Mohamed ElBaradei has been pissing off American presidents and Secretaries of State since he took over the International Atomic Energy Agency from Hans Blix in the early part of Bill Clinton's second term. Both Clintons despise him, irrespective of obligatory positive comments they've occasionally made. George W. Bush and Colin Powell did everything they could to thwart a man who so thoroughly predicted the messiness of the Iraqi quagmire those two Americans led us into.
Although Egyptians might not fully want a person regarded as an expatriate coming in to take over the opposition to Mubarek's police state, others regard him quite highly, as a man who gave their country a very high and positive international profile in a world that was rapidly becoming Islamophobic and racist toward Arabs.
The most recent example of an expatriate leader returning to a powerful country in the Muslim world was of course that of Benazir Bhutto returning to Pakistn, only to be cut down by assassins soon afterward. Mubarek's people are certainly capable of such nasty business.
Siun at firedoglake has written a post at which she asks us to call the White House, State Department and D.C. Egyptian Embassy, to show support for freedom in Egypt:
We can stand with the people of Egypt and ElBaradei as they put so much on the line for democracy. One way to do that is to make sure they – and the White House and US State Department – know that we are watching carefully and insist on protection for the protesters and ElBaradei. You can call right now to deliver that message:
White House Switchboard 202-456-1414
State Department 202-647-4000
Egyptian Embassy 202-895-5400
1 comment:
Made the calls. How many dead? WT fuckin F!
Post a Comment