NOTE:  Operation American Spring is modeled after the Cairo, Egypt principle of "mass", gigantic participation by "we the people" for many of the same reasons the people of Egypt took action.

Basically, America cannot wait, cannot wait any longer...we are on the edge of the abyss now.

I would humbly recommend to Mr. Bandow that if likes to talk about Egypt, don't watch Al Jezeera

Forbes Magazine gets it wrong on Egypt

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By Ali Al Sharnoby (Bio and Archives)  Friday, January 24, 2014
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Cairo, Egypt-With all due respect to Doug Bandow, who writes about faraway Egypt in the venerable Forbes Magazine, from someone born, raised and still eking out a life in Cairo, Egypt, you are wrong.  From my mostly lonely post as CFP’s only Cairo-based columnist, let me count the ways:

Bandow boldy claims that Gen. Abdel Fata al-Sisi pretended to be the savior of democracy while his forces are detaining and killing the opposition, and that the arrests and shooting continued during the referendum on the constitution last week.

Perhaps Bandow didn’t know that these forces don’t shoot political opponents, who protest with words, or carry out political actions. They do shoot those who are carrying arms of the Muslim Brotherhood and their militias. Bandow doesn’t seem to realize that the security forces never start fire, but are exposed on a daily basis to terrorist attacks, bombings and kidnappings in the Sinai Peninsula and throughout Egypt. Police forces are not even allowed to carry weapons unless on duty at demonstrations. Then they only carry tear gas with which to defend themselves, the public and private properties.  It should be worthy of note that the Muslim Brotherhood tried to disrupt the referendum on the Constitution in various ways and even issued fatwas to shed the blood of police and army officers right down to the referendum wire.

Bandow writes deposed Muslim Brotherhood-backed Egyptian leader Mohamad Morsi had no control over the army, police, judiciary and bureaucracy, and therefore there was no chance to establish a totalitarian Islamic state. Surely Bandow did not mean to infer that Morsi did not intend to establish this state all along?

Perhaps if Bandow was raised in Egypt on Egyptian traditions he’d know that there was a serious shift in the Egyptian reality led by the Muslim Brotherhood in preparation for the establishment of this state. Maybe if Bandow while walking with his wife in Egypt was attacked by pro-Brotherhood fanatics because his wife or daughter was not veiled like so many others… he would understand what the Egyptians felt after Morsi took power.

Bandow adds that Morsi failed to expand his popularity and credibility, making the Brotherhood defeat almost a certainty in the next elections. Well, I agree with him, but the fact is that the Egyptians were not willing to take the risk of waiting for another full three years to overthrow the Brotherhood in elections because Egypt, now being torn apart would collapse.  Bandow does not seem aware of the election tricks at play in Egypt, and all the Egyptians knew that the Brotherhood wanted to stay in power for 400 years—not merely only the four years the mainstream media now writes about. 

Out of a seeming lack of understanding of the nature of things in Egypt prior to the overthrow of the Brotherhood, Bandow claims that General al-Sisi and his allies rushed to seize power. The police vanished from the streets,  chaos occurred and demonstrations encouraged military intervention, which staged a coup and boosted its control.

Is there a police force in the world capable of killing or arresting or even standing up to 30 million angry protesters in the streets?

With all due respect, I’d like to make it clear to Bandow; first the police didn’t disappear from the streets, but they did refuse to come in and fight with citizens again and revisit the scenario of the revolution in 2011—the burning of police stations, storming of prisons.  More than 30 Million protesters came out to overthrow Morsi, so tell me is there a police force in the world capable of killing or arresting or even standing up to 30 million angry protesters in the streets?

The army did not intervene, until informed Egyptian intelligence became aware of the many calls between Morsi and Hamas leaders, which America itself considers a terrorist group.  So was the army supposed to wait and do nothing? The alternative option for the non-interference was to have a civil war in Egypt, which would become like Iraq or Syria. Is this what Bandow dreams of? I wish he would tell us.

Bandow claims that the trial of Morsi is a show trial. The burning questions must be:

  • When the revolution started in January 2011 and Morsi was detained by Mubarak’s regime on charges of spying and collaborating with foreign organizations, was this also a show?
  • Are the recorded phone calls which are broadcast daily on television shows and over the Internet of Morsi talking with members of Hamas and Hezbollah also a show?
  • Is the killing of unarmed demonstrators after torturing them by the Brotherhood also a show?
  • If the police refused to kill protesters… must the President call his supporters to kill them on behalf of the police?  Wouldn’t the world view this as a crime?

