Friday, February 4, 2011

Dear Mr. President,

It’s becoming clear that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East isn’t changing much after all even though you publicly called for Mubarak to step down and Secretary of State Clinton publicly condemned his use of violence against protesters and the coordinated suppression of the media. But this morning I read that you’re working behind the scenes with Suleiman and the military generals in Egypt to replace Mubarak and form a “caretaker” government with them in charge. And another article reports that “the Obama administration … has reaffirmed its support for other Arab allies facing popular unrest.” On Wednesday, the article says, you called Ali Abdullah Saleh, the strongman of Yemen, approving his promise not to run again in 2013 – 2013! two years from now! – and on Thursday Clinton called King Abdullah II to “underline the importance of the relationship between Jordan and the United States.” Yikes! Mr. President, this isn’t what these uprisings are about. This is just more of the same old same old, continued support for an unjust and unsustainable stability and a sellout of the people who put their lives on the line, some of whom gave their lives, to gain freedom and justice. Do you really think Suleiman, Mubarak’s right hand man, the guy in charge of coordinating renditions with the CIA, is going to guarantee free and democratic elections “soon?” If you succeed in this, you’re condemning all those young men and women who have fought for freedom and democracy for the past 11 days to a brutal retribution. Indeed, you’re condemning all Egyptians to more suppression, corruption, injustice, brutality, and humiliation. You said you “support the democratic aspirations of all people” but these actions don’t fit with those words. This is not support of the aspirations for democracy but suppression of it. Bureaucrats and politicians want a clear entity to negotiate with and in Egypt there’s no clear leader in charge, just the people who have, spontaneously and by themselves, come together and risen up against a tyrant who has suppressed them for 30 years. Who the U.S. has supported and funded for 30 years. It is not in our best interests to continue supporting strongmen and autocrats in the Middle East, Mr. President. That policy violates every principle America professes to stand for. Please change our foreign policy to support democratic movements where ever they occur.