in it.
Ma’am, I have a quite rational hatred of all partisans, no matter their stripe.
Partisans work for their party. By putting party first, they put truth second. They put America second.
I put America first.
HUGE difference.
Imagine you ruled America.
Someone lied to you about your options regarding a problem you had to correct.
You made a poor decsion because of this.
America was worse off because of your ill-informed decision.
In America, we the people, are supposed to make the decisions.
Do you think we can make good decisions based on inaccurate information?
If you do, would you tell me how?
Thanks.
By the way,
I could not find any info on the MBs goal to “destroy Isarael.”
I found one man’s opinion on Israel here: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27879
The Brotherhood has publicly stated they are OK with Israel.
May I ask WHY you choose NOT to believe that?
May I also ask why you do choose to beieve one cleric that Hannity dug up? Out of over a billion Muslims?
Thank you.
Quentin when you said you have a rational hatred of partisans that actually made sense to me. Many years ago (too many) I took a U.S. government class in college and the professor warned us about the evils of nationalism. Nationalism is just another word for prideful patriotism which is another word for partisanship. In the most hardline view it can be argued or better said, rationalized, that when an emotion is introduced into critical problem solving that requires dispassionate logic. Failure to do so and the chances of a good outcome are greatly lessened. Washington is full of partisans and you see the results. That pretty much makes our case for the dispassionate, logical approach where putting the welfare of nation first rather than the welfare of the party first.
So, Quentin what you say rings true and I support your premise, but I would remind you that you too often take that partisan knee jerk response to critical thinking. Case in point is the rational logic and factual data presented in two articles on the MB followed up by comments, particularly by Tina…she had a very well formed rebuttal.
I sent a comment in yesterday to you, but I was done in by my own blog software! It was lost somewhere in cyberspace. However, what Tina said is what I wanted to say so I’ll let it go with riding on her coat tails once again. (She is brilliant)
Quentin, saying you have your biases is not a put down, because we all have them. We (Tina, Steve and myself) are swayed to the conservative argument side first – then we have to go that extra distance to analyze them and see if we were really right or merely buying into partisanship? You do that too and I give you credit for it, but you also play the role of the above-the-fray kinda guy, one who is the devil’s advocate to all things, when in reality you are really right down here in the fray with us, biases and all. So don’t kid yourself…you’re a partisan too and you’ve not been reading the facts on the MB because of it. Tina’s comment was a brilliant rebuttal and you should consider it carefully.
Which party do I agree with?
Jack? This:
Editorial
The Muslim Brotherhood is employing the united front strategy most notably used by Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin in which a small but committed band of extremists makes common cause with larger, more moderate groups in order to gain entree into the halls of power. Once part of the ruling order, the extremist faction then proceeds to subvert from within, gaining more influence by degrees until the time is ripe for a full implementation of their revolution. Then, its murder and mayhem to get their way. This was how the Bolsheviks who, like the Muslim Brotherhood, were a small, radical and ruthless part of the political scene managed to seize power nine months after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Irans Ayatollah Khomeini also used this technique to consolidate power after the downfall of the Shah.
is not an article–it is an editorial–the opinion of the person that wrote it. Tina didn’t say this. It comes from the Washington Times. Is there any proof at all of the assertions made in it?
Tell me what you think of the following “fact:”
“The TEA Party is employing the united front strategy most notably used by Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin in which a small but committed band of extremists makes common cause with larger, more moderate groups in order to gain entree into the halls of power.”
If I had a printing press would that make it fact?
Now, you see, Jack, I can produce evidence for the truth of that statement. I can point you to articles–not editorials–which tell of how the TEA party is getting the Republicans to think twice and do some things the TEA party wants. Things you, yourself would rejoice over.
Can you likewise give me one single shred of evidence that your assertions are true?
I am NOT a partisan.
When you present the facts, I will be happy to read them.
That is an interesting point about dying for “other people’s freedom,” Tina.
I will overlook the fact there is no Constitutional authority for killing and maiming Americans to “free” foreigners–as you have overlooked that fact (I guess you only support upholding The Constitution SOME of the time). What I’d like to ask you is, since you’re so big on “other people’s freedom,” does that mean you support the Egyptians “freedom” to choose Sharia Law as their system of governmnet?
A simple yes or no will suffice.
Quentin, quoting my comment in which I shared from the Washington times..and then claiming I didn’t acknowledge it as an opinion piece: “Editorial
The Muslim Brotherhood…blah blah blah…used this technique to consolidate power after the downfall of the Shah.
is not an article–it is an editorial–the opinion of the person that wrote it. Tina didn’t say this. It comes from the Washington Times. Is there any proof at all of the assertions made in it?”
Ahem…”Editorial” = Opinion.
More importantly it was offerred as a lesson from history.
“The TEA Party is employing the united front strategy most notably used by Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin in which a small but committed band of extremists makes common cause with larger, more moderate groups in order to gain entree into the halls of power.”
If I had a printing press would that make it fact?”
No it would not. If you did, however, I would expect and appreciate some evidence to show the comparison had some merit.
I shared the “editorial/opinion” as a point of interest. Once again quoting myself: “I read this tonight and found it interesting. I thought some of you might also”.
Yes a point of interest rather than a point of fact. You missed that but you often do miss things in your fervor to make me look incompetent or silly.
But then you usually just skim material, else how to explain your missing the obvious “editorial” when it was so prominently displayed…and then miss it again when you “cut and pasted” it to make your snarky assertion?
“I will overlook the fact there is no Constitutional authority for killing and maiming Americans to “free” foreigners–as you have overlooked that fact.”
I didn’t sugest there was a Constitutional authority nor did I suggest that our purpose would ever be the have Americans maimed and killed for foreigners. If you’re going to take umbridge with my words at least have the decency to quote me directly. In fact what I said is:
Quentin has a point here. Hannity and Beck have spent the last month trying to convince their listeners that the entire Egyptian uprising is the work of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that the transformation of Egypt into a Islamist theocracy is all but a given. They took the side of Mubarak the dictator in this debacle, rather than the side of the protesters who were fighting for their freedoms, and if you don’t know this then you simply haven’t been listening to their shows.