In the United States there is a general sense that Egypt is now moving out of America’s orbit – but very little conception of what specifically is driving that process. This article by columnist Dr. Mahmud Madi of Egypt’s Amal al-Oumma newspaper outlines the major issues driving Egyptian resentment, starting with operations of U.S.-run non-governmental organizations in Egypt and the subsequent arrest of 19 Americans. But the resentment runs much deeper, going back to the era of Anwar Sadat, the Camp David Peace Accords and America’s decades-long support of the Mubarak dictatorship.
For the Amal al-Oumma, Dr. Mahmud Madi starts out this way:
The shouts of the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square – and all of Egypt is for all intents and purposes Tahrir Square – were heard around the world, north, south, east and west, and everyone knew that an earthquake had happened in Egypt.
But somehow, news of the revolution failed to reach the administrations in America and Germany, which insisted on taking the same approach they followed with the previous regime, when submission and unquestioned approval was the norm. As Georgetown University Professor John Esposito has said: “The administration only sees what it wants to see, and only hears what it wants to hear.”
With many others, I watched the press conference of the Egyptian investigative judges on the involvement of some American non-governmental organizations in political activity. Under the guise of charity work and spreading democracy, they and their money entered the country illegally – the cash going to Egyptian organizations in an effort to create strife and chaos in an attempt to influence the outcome of the revolution.
The American reaction was tense and angry. In the face of the Egyptian people, Washington then drew its sharpest weapon: it threatened to cut U.S. aid to Egypt.
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