In a virulent article published February 10, 2013 in the English-language daily The Egyptian Gazette, columnist Mohssen Arishie responded to recent statements by U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, in which she expressed her appreciation for the Egyptians' courage and for the sacrifices they have made in their country's ongoing transition to democracy. In a February 5, 2013 speech, she said:" Yes, democracy requires sacrifice. Be it standing in line for elections, giving resources for your ideals, or risking careers and reputations to bring about change..."
Misquoting her as saying that "Egyptians should offer ultimate sacrifices for the sake of democracy," Mohssen Arishie accused her of "continuously spitting warmongering statements" and of calling "for more deaths among protesters across the country." He accused her of meddling in Egypt's affairs and sparking civil war there.
The following is the relevant excerpt from Patterson's speech, and the full text of Arishie's article.
Ambassador Patterson's Remarks
During a February 5, 2013 visit to a factory near Alexandria, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson said: "Yes, democracy requires sacrifice. Be it standing in line for elections, giving resources for your ideals, or risking careers and reputations to bring about change, Egyptians have shown the courage and willingness to make these sacrifices. The economy will be enhanced when the government and political opposition engage in a serious give-and-take on issues of importance. This includes the creation of laws for individual freedoms, ensuring freedoms of expression, assembly, and religion, protecting an independent judiciary and free press, and ensuring that minorities and women are well represented in Egypt's promising economic future."[1]
Arishie: "Is There Anyone... Who Has The Courage To Tell The U.S. Ambassador To Shut Up?"
Responding to the ambassador's speech, Mohssen Arishie wrote: "Is there anyone in the Islamist-dominated government, or in the opposition camp, who has the courage to tell the U.S. ambassador to shut up and stop meddling in the domestic situation in Egypt? Since she moved in May two years ago from Pakistan to assume her post – a stone's throw from Tahrir Square, which is the pumping heart of January Revolution – Ms. Ann [sic] Patterson has been continuously spitting warmongering statements. Patterson appears to hide Molotov cocktails under her chair during separate talks and meetings with chief adversaries on the political street. It seems that before discharging her audience at the conclusion of these sessions, she whips out her hidden ‘bottles' and devilishly serves everyone their fair share. But her carefully drawn leer does not by any means conceal her intentions.
"About two weeks ago, Ms. Patterson arrogantly said that she was bidding to narrow differences between the Egyptian government and its opponents. It is unclear whether the naïve audiences are seated like schoolchildren in front of Ms. Patterson to listen to her lecture on the (U.S.-made) rules of the political game, which have proven to be nightmarish in a number of places around the globe.
"One particular lesson, which has been made painfully clear, is that adversaries are taught in the presence of the U.S. ambassador how to plan under-the-belt and deadly blows to their political opponents. Patterson's insulting statement about her involvement in Egypt's political transformation, which can be described as overbearing intervention, was met by a curious silence from her alleged audiences (Islamists and their rivaling Liberals).
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Mohssen Arishie (Image: The Egyptian Gazette)
"Silence on the part of Liberals was understandably acceptable. But what begged an answer was why the Islamists didn't have a word about Ms. Patterson's statements. It is most curious that the Islamists-dominated regime in Egypt did not show any sign of uneasiness or restlessness towards Patterson's insults.
"Their silence in this respect must have radically compromised at least one of the Islamists' cherished principles and long-standing teachings, which states that Allah (God) curses the Muslim nation who gives to a woman its reins and allows her to govern it. And Patterson is a woman; no one can challenge by any means this incontestable fact.
"But according to their time-honoured, illusive, and self-serving interpretation of the holy text, Islamists could only dismiss accusations that they are violating this Islamic principle by claiming that the principle only refers to Muslim women; a foreign, non-Muslim woman from the U.S., it would seem, is an exception that can be tolerated in terms of steering the future of Muslims.
"Ms. Patterson demonstrated very similar abilities while serving in the Muslim country of Pakistan from 2007 to 2010, the period which witnessed high mark of aggression in the U.S.-led Afghan war. Patterson was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan by ex-US president George W. Bush, who championed tank-borne democracy in Iraq."
"It Seems That Ms. Patterson Finds The Growing Death Toll In Post-Revolution Egypt A Succulent Political Treat"
"Shifting her area of responsibility to Egypt's domestic affairs, Ms. Patterson resumed her overbearing role. Last week she issued her most shocking statement thus far. Opening a plastic packaging factory in Bourg el-Arab to the west of the coastal city of Alexandria, Patterson urged the Egyptians to make more sacrifices in their search for democracy.
"Apparently, beating the drums of a civil war in Egypt, the U.S. ambassador said: 'Sacrifices begets democracy. Egyptians should offer ultimate sacrifices for the sake of democracy.'
"Patterson's call for more deaths among protesters across the country came hours after more than 40 people were killed in mass protests in the coastal cities of Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Alexandria and Cairo. It seems that Ms. Patterson finds the growing death toll in post-Revolution Egypt a succulent political treat because the smacking of her lips could be heard when she said: 'The Egyptians are showing courage offering more sacrifices to celebrate democratic transformation in their country.'
"Patterson's praise for the killing of Egyptians in the war over democracy promptly instigated more violent protests across the country. Anarchy became the rule; demonstrators are now more determined than before to storm the presidential palace in Heliopolis; more police stations, local municipality buildings, schools, and private properties were torched.
"It seems that the adversaries in the political street received a hefty supply of Patterson's hidden Molotov cocktails during her lecture that intertwined the relationship between bloodletting and democracy. Also hours after Patterson's call for a death-dance in post-Revolution Egypt, a group of young people wearing black balaclava and shirts who call themselves the Black Bloc, took to the street to allegedly defend protesters against the riot police. Members of Black Bloc declared online that arming themselves remained a possibility unless violence against demonstrators was stopped.
"It must be said that it was ex-U.S. President George W. Bush, who was the first to appreciate Ms. Patterson's qualifications and competence to work as an aggressive saleswoman of democracy in Muslim-dominated hot spots. Bush-championed democracy in Iraq cost the Iraqis millions of lives, including children and other innocent civilians. Iraq has also been transformed into a mosaic of warring factions represented by the Muslim Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds. Bush sent Patterson to work in Pakistan, which is one of Washington's biggest allies in its war against al-Qaeda and other militants in different parts of the world.
"It is also worth mentioning that U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to move Patterson from Islamabad to Cairo coincided with the pullout of the U.S. troops from war-torn Afghanistan. These same troops were then given new assignments elsewhere – more probably in the Middle East and North Africa.
"It is also very likely that U.S. Marines, in collaboration with NATO forces, are preparing to move eastward and westward in the African continent. Like the Islamabad-based U.S. embassy, which manages the war against Islamic militancy in all of eastern Asia, the U.S. embassy downtown in Garden City under Ms. Patterson, is acting as a headquarters of U.S. operations in the Middle East and North Africa. Ms. Patterson has the roadmap in this respect."[2]
[1] For the full text of Patterson's speech, see February 6, 2013 press release by the website of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
[2] The Egyptian Gazette (Egypt), February 10, 2013. The original English text has been lightly edited for clarity and standardization.
