Egypt: I Did Warn About This

Last year when America supported protests in Egypt to topple President Mubarak, many of my friends saw this as a good thing. In all the excitement about democracy coming to Egypt, I felt compelled to offer some warnings. I wrote that,

Despite the criticisms that can be made against him, President Mubarack has provided a stabilizing influence in the region, helping Israel secure its borders and keeping radical Islam in check…. What Obama’s approach overlooks is that the “free elections” in Middle Eastern countries can often be a summons for the advancement of Islamic radicalism and fundamentalist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

I then went on to point out that American interference in Middle Eastern politics has normally backfired, and I predicted that President Obama's support of the Arab Spring in Egypt could prove to be an uncanny repeat of what happened in Iran during the Middle of the last century.

In an attempt for the West to regain control of Iran’s oil, Britain had urged the United States to intervene in Iranian politics during the Truman’s administration. Truman’s Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, refused, urging that the British were “destructive and determined on a rule or ruin policy in Iran.” It was not until General Dwight Eisenhower was elected President in 1953 that Britain had another chance to regain control of Iran’s petroleum reserves. Churchill put an embargo on Iran’s oil industry while the CIA began spreading anti-Mossadegh propaganda, hoping to convince the Shah to dismiss Mossadegh from the post of prime minister. At first the Shah refused to go along with the American plan to overthrow his democratically elected government (a plan known to the CIA as ‘Operation Ajax’). However, after continued pressure from America the Shah relented. The prime minister was then arrested and kept under house arrest until his death in 1967.

With Iran’s democratic government out of the way, the Shah’s rule became increasingly autocratic. While he made friends of America (granting US companies the majority of the country’s oil contracts, which had been the intended outcome of Operation Ajax), he steadily alienated his own people by crushing all political dissent. This set the stage for Iran’s Revolution in 1978 when the religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini helped to mobilize opposition to the Shah and his pro-American policies. The following year 98% of the country voted to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic, unaware that Khomeini was planning to use the new government as a front to rule as a dictator. Since then Iran has suffered under a theocratic Shiite government and remains a focal point for militant Islam and is one of the worst countries for the persecution of Christians. How much better it would have been had America never got involved in undermining Iran’s government.

I haven't had to wait that long before being able to say, of Egypt, "How much better if America had never got involved." (And yes, America did act behind the scenes to topple President Mubarack , as I showed in my article, 'Egypt: The Key Players.')

Since President Mubarack was forced to step down, the one thing that has stepped-up is the Christian killers. Compass Direct News has been regularly reporting on the violence against Egypt's Christian population, which has escalated ever since President Mubarack was forced to step down.

Perhaps it is time for America to stop meddling in the Middle East. At least, that is what I argued in an article I wrote last month for the Examiner. My article was titled 'Why America Should Stop Meddling in the Middle East,' and suggests that in almost every case America's presence in the Middle East works directly contrary to our national security goals.

Further Reading

• Why America Should Stop Meddling in the Middle East
• Is Obama a Man of Peace?
• Soros' Doctrine Legitimizes America's Undeclared Wars

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