Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Another Very Interesting Facebook Conversation With Egyptians


(Typos and other errors are in the original. Names have been changed to numbers, etc., to protect their privacy.)


American Woman: "Is Islamic jihad breaking out in Egypt?"

Egyptian #1: "trying to...but the army is ready for them"

Egyptian #2: "No , don't worry"

Egyptian #3:"Well they're out. Are they going to be left to wage is the question."

American Woman: "Please keep me posted as our media is reporting armed insurgents attacking government buildings, Port Said (Suez Canal), etc. Massacres are also being reported of the military using live rounds against "peaceful" pro Morsi demonstrators at the presdential place (which I find hard to believe)."

Egyptian #4: "It's early to assume. But, for the first time in history Islamism is subjected to moral, ethical and national judgement."

Egyptian #5: "Not just yet."

Egyptian #2: "All Egyptians are united behind the army."

Dutch guy: "What does 'breaking out' mean in this context?

"Islamism is subjected to moral, ethical and national judgement"

Hurray! Either you deal with radical Islam, or radical Islam will deal with you. Good luck!

"All Egyptians are united behind the army"

Not just Egyptians."

Egyptian #2: "The massacres are done by muslim brotherhood persons , they killed a lot of egyptian as no one now want them here in egypt , no one need Morsi , only the MB."

Egyptian #6: It's not jihad.

Egyptian #7: (Possibly an American kid): Nope.

Egyptian #8: "American woman" your media is not telling the truth ...you can watch it on our satellite channels.

American woman: "Would that I could Egyptian #13! Send me links to whatever may make sense to an English speaking audience or with explanations---appreciated!"

Egyptian-American: "I hope the Egyptian military obliterates the Islamists. Every single one of them."

Egyptian #9: "33 million went out rejecting MB, because we know that we can't do it alone we need and asked the support of our Army, Army asked the Egyptian to show how strongly we need to step down MB and their representative so we went out in that enormous numbers,
all the evidences show that demonstrators of Islamic groups are armed with different primitive and hand made weapons..... they provoke the army in a very critical site and start clashes ( according to several witnesses resides on the nearby Buildings)
my cousin live in a building close to( Rabaa Al Adawia) where they شقث Squatting on Strike since 28th of June she can't go out of her house,or even open the window , her brother is supplying her with food and drinks after passing through agonizing check points,"

This my witness, honestly.

Egyptian #8: "The attack of the Islamic groups to the site is recorded for the world to watch."

Dutch guy: "So...the media lies about you, the international order backs the Islamists, the US has alienated you, the Islamists provoke violence knowing the media will fall for it, you are with your backs to the wall, you must choose between submitting to those who would kill you, or fight for your freedom and be condemned.

So...how does it feel to be an Israeli?"

Egyptian #9: (Egyptian woman): "I am not going to try to defend either side but the truth will prevail soon."

Egyptian #10 (perhaps Coptic Christian, living in Egypt): "So sad that the foreign media is not being fair at all since the out break of the people's reveloution.Yes the so called Islamists are trying very hard to show that they are the victims.But in all honesty they are very violent ,bloody and brain washed killing even their own people to show that they have many casualties.We wish and begging our army to be more firm with them to save Egypt from a possible civil war which their motive.On the other hand we are certain that our beloved army will not allow this chaos for long .Anyway everything is documented and recorded that these terrorists are the cause of all this unrest and violence.We Egyptains are asking The American Adminitration to stop supporting all the Islamic parties coz in the end don't forget their acts against peaceful American or Eouropean citizens.."

Canadian Academic @ U of T: "America under Obama will continue to support to Islamists because it is the most effective way to damage American interests. The world is upside down. If a secular Egypt would be more damaging to the US than an Islamist Egypt, support would go to the seculars.

Obama thinks that if you give bad guys what they want, they will leave him alone. In that philosophy good people simply play no role."

Canadian academic, @ U of T: "@Daniel The Americans are not supporting the MB or any islamists in Egypt. They reluctantly accepted Morsi because he was elected and had to express concern about the overthrow of a democratically elected president. The Camp David Accords require the US to stop funding the Egyptian military if it id deemed guilty of carrying out a coup so President Obama has to appear to be scrutinizing the events but we all know that he is not going to find the Egyptian military guilty of anything. The Egyptian military will continue to be funded by the US and it will continue to be a force that will mitigate Islamist governments should another one be elected. Morsi had to include the military in his government but the military bailed out creating the opportunity for them to "support" the popular Egyptian revolution. The US props up the government of the Saudi Royal family because if it were to fall it would be replaced by radical Salafis many of whom would be Jihadists. There is no way that the international community is backing the Islamists. Furthermore US support for Israel has been unwavering even under the Obama administration despite the fact that Israel's treatment of the PLs on the west bank is immoral."

