Christians snub meeting with Clinton because of U.S. support for Islamic supremacists

As far back as January 2011, it was clear to the Christians of Egypt what would happen to them under Muslim Brotherhood rule. It was either not clear to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, or they didn't care. Certainly Clinton's cliches about treating minorities equably today will do nothing to alleviate the Christians' plight.

"Christians snub Cairo meeting with Clinton, claim US backs Islamists," from MSNBC, July 15 (thanks to Bruce):

Prominent Christian Egyptians snubbed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday because they feel the U.S. administration favors Islamist parties over secular and liberal forces in society at the expense of Egypt's 8 million Christians.
The critical theme was repeated by others Sunday in Cairo and Alexandria despite Clinton denying U.S. interference in Egyptian elections.

The politicians, businessmen and clerics who snubbed Clinton were supposed to take part in meetings between Clinton and influential members of civil society.

Coptic Christian businessman and politician Naguib Sawiris and three other Coptic politicians said in a statement they were objecting to Clinton's policies in solidarity with the mainstream Egyptian.

They also said that since the revolution, the U.S. administration and Clinton have paid many visits in support of Islamic political currents in society while ignoring other civil movements.

The four prominent Copts consider the meeting with the Islamist parties a form of external pressure to push the Islamists to power and ignore other civil movements. They blamed the U.S. for even showing a preference for an Islamist presidential candidate.

Egypt, a nation of nearly 84 million, is 90 percent Muslim, 9 percent Coptic and 1 percent other Christian denominations.

Two church leaders also turned their back on Clinton.

Coptic Bishop Morcos and Evangelical church leader Safwat al Bayadi refused to meet with Clinton because of what they characterized as interference in Egyptian internal affairs and U.S. support for Islamists while ignoring the majority of Egyptians.

A few hundred protesters chanted the same message in front of the Garden City Four Seasons hotel where Clinton overnighted.

Clinton sought to dispel the idea.

"She wanted, in very, very clear terms, particularly with the Christian group this morning, to dispel that notion and to make clear that only Egyptians can choose their leaders, that we have not supported any candidate, any party, and we will not," a senior U.S. official told reporters on Sunday.

Rights for all
At a Sunday meeting of prominent women, Clinton emphasized rights for all Egyptians, not their choices.

"I came to Cairo, in part, to send a very clear message that the United States supports the rights, the universal rights of all people," she said. "We support democracy. But democracy has to be more than just elections. It has to mean that the majority will be protecting the rights of the minority."

The United States will "look to any elected government to support inclusivity, to make sure that the talents of every Egyptian can be put to work in building a new future for this ancient and incredibly important country," Clinton told a group of prominent women....

Later in Alexandria, Clinton presided over a ceremony to reopen the U.S. consulate in Alexandria, which was closed in 1993 to save money.

The ceremony was moved inside as protesters grew vocal outside the consulate.

In her speech, Clinton said, "I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which, of course, we cannot."

Protesters threw tomatoes, shoes and a water bottle as members of the press accompanying Clinton walked to their vans.

A tomato hit an Egyptian official in the face.

The protesters also chanted "Monica, Monica, Monica," a reference to Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern who was the focus of a sex scandal with her husband, then-President Bill Clinton.

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6 Comments

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PJG | July 15, 2012 4:25 PM | Reply

"...ancient and incredibly important country."
Sounds like a phrase from a a bad schoolgirl essay.
Like, I mean, you know, Egypt is SO "incredibly important"....!

Kepha | July 15, 2012 6:56 PM | Reply

Egypt is an important country--it has the Suez canal, and, under Anwar Sadat (erstwhile pro-German student rebel back in the 1940's)initiated a promising peace process with Israel. Further, Sadat's overtures to Israel (and mending relations with the USA) helped weaken the Soviet Cold War position in the Middle East. Add to this, Egypt is as close to a cultural leader in the Arabic-speaking world as any country can come.

