The price of hypocrisy (rice)

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA25Ak06.html


Almost two years ago, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a lecture at the American University in Cairo that came to symbolize the Bush administration's unprecedented agenda of democracy promotion in the Middle East. The Egyptian government, she told her audience of students and activists, must respect the rule of law and the will of its citizens, and move - albeit gradually - toward greater democracy.

Last week, the secretary returned to Egypt, but this time there was no mention of democracy or even of a hint of criticism at the growing repression since her last visit. Instead, Rice heaped praise on the country's autocratic rulers for their support of US foreign policy in the region. "Stability, not democracy" is once again America's priority in the Middle East.

-snip-

If she had taken the time to watch the the videos I was shown by Egyptian friends (which are now circulating on the Internet) of a young bus driver, Imad el-Kabir, being sodomized with a broomstick by the police, or the still-nameless woman beaten while suspended upside down between two chairs, could Rice have stood next to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and thanked him for his government's help "on issues of common interest"?

If she could have spent an hour with the members of the burgeoning heavy-metal scene, many of whose members are sons (or daughters) of generals and diplomats, would she understand why these children of the elite have given up on the hope of political change? Why some are so scared that they won't even allow me to publish the names of the bands for fear the mukhabarat, or security services, might think they have political implications? Would the billions of dollars the United States bestows on Egypt each year in payment for its government's half-hearted support for the US military and diplomatic adventures still seem worth it?

-snip-

In her public remarks at the end of her trip, Rice once again declared that the United States "greatly values ... important strategic relationship" with Egypt, and even thanked Mubarak "for spending so much time with me". Such craven coddling of one of the world's oldest and most authoritarian regimes while Ayman Nour, Imad el-Kabir and untold other Egyptians remain behind bars is morally unconscionable. And it confirms al-Qaeda's argument that the US continues to care not a wit about the human and political rights of ordinary Muslims.

In his cave somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Osama bin Laden is surely smiling.
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[lyonn]

1. Rice: "Stability" - bs

Oh, come on Rice, get your story straight.

[ellenfl]

2. no surprise there . . . but sad. eom