American academic, U of Pennsylvania: "There has been a scattered, low-level jihad in Egypt for quite some time, waxing and waning since at least the founding of the MB in Ismailiya in 1928. The closest to a major jihad was the terror war by al-Gama`a al-Islamiya that killed a thousand people, mostly Egyptians, in the 1990s. But now a big one is starting, that will be worse if it is postponed, and that I hope will result in the final and total defeat of the Islamists in Egypt. But I'm afraid that not enough people see it in those terms. Appeasement and political inclusion of the Islamists will not work--they must not be trusted in public life again."

Egyptian #12: (woman): "I fully agree with you Raymond Stock, but it does mean then that it will not be possible for Egypt to become a democracy!! They will never fully 'disappear'."

Canadian academic, @ U of T: "There is going to be unrest in Egypt for some time because the nation's farm land cannot support the national population. The population is growing while erosion and other problems are reducing the volume of land that can be farmed. Global warming will also contribute to ecological problems and a loss of national productivity. The country is going to get even poorer than it already is. Yes the Islamists should be shut out because they are bad for the economy and just about every other temporal situation. However I suspect that they will continue to be a populist movement as life in Egypt gets harder"

Egyptian #13: (Not clear whether this man is Egyptian or American. His Facebook profile indicates he is a Jesuit working in Cairo and a graduate of Iowa State University) "The MBs are very hurt and they want by all means to drag the military into violence to cry to the world that they are being attacked by the military... It will not work. The people discovered what the MBs are capable of. We saw them throw kids off the roofs in Alexandria and we saw them throw grenades and club people to death. We heard all their hate speeches and the more they do the more the Egyptians want them out of political life forever."

American academic, U of Pennsylvania: "Thank you, (Egyptian #12), and no, the Islamsits will not disappear. Yet they can be thoroughly defeated--but only if people agree that this must be done. Those who argue that keeping them out of politics radicalizes them further forget or do not grasp that they are already radicalized, and were only waiting until they had consolidated their power before fully implementing their program. There is no meaningful chance they will ever change their ideology, nor will they be satisfied with anything less than total power in the long run. They can never be true democrats, any more than their patrons in the 1940s, the Nazis."

Egyptian #13: "I think Egypt will go through tough times but the economy will boom. Egyptians abroad will invest heavily, the Gulf countries have already started to invest and have pledged to invest more as soon as there is a government. Farmland is plenty, we just have to reform irrigation and find ways of getting more water and there are plenty of studied projects for this that only need investments. The problem will remain that these Islamists will go on doing what they excel at: terrorism but with time they will be purged and refused by the people themselves. Tourism will boom again by next September, so the climate is good but we need to get by these few days and get on a serious path. We just hope that the US administration will not spoil it for us by continuing to be the blood line of the MBs."

Egyptian #13: "The Egyptian people do not want the MBs to participate in any political life, they do not want to hear about reconciliation and no one should encourage this. When Germany was defeated and the Nazis got prosecuted and judged, no one even dared suggesting a reconciliation and a return of the Nazi party to the German political scene. It is exactly the same. The MBs are a fascist religious regime based on excluding anyone who is not MB and by claiming supremacy."

Egyptian American: "I'll take it one step further. Let the civil war between the Islamists and the military begin -without a word from Obama! I'd rather the military slaughter the Islamists then watch the Islamists slaughter 32 million Revolutionaries. The time for compromise is over, the Freedom and Justice Party got their chance and predictably failed, now they need to got the way of the National Socialist Party. And a side note, don't listen to any faux 'liberal' living in Egypt who voted Morsi over the boogeyman Shafiq. If you voted Ikhwan over felool 2 years ago you have no credibility moving forward."

Egyptian # 13: "This is a golden opportunity for the US famous war on terrorism for which it spent trillions of US tax payer's money while Egyptians with a week sit in by the millions got rid of the most dangerous international terrorist organization in the world. If you track down all the Islamic NGO s in the USA, you will trace them back to the MBs and they finance the MBs. Al kaida is also related and it is no coincidence that lots of the MB demonstrators wear the picture of Osama Bin Ladin while they demonstrate and carry the flag of Al Kaida. The US has a golden opportunity here to help Egypt finish this one up but instead they are being a thorn in the back. Sometimes I wish that the US administration should outsource foreign policy help because so far they have been really off!

