INTO THE HANDS OF THE SOLDIERS

I spent much of this week immersed in David Kirkpatrick’s riveting report Into The Hands of the Soldiers, (NY, Viking Press, 2018). David spent six years as NYT Bureau Chief in Cairo, long enough to write a politically neutral, very well researched resource for readers wanting to read an on-the-ground authentic reportof the Arab Spring and the intervening years following Mubarak’s replacement byMr. Morsi and the Military Coup led by Mr. Seisi , roughly 2010-1016. 

Accompanied by his family, David lived in Cairo during the Arab Spring of 2010-15, travelled the region, learned the truth as best it could be told, and told it as honestly as able. For that he was finally reported on State Television as an enemy of the State, his picture posted, and eventual departure made necessary to protect him and his family from danger. 

By the end of the book, I found the chaos and corruption, the gore, the murder and the mayhem “utterly depressing” and retired for a restless night.

Contrary to popular opinion I, as a Christian, discovered THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD had worked vigilantly for a preferred peaceful and non-violent political solution, up through the recent term of Mr. Morsi. I learned that the Palestinian HAMAS is an offshoot of THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD and seeks non-violence and peace, but because they defend themselves against the Israeli’s  they are considered Terrorists by the U. S. 

I also gained insight into some of the dynamic between Egypt and Israel when out of sight of American policy. I came to understand the term “Deep State”, something I had not heard of before. As I understand it, that is a bureaucracy that is so deeply established and entrenched that it cannot, and will not, be displaced and will retain its position, power and prestige at any cost. 

Egypt lives with a Deep State, under Mr Seisi and the Egyptian Military will not be replaced even to allow a free democratic rule of Law. They capitalized on the fear and hatred of THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD and thrive best under Islamic Theocracy so that Mr Seisi betrayed Mr. Morsi as President via a military coup d etat and forthrightly rejected (or prevented) allowing the people time to develop a democratic state. 

I also discovered there was a general consensus of people that prefer the free democratic state and they rose up after Seisi and the coup took place, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Christian Copts, and liberal secularists, who all arose in mass. They established a mass Protest Presence that could not be overlooked. Yet, the U.S. could not acknowledge the military coup without having to withdraw its Military Support from Egypt (a tidy sum).They rationalized  the coup (pronounced without the p) and gave it a different name so as to stay politically correct and keep their political finger in theEgyptian/Middle East pie.

With time, the “DEEP STATE” Military Forces utterly crushed the popular revolt in what is now the largest one-day slaughter of protesters in documented history, and the author gave the figures. As a result, the DEEP STATE is still in control of Egypt and filled with corruption, which he reported in some detail. 

THE US is still sending its Military Support which would have been illegal had they acknowledged the “Coup”. I saw great bi-partisan confusion in our US Administration(s) and unclear policy yet our tax dollars still go to the Deep State Military Institution (a bribe, or black mai in my view), although they militarily crushed the democratically elected President (although he was a Muslim) and refused to give his election a chance to develop and flower simply because he was of the hated Muslim Brotherhood Party, and this in spite of Mr. Morsi’s many attempts to foster and further the needed elements of an inclusive democratic society, including social diversity outside of Islamic theocracy and freedom of women (all documented).

As a result, the Muslim Brotherhood is now terribly diminished politically but also very confused internally. Now; some are turning to violence to rebuild their organization. All the while, the DEEP STATE structure tolerates no diversity, controls ALL policy and social life, and keeps financially solvent with the help of the supportive autocratic Arab States (with the exception of one). The Islamic State develops and grows as does the threat of terrorism.

US financial support remains a primary objective while still being the common enemy and a threat to the autocratic Middle East kingdoms, like the Saudi’s and others who have turned their states into private family kingdoms that they own and operate as such. The support of our State Department provides nothing for the impoverished and vulnerable--just Military weaponry.

As a reader, I felt great empathy for those people protesting for a free democratic state and disgust with our politically correct government. Egyptians live in a very controlled social order where corruption on all sides is sickening. Their prisons are full and filling fuller with political prisoners, being some of the harshest on the globe.

One story related to Mohammed Soltan who returned to assist the Arab Spring, an American citizen and graduate of Ohio State, charged with inciting violence (opposing the system). Soltan had family on both sides of the fracas and spent 21 months in prison, 16 months on a hunger strike that diminished his 272-pound frame by 160 pounds – deported back to the U.S.5/3/15. He said Islamic State jihadists “had been recruiting avidly in the prison. They say, ’These apostates will never respect anything but violent resistence. They only understand the language of weapons.”

Kirkpatrick quotes Soltan as concluding ”The one thing that everybody in the prison had in common  --the ISIS guys, the Muslim Brotherhood guys, the liberals, the guards, the officers—is that they all hate America” (p 297).

I was appalled at the reported comradery between President Trump and Mr. Seisi, as well as the Saudi’s, each recognizing in the other the characteristic ‘Strong Man”  approach of the autocratic (dictator) philosophy of leadership, I also see a strong parallel in the DEEP STATE approach that controls Egypt and is seeding within the current American White House.

I applaud David Kirkpatrick for his splendid reporting; I appreciate our many honest, hard-working journalists, but I not sure I would pay the price he paid to do such an investigative report.  As a Christian believer I will continue to do whatever I can to further our relationships within our human family. I will respect those of different color, creed, and culture and work at being a global family of human beings. 

My Christian faith calls for diversity and difference and it seeks the common good of all. Jesus teaches me to seek first His Kingdom and he suggests therein that I will find life and love and lift. I affirm that and I love God supremely. I will, moreover, love my neighbor as myself. Like no other, Christianity gives that unique lift that brings people together and relates them into a family of non-violence and peaceful harmony.

This is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com