Maysar Al-Shamari, a columnist for the daily Al-Hayat, wrote an article in the paper's Saudi edition lambasting U.S. ambassadors in Arab countries for "defying the sovereignty of the countries where they serve" and interfering in their affairs. He was especially critical of the U.S. Ambassador in Egypt, Margaret Scobey, whom he called an "old bag." He urged the Arab states, starting with Egypt, to put the ambassadors in their place.
Following are excerpts from the article:[1]
"Why are the U.S. ambassadors in the Arab countries so politically reckless, or, to put it differently, why do they [engage in] political blackmail? Why do the U.S. ambassadors in Latin America stay within the boundaries of accepted [diplomatic behavior] while their colleagues in the Arab countries defy the sovereignty of the countries where they serve? This question, and many others I do not dare to voice [here], open the door to [discussing] the enslavement of the [Arab] 'governments' to the West in general and to the U.S. in particular, and reflect Washington's disdain for these 'governments,' which have given up their sovereignty in order to appease the U.S. ambassadors.
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"Yesterday, the Egyptian press reported that the U.S. ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey, had made a surprise visit to the headquarters of [Egypt's] National Human Rights Council, where she demanded clarifications from the head of the council, Moqbel Shaker, about the death of an Egyptian young man named Khaled Sa'id on June 6, [2010] at a police station in Alexandria. The old bag's wild behavior did not stop there. She also visited Egypt's minister of legal and parliamentary affairs, Dr. Moufid Shehab, for exactly the same reason. This was an infringement on Egypt's sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry should have asked the U.S. State Department to put the old bag in her place!...
"[The young man,] Khaled Sa'id, was an Egyptian citizen, as are the two policemen suspected of killing him, and the case is being handled by the Egyptian justice system... Therefore, Scobey has no right to interfere in Egypt's affairs. This is arrogance – and even worse, stupidity – on America's part, and it must be stopped.
"But the most painful [example] of American stupidity was provided by U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. When the U.S. administration got the impression that the inter-Arab reconciliation was being renewed, Crowley said: 'Damascus must listen carefully [and internalize] the need to get away from Tehran.' Crowley's statement cannot be regarded as anything other than political blackmail of the most despicable kind. Its purpose was to sabotage inter-Arab relations, and to leave Lebanon vulnerable without an Arab umbrella to protect it from civil war and from Israel's [aggression]. If the U.S. wanted to dismantle the Syria-Iran alliance, it could have asked Syria directly, but Crowley made this silly statement in order to sabotage the inter-Arab reconciliation.
"Returning to the issue of the U.S.'s wild behavior in Egypt, and Ambassador Scobey's surprise visits... I think that the silence on the part of the Egyptian administration encourages Scobey to continue this wild behavior. Why did the Egyptian Foreign Ministry summon the ambassadors of the European Union in Cairo in protest of a statement [they] issued about the death of Khaled Sa'id? Why didn't the Egyptian Foreign Ministry ask the State Department to curb the behavior of Ambassador Scobey, as it did with the European ambassadors?"
[1] Al-Hayat (Saudi Arabia ), August 2, 2010.
