Egypt - Decisive Moment?: “America is not supporting democracy. This administration is supporting terrorists”

Egypt Christians Greet Revolution 

Against Muslim Brotherhood

BY PETER JESSERER SMITH

After suffering severe persecution under ousted President Mohammed Morsi, Christians hope the regime change will improve their situation in the Arab nation.

Christians in Egypt have thrown their full support behind the popular uprising that has toppled the Islamist government of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood after suffering the worst persecution in decades.

Egypt’s Christians have celebrated the Egyptian Army’s decision to force president Morsi out of power and set up a new government, after millions of Egyptians took to the streets to demand Morsi’s ouster. The June 30 protests sponsored by the Tamarod (“Rebel”) movement are being called the largest mass demonstration in world history.

With Morsi under arrest, Adli Mansour was sworn into office as Egypt’s interim president, while new presidential elections are set up and plans to write a new constitution are put in place.

Christian leaders have praised the military-assisted popular uprising to depose Morsi as a recovery of the ideals of the January 2011 revolution that saw Christians and Muslims demanding political freedoms and the fall of dictator Hosni Mubarak.

“How wonderful are the Egyptian people recovering their stolen revolution in a civilized manner with the idea of Tamarod and its great youth’s sacrifice,” tweeted Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.

Pope Tawadros II also tweeted in support of the decision to remove Morsi, praising “three greats of Egypt — the people, the army and the youth.”
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Time to change course in Egypt

By Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

American policy must better promote democracy in the post-Morsi era

For the second time in as many years, Egypt finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. What has become clear by recent events is that millions of Egyptians believe that the Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood project has failed to live up to the goals and aspirations of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Many believed that it was always doomed from the start, that the tenets of Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhoodwere incongruous with those of the demonstrators of Tahrir Square, and throughout Egypt, who finally decided that oppressive rule was enough.

Transitioning to democracy takes time. The day after Hosni Mubarak stepped down, I warned that the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremists would exploit and hijack these events to gain power. Many have been putting too much faith in the “Morsi was elected democratically” mantra. Democracy is far more than holding elections. In a post-Morsi era, it is important that the next government governs in a democratic manner that encompasses respecting the rights of others, separation of powers, and a free and independent press, which are some of the attributes of a true democracy. And that is where the United States should have been playing a vital role from the beginning.

The United States needed to be helping build up civil society, rule of law and democracy promotion programs in Egypt in the aftermath of Mr. Mubarak. We should have been pushing for constitutional and administrative reforms that would have paved the way for legitimate and truly democratic elections. After millions of Egyptians flocked to the streets in Egypt to decry Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood for their failure to live up to the ideals of freedom and democracy, the Obama administration chose to work with the Morsi government, not hold them accountable, and failed to take a decisive and firm stance in support of the people of Egypt.

From Day One, we should have been leveraging our assistance to Mr. Morsi to push his government to implement real democratic reforms — the kind of reforms these demonstrators have been desperately crying out for — instead of providing aid unconditionally and legitimizing the Muslim Brotherhood led-government. After one year of empty promises, deteriorating economic strain and continued human rights abuses by the Morsi regime, these protesters are voicing their demands for substantive political reforms in Egypt. This was a consistent pattern during Mr. Morsi’s year in office, yet last month, Secretary of State John Kerry very quietly invoked a waiver because the State Department could not certify that the government of Egypt is abiding by democratic principles, and cleared the way to send another $1.3 billion toEgypt in foreign military financing.
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