Tums for the Tummy

Democracy … that was the byword when the United States (read Hillary and Barack) backed the notion of the “Arab Spring” … which so far has brought them nothing but headaches – the four murders in Benghazi, the storming of the U.S.’s Cairo embassy, the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel, the al Qaeda resurgence in Mali, and now Egypt’s President, Mohammed Morsi, assuming the role of a dictator (see: CBS News Story). Yes, there were “democratic” elections in Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was tossed out  … which the Muslim Brotherhood won. But, since then, there has been a steady deterioration of Egypt’s democratic governance and cooperation with the United States … to the point were our President can’t even call Egypt an ally.

Yes, there has been something of a détente recently when Egypt interceded in the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. But any clear-thinking person knows that this will be a short-lived truce. Even Obama’s former Special Envoy to the Mid East, George Mitchell, has said that the U.S. should not be rewarding bad behavior on the part of the extremists.  However, rewarding them we are (by negotiating with and thus recognizing Hamas).  But Hillary Clinton has seized on this moment, I believe, to try to change the subject away from her problems in Libya. And it will take months, if not years, before we know the full extent of what she has promised them in exchange for what I’m sure will be more Morsi duplicity. Hillary clearly does not believe that old adage that “when you lie down with dogs, you end up with fleas” … but rumor has it that Bubba Clinton has just ordered a gross of “Frontline” ampules.

Now the Egyptians are again demonstrating for the freedoms that they thought they were getting when Morsi was elected … but, alas, it is not to be … probably not for many years to come ... if ever. It appears that the one of the world’s oldest civilizations, the Egyptians, have traded a headache for an upset stomach. As part of the deal, could Hillary have promised them a shipload of Tums?

Afterward:  I got the following list of powers that Morsi granted himself from an AP story:

"— All laws and decisions by the president are final, cannot be appealed, overturned or halted by the courts or other bodies. This applies to decisions he has made since taking office in June and any he makes until a new constitution is approved and a new parliament is elected, expected in the spring at the earliest.


— No judicial body can dissolve the upper house of parliament or the assembly writing the new constitution. Both are dominated by the Brotherhood and other Islamists and several cases demanding their disbanding were before the courts, which previously dissolved the lower house of parliament.

— The president can take any steps or measures necessary to prevent threats to "the revolution, the life of the nation or national unity and security" or to the functioning of state institutions.

— A new judiciary body of "protection of the revolution" is created to reopen investigations, prosecutions and trials of former regime officials, including ousted President Hosni Mubarak, for the killing of protesters during last year's uprising. Other police officers accused of killings, however, will not be retried.

— The controversial prosecutor general, a Mubarak appointee seen by many as lax in pursuing former regime figures, was removed from his post."

Does anyone hear the sound of crickets coming from our White House?