Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home/customer/www/ufppc.org/public_html/libraries/fof30/Input/Input.php on line 99 United for Peace of Pierce County - UFPPC STATEMENT: Our hearts are in Tahrir Square tonight
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."
OUR HEARTS ARE IN TAHRIR SQUARE TONIGHT
February 3, 2011
After Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's suborned myrmidons (or paid goons, if you prefer) failed to quell the democratic uprising in Cairo last night, the dictator groaned in lassitude to ABC News's Christiane Amanpour. “I am fed up," Mubarak said today in an interview at the presidential palace (Oren Kessler and Melanie Lidman, and AP, "Mubarak: I'd resign, but Egypt would descend into chaos," Jerusalem Post, February 4, 2011). "After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go."
That's good news. Many think tomorrow—the "Friday of Departure"—will bring matters to a head. Our country's government has contributed much to the subjugation of the Egyptian people, but the sympathies of most Americans, we believe, are with the people of Egypt risking their lives tonight for the chance of gaining the dignity of life in a democratic society.
We're pleased that U.S. officials are taking a strong public stand for the rights of the protesters and are saying that democratic reform should begin now. "Now means yesterday," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
The U.S. in recent times has provided about $1.3 billion a year to Egypt in security and military aid (more than 20% of Egypt's defense budget), but only a few hundred million dollars in economic aid. That works out to something like an annual $3-6 each in economic aid for Egypt's 80 million people, and about $2,000 per person for those in the military and security forces. Thanks to the U.S., Egypt has the largest military on the African continent and the 10th largest in the world.
The wealth possessed by Mubarak and his family, by the way, has been estimated at between $40 billion and $70 billion (Susanna Kim, "Egypt's Mubarak Likely to Retain Vast Wealth," ABC News, February 2, 2011. We wonder how much of that comes from U.S. taxpayers' pockets.
Last week only 11% of the American public followed the "Egypt/Mideast protests" more closely than any other story in the news, according to a Pew Research Center poll. This week the number will be way up. Nothing as hopeful as the youthful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have happened for some time.
Our hearts tonight are with the brave people in Cairo's Midan Tahrir ("Liberation Square" in Arabic).
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."
UFPPC STATEMENT: Our hearts are in Tahrir Square tonight
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."
OUR HEARTS ARE IN TAHRIR SQUARE TONIGHT
February 3, 2011
After Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's suborned myrmidons (or paid goons, if you prefer) failed to quell the democratic uprising in Cairo last night, the dictator groaned in lassitude to ABC News's Christiane Amanpour. “I am fed up," Mubarak said today in an interview at the presidential palace (Oren Kessler and Melanie Lidman, and AP, "Mubarak: I'd resign, but Egypt would descend into chaos," Jerusalem Post, February 4, 2011). "After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go."
That's good news. Many think tomorrow—the "Friday of Departure"—will bring matters to a head. Our country's government has contributed much to the subjugation of the Egyptian people, but the sympathies of most Americans, we believe, are with the people of Egypt risking their lives tonight for the chance of gaining the dignity of life in a democratic society.
We're pleased that U.S. officials are taking a strong public stand for the rights of the protesters and are saying that democratic reform should begin now. "Now means yesterday," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
The U.S. in recent times has provided about $1.3 billion a year to Egypt in security and military aid (more than 20% of Egypt's defense budget), but only a few hundred million dollars in economic aid. That works out to something like an annual $3-6 each in economic aid for Egypt's 80 million people, and about $2,000 per person for those in the military and security forces. Thanks to the U.S., Egypt has the largest military on the African continent and the 10th largest in the world.
The wealth possessed by Mubarak and his family, by the way, has been estimated at between $40 billion and $70 billion (Susanna Kim, "Egypt's Mubarak Likely to Retain Vast Wealth," ABC News, February 2, 2011. We wonder how much of that comes from U.S. taxpayers' pockets.
Last week only 11% of the American public followed the "Egypt/Mideast protests" more closely than any other story in the news, according to a Pew Research Center poll. This week the number will be way up. Nothing as hopeful as the youthful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have happened for some time.
Our hearts tonight are with the brave people in Cairo's Midan Tahrir ("Liberation Square" in Arabic).
UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."