MEF's Daniel Pipes and Former Egyptian Ashraf Al-Bayoumi Discuss the Nature of American Democracy

Ashraf Al – Bayoumi: In the sixties, there was a popular movement against the war in Vietnam and democracy had better days than today. McCarthy and McCarthyism have led democracy to bad times. Today, the situation is worse than McCarthyism. American democracy is at its worst. The American administration is leading society toward fascism and Goebbels-like media.

Is [the US] a democratic country?

Interviewer: What is it then? What kind of country is it, not a democracy?

Ashraf Al – Bayoumi: A country far from democracy, which is marching towards fascism. If this situation continues, America will become another Politburo, another Nazi rule, and Goebbels-like media. What is this Fox company?! Who owns the American media? Who finances them?

Daniel Pipes: The focus on the Muslims in the US is an important and difficult issue, and I'd be glad to discuss it with you, but there is no doubt that the US is not threatened by the Hindis, the Buddhists, or the Jews, but by the Muslims. Not by all the Muslims. The problem is that radical terrorists are Muslim and we must deal with this.

Mr. Ashraf knows nothing about the US. He may have lived here 40 or 50 years, but he knows nothing about this country, and this is typical of immigrants who come with a preconceptions, but avoid dealing with the country itself.

I truly wish Mr. Bayoumi, as an American citizen who has sworn allegiance, to this country and as someone who has profited enormously from this country, to look into his soul and understand how much this country did for him personally, when he was fleeing Abd Al-Nasser. Shame on you, shame on you, Mr. Bayoumi, for coming here and saying such things after profiting from this country.