Asking Egyptian Regime Ambassador: “Mubarakism without Mubarak?”
Shortly before questioning Egyptian regime’s ambassador to the U.S., Sameh Shoukry, we received the following email from Aida Seif El Dawla (with the Nadeem Center for Victims of Torture) in Cairo:
Mubarak has fallen. The regime didn’t. We still have the same cabinet appointed by [Mubarak]. The emergency state is still enforced. Old detainees are still in detentions and new ones since the 25th of January remain missing. There is no public apology for the killing. We hear several executives are being prosecuted, including minister of Interior Habib El Adly. Process not transparent. Parliament has not been dissolved. Nor has the Shura council. etc.
We read the quote to Shoukry and asked: “Mubarakism without Mubarak — is that what the Egyptian people are going to have now?”
McCain: Claims Iran More Prone to Violence than Egyptian Regime; Won’t apologize for list of dictators U.S. government has backed
(Infact, in Iran, during the protests in 2009, Human Rights Watch documented about 10 people killed. In Egypt, there have been over 300.)
We also read Aida Seif El Dawla’s statement to McCain; noting that hundreds of protesters were infact killed by Egyptian regime forces.
He called for a “transition government” inclusive of “pro-democratic” forces.
I asked: “Do we owe the Egyptian people an apology for having backed a tyrant for 30 years?”
McCain: “Hindsight is 20/20. … There’s many ways this government has been helpful to us,” specifically citing Israeli politics toward the Palestinians, like the siege of Gaza that the Mubarak regime coordinated with Israel.
McCain added: “I can’t apologize for what happened in Indonesia, for what happened in the Philippines, for what happened Romania.”
This was a rather remarkable comment. In part because it highlights that McCain recognizes that this backing dictators is a pattern in U.S. policy, that he refuses to apologize for, virtually guaranteeing its continuation.
It also mirrors recent comments by Noam Chomsky: “The United States, so far, is essentially following the usual playbook. I mean, there have been many times when some favored dictator has lost control or is in danger of losing control. There’s a kind of a standard routine—Marcos [Philippines], Duvalier [Haiti], Ceausescu [Romania], strongly supported by the United States and Britain, Suharto [Indonesia]: keep supporting them as long as possible; then, when it becomes unsustainable—typically, say, if the army shifts sides—switch 180 degrees, claim to have been on the side of the people all along, erase the past, and then make whatever moves are possible to restore the old system under new names. That succeeds or fails depending on the circumstances. …”
We challenged McCain’s endorcement of embracing dictators until they are no longer useful, after an exchange, he declined to meaningfully respond, simply saying he “understood your view on it.”
He also stated that for years he’s been aware of the abuses in Egypt, backing a process with Russ Feingold, somewhat contradicting an earlier claim that “hindside is 20/20.”
Gingrich: Do we back dictators like Mubarak so we can attack Iraq and Israel can dominate the Palestinians?
Can I just say that we’re very, very glad to have President Mubarak here. He is a very, very important ally, friend, and adviser. And many things that we’ve done, including Desert Shield, would not have been possible without the help of Egypt.
Later in the interview, Gingrich stated: “Egypt has been a staging area for us for a long time now. And Egypt has been vital to Israeli security.”
So, I asked: “We back dictators like Mubarak, who oppress their own people, so that we can attack Iraq and the Israelis can dominate the Palestinians. Why isn’t that a fair summary of what’s happened over the last 30 years?”
Gingrich called this a “fairly grotesque summary.”
Gingrich, initially when asked if he knew Israel had nuclear weapons said “of course.” However, he later backtracked, saying it was a “guess” since the Israeli nuclear weapons program could be a “Potemkin village.” [Addition: a friend comments that perhaps Gingrich would care to join one of the "9/11 Truth" groups.]
Should the U.S. apologize the the Egyptian people for materially backing a tyrant for 30 years? Gingrich: “I don’t think the U.S. has much to apologize for, I think we’ve been a force, basically for good in most of the planet.”
[originally published on Washington Stakeout on Feb. 13, 2011; posted on posthaven Nov. 13, 2015]