But I can understand the frustration felt by the minority communities of the Islamic world, not least the Christians of Egypt. The Obama administration has shown an appalling lack of concern for the menaced Christian minorities of Iraq, Syria, and Egypt--to say nothing of the residual Jewish community of Tunisia--throuhgout the so-called "Arab spring". The at least apparent embrace of Islamicist political movements including the Muslim Brotherhood (which has consistently hated the USA, to say the least) and others that have called for the re-imposition of Dhimmi laws is yet another troubling development.

I suspect that much of this goes back to domestic political concerns in the USA. White Evangelicals have consistently kept their distance from Obama as a politician (he started out as a supporter of partial birth abortion in the Illinois state house, after all, when much of Illinois beyond Chicago is "Bible Belt"), while serious Roman Catholics cannot but be dismayed by the birth control and abortion mandates in Obamacare. Obama's "base" among white voters is perhaps the most stridently anti-Christian group in the whole country being made up of sexual revolutionaries, lifestyle liberals, and those with a soft spot for Karl Marx.

Add to this that Evangelicals in America have noticed that Hillary Clinton and other leading Democrats in and out of the administration have a consistently "tin ear" when it comes to the faith; and feel that someone's trying to "buy" them when an administration or Democratic spokesmen makes a [usually bungled] reference to Scripture.

So, I suspect, that the administration's coldness to the Christian minorities of the Middle East in its foreign policy may be at least partly a way of striking back at a skeptical domestic voting bloc.

Of course, the administration has few options in Egypt. It cannot come down on the side of the generals after decades of US administrations' calls for more democracy in the region; and it has awakened in dismay to find that the best political organization in the Arab street is the Ikhwan. It's a little like a replay of the first post-WWII decades, when America's high hopes for democratization in newly independent nations were dismayed by the proclivity of those nations for Communist-leaning leadership.

RCCA | July 15, 2012 9:42 PM | Reply

Obama made a calculated decision to support the Arab Spring and the overthrow of Mubarak rather than counseling the Egyptians to take a slower approach in transitioning to democracy. He wanted to be on the right side of history in the minds of the Egyptian youth in Tahrir Square.

But the youth are back at home and ironically the Egyptians hate us anyway. We are blamed by all for their ensuing chaos; we are hated by the Islamists for our support of Israel, and understandably hated by the Christians for our throwing them to the wolves.

Even if it seemed pointless the women and non-Muslims should have been making an effort to reach out to Clinton, to demand US support. I mean, what did they have to lose? But they are apparently so completely demoralized and disillusioned by the US policy they have decided to be insulting instead, shouting "Monica, Monica," no less.

I must say that along with the revelation the other day about the so called sodomy fatwa "hoax" and now this, I underestimated the depths of darkness expressed in Arab humor. It's a culture of complete cynicism and pessimism.

So why would anyone in the US bother being afraid of offending the MB by standing up for the Christian minority when we are handing Egypt billions of dollars? What do we have to lose? They'll refuse our money? Does the Obama administration think we are going to inspire the MB to be more inclusive and respectful of minorities by not standing up for minorities? Doesn't Obama realize that Morsi is just waiting for the moment when the US is in a vulnerable spot to demand the release of the blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman?

Buraq | July 16, 2012 12:00 AM | Reply

The protesters also chanted "Monica, Monica, Monica," a reference to Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern who was the focus of a sex scandal with her husband,.....

Time for a song! 'Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye .....' :)

Shawmut | July 16, 2012 2:58 AM | Reply

I don't believe the protesters, apart from the snub, were part of the Coptic Christian groups, given their temnuoous standing.
Even, with all the 'springing', things like that don't happen without consent of the 'governing'.

vnbushman | July 16, 2012 9:32 PM | Reply

Its become clear that the United States has more concern for appeasing the Muslim Brotherhood than it has concern for allies, Coptic Christians, Christians, kaffirs, or infidels.

This administration is either very ignorant or pro-Islam. Either way when Islam has subjugated the land, the United States will not be saved punishment for its appeasement.

The ideology of Islam is not anything like the ideology of the United States. It never has been and never will be.

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