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Mar. 24, 2005 In Cairo, Egypt on March 9, 2005, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit corrected several erroneous statements made by George W. Bush in a speech to the National Defense University. According to the President, the invasion and conquest of Iraq have opened a new era of democracy that is contagious throughout the Middle East. In that speech, Bush, while commenting favorably upon anti-Syrian demonstations in Lebanon, as the beginning of a thaw, did not even mention equally impressive pro- Syrian demonstrations. Aboul Gheit merely noted that there were "other trends" in Lebanon, that is, other trends than the ones Bush or Bush's speechwriter chose to notice. As regards the rosy picture of the situation in Iraq that Bush has painted, both at the NDU and elsewhere, Aboul Gheit asked, "What model are we talking about in Iraq? Bombs are exploding everywhere, and Iraqis are killed every day in the streets." Aboul Gheit didn't mention the 172,000 soldiers occupying the country. Nor did he say that, since the US has 11 times Iraq's population, this would be comparable to having 1,892,000 foreign troops occupying the US to assure American democracy. Aboul Gheit challenged Bush´s suggestion that Egypt keep pace with the democratic trends that he, Bush, has set in the area, saying that Egypt and Egypt alone will set its own agenda. Aboul Gheit also took exception with notions that Egypt is a police state, remarking, "I invite anyone to come to Egypt and see. We are not in shackles. We follow our own course independently," That's what I did do in 1990 and 1991. I went to Egypt and lived there for a few months just so I could see with my own eyes what Egypt is like. Some people seem to feel that Egypt is a land of terrorism, dictatorship, human rights violations and extremism. But in fact nothing could be further from the truth. By the time I left Egypt, I had the feeling that there wasn't a malicious soul in the whole breadth and length of the country. Quite the contrary, Egyptians are congenial, genteel, merry, fun-loving, lovable people. If you're lost in Alexandria or Cairo, almost anyone on the street will take you by the hand and lead you where you're going, even if it's several blocks out of their way. For example, the second day I was in Egypt I got lost on my bicycle, and some Egyptian man in a caftan rode alongside me on his own bicycle for several miles to conduct to where I was going. When I visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, I could hardly concentrate on the exhibits, because, as I walked around, half a dozen members of the staff walked around with me, laughing, joking and visiting. Near my apartment in Alexandria, there was a shopping center in a district called Baquth. Every time I went over there, I´d have 30 or 40 children tagging along behind me, asking questions, teasing and introducing themselves amiably as can be. One day, right near Baquth, when school was letting out, a group of about 15 or 20 boys came racing over to meet me. The crowd of youngsters grew and grew, and before I knew it, I had about 1000 boys 10 to 12 years old following me down the street, cheering and shouting. They filled the street for two blocks behind me, as if I were the Pied Piper. On one occasion, when I stopped at a police station to inquire about the location of the nearest post office, a policeman told me to come in to drink a cup of coffee, and said they'd send someone to the post office for me. Egyptian women are just wonderful. I'd always be so happy to come out of my room and see five or six Muslimat--Muslim women--gliding along in their Islamic clothes. The always wave and smile, and if you're polite and respectful, you can talk to them right on the sidewalk, without an introduction. In fact, I used to go around a girls' high school deliberately to meet the young girls and get a chance to practise Arabic. The little girls are shyer than the boys, but after two or three days, they start waving and smiling too. If you go by for a whole week, you get to meet them all. The statistics back me up. The murder rate in the US is 7.4 per 100,000, while in Egypt the murder rate is an incredibly low 0.5 per 100,000, only 7% of the US rate. Thus Egypt is ineffably safer than the US, and if you live there, you can feel the difference. I don't know exactly how Hosni Mubarak maintains his position of power in Egypt or whether it's justifiable to call him a dictator, but the average Egyptian is all in favor of Mubarak, as far as I could tell. One thing is for sure. If there are repressions or human rights violations in Egypt, it affects a very small fraction of the population. It has nothing to do with the life of the average Egyptian. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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