Egyptian #12: "I think (Egyptian-American) that the Egyptians weren't fully aware of the MB's goal, now they are!!! Well, I am ashamed to notice they still may not know the Salafi mentality?? Taking Nour Party in?? I'm happy they themselves stepped out!"

Egyptian-American: "Egypt desperately needs a Kemal Ataturk. Since this is not happening I'll settle for an Abdel Nasser. Anyone or anything that will put the menace that is 'Political Islam' where it belongs will suffice. The sooner the conflict starts the sooner the conflict will end and it's inevitable."

Egyptian #12: "No problem, as long as there's a decent constitution that keeps the president in line and the people educated!"

Egyptian-American: "The Turkish model under Ataturk (Not Erdogan). Erdogan/Nasser were Islamist crushers."

Canadian Academic @ U of T: "Obama is still constrained by US law that prevents aid being sent to a country that has overthrown a democratically elected government. He is going to face opposition from the Republican controlled House of Representatives. House Republicans oppose him on everything. John McCain has already called for the US to stop sending aid to Egypt ($1.6 billion per year). So far the Obama administration has fended off demands that aid be cut off. Let's be clear. The US funds the Egyptian military. Almost all that aid goes to the Egyptian military. Obama is taking sides by continuing that aid and to the Egyptian military. And yes I agree that the US has one of the poorest track records regarding foreign policy of any country I know. They do not understand the outside world."

Egyptian #12: "Let's be clear, nothing is for nothing!"

Egyptian-American: "For Americans who have a vested interest in Egypt's welfare, this isn't a partisan issue or at least, it shouldn't be. There's no doubt that Obama backed the wrong horse from the very beginning. Morsi was his guy as evidenced by Patterson's comment the day prior to the Revolution. I also think Sen. McIkhwan, while I respect his stay at the luxurious Hanoi Hilton, is out of his mind on cutting aid to Egypt. Obama didn't suspend aid when an Islamist won the presidency, didn't suspend aid when violence, Hate Crimes and Blasphemy charges skyrocketed, nor suspended aid when Morsi appointed a Terrorist as Governor of Luxor. And now both parties are threatening to suspend military aid after 32 million Revolutionaries told the Islamists to go to hell? This is why people hate America."

Egyptian #12: "It's just a bureaucratic rule: if coup, then no aid! If they see it your way Peter Ashamalla, they should also stop being friends with Saudi Arabia! Self interest has always priority! For sure, in the end they will pay!!"

Canadian Academic @ U of T: "@Peter Every political issue in the US is now partisan and the government is deadlocked. The US is very polarized. The Republicans are determined to foil any policy originating from the White House. And I must repeat that the US president is obliged to support a democratically elected government that the US is not at war with. Make no mistake, the Egyptian military did not act without consulting the US government. The US would have said that it was glad to get rid of Morsi but we (the US) cannot be seen to be involved. It would also have said that the Egyptian military had to act in such a way as to give Obama a way of claiming that it was NOT a coup. This included making a well regarded civilian the head of state, demonstrating support of all opposition groups and the statement that new elections will be held very soon. Even with all that political "cover" the Egyptian military could not "act" until 48 hours after millions of protestors thronged the streets so it could claim that it had urged Morsi to deal with the unrest prior to ousting him. The military can claim that it merely carried out the will of the people at a time of extreme crisis that the government was unable or unwilling to deal with. All this was critical to keeping the aid flowing. The Egyptian military did its very best to "comply" with US law which meant the US government was directly involved in choreographing the Egyptian military's coup."

Israeli man: "Those who cry foul with regards to the supposedly undemocratic way in which this dictator was ousted managed to ignore the fact that many of the world’s worst dictators were propelled into power through democratic elections and even more have done so off the back of popular movements."

Egyptian #14 (Young American muslim?): "The struggles of all Egyptians--not only of Muslims--is a well known fact."

No Idea -  Possibly Egyptian: NO

Egyptian #15 (May be Australian): "Yes...The Muslim brotherhood is linked to Jihad in theory and practice!!!...and I growing my beard in protest!!!"




Labels: , , ,

1 Comments:

Blogger SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yeah, it was too deep, but I got the last guy who grows his beard. At least he is clear.

July 10, 2013 1:24 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home