Bandow is repeating the very same big lies of the Brotherhood

Whether or not he knows it, Bandow is repeating the very same big lies of the Brotherhood—that the army rejected the reconciliation and killed thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood in the last few months.

Many people and parties had asked the Brotherhood to accept reconciliation and all were rejected by Khairat Al-Shater, deputy supreme leader of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood rejected any reconciliation unless the return of Morsi as president was Negotiation Deal 101.

The story of thousands dead because of al-Sisi is a big lie, frequently told by Al Jazeera. The official count of two Brotherhood sit-ins is less than 250 persons.  Most of them were armed and started shooting at the police first, which Egyptians were able to see live on television. Despite claims to the contrary, everyday Egyptians do not count on al Jazeera for their news. 

Bandow continues his strange contention that al-Sisi reinstated the old regime of Mubarak police and intelligence; that he restored military trials, and tough new restrictions on demonstrators,  arrested journalists and sent thugs, against Morsi supporters and critics of the regime.

In fact, I am an Egyptian journalist, I live in Egypt, and this talk seems very bizarre to me. I am one of the opponents of the regime in newspapers and on television, and I’m still a free man, my phone never rings to find someone telling me what to say or not say.

Bandow also seems to want to keep Egypt without a national security service which protects Egypt from hundreds of terrorist attacks, from the Brotherhood and their militias.

A few days ago, a bomb exploded near my home… I rushed out to see what happened, and found a Brotherhood protester who was carrying a bomb and preparing to throw it at the police. An officer shot him in the leg, and the man fell with the bomb in his hand.  The bomb exploded in his hand and he was badly hurt. So whose fault is it? Everyone would says it’s the man with the bomb. But I fear Bandow would say that the cop was wrong.

New Demonstrations Law: Stability in the streets and the Economy

It seems that Bandow feels sorry for the issuance of the new demonstrations law, which limits the random demonstrations that always ends with violence.  What Bandow does not know, is that in Egypt since the revolution of 2011, demonstrations never stopped, daily violence and bloodshed are ever present in the streets, and there was no law to limit or control it. Production stopped and factories went bankrupt, tourists stayed away, and the economy tanked. There is no stability in the streets and many people lost their jobs.  is this really what Bandow wishes for Egypt or America in a similar situation?

Indeed, we all felt better for the issuance of this law because the country should settle down a bit and calm down to get back to work and bring back tourism, production and factories and employees back to their jobs.

Bandow states that the new Constitution gives the army a free hand and protects the state’s repressive institutions.

But in fact, this was in the Constitution before the revolution, and also in Morsi’s Constitution of 2012 which was approved by the Muslim Brotherhood when they were in power.  Egyptians don’t consider their army a repressive institution, because the army consists of Egyptians and protects them. If the army has 40% of the overall budget, it also offers lots of services to people and to the state, builds roads, bridges, factories, schools, hospitals, and gives the state a lot of food for the poor and needy. Moreover, this was also since Mubarak was in power and continued during the days of Morsi, and if someone is to be blamed, it’s Mubarak not the army.

Perhaps the fears of opinion suppression at the hands of the military authorities is justified, because the Armed Forces are unused to civilian democracy and are used to implementing strict orders without discussion or objection. If we look on the other side, we find that the country is already in a disastrous situation of chaos, and it needs a lot of discipline and decisiveness to get things back to normal. Egypt suffers from the chaos of opinions and each one wants it according to his personal vision, and everyone is fighting with each other in a scene more like a black comedy, and this absurd scene needs the presence of a decisive and strong man to control things before it is too late.

I would humbly recommend to Mr. Bandow that if likes to talk about Egypt,  he should first ask average Egyptians and tune in on the independent channels rather than watching only Al Jazeera!

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Ali Alsharnoby, an Egyptian journalist and deputy editor, worked in many Egyptian newspapers.

Studied at university of Cairo, faculty of law.. and wrote a number of books about the political trends in the Islamic view.

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  • Thanks for posting this Harry, a very telling article. What is especially bothersome in all of this is the fact that our own president, Barack Hussein Obama, Using his skills as a "Community Organizer" is the person most responsible for the current situation throughout the entire Middle East and in Egypt. There is now growing evidence that shows that Barack H. Obama is not only an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but that he may well be listed withing the ranks of the leadership of that organization. Certainly at least here in America.
    As more and more of this type of information is being exposed and becomes available it also becomes more obvious that America will never last until a 2016 election cycle. If something is not done to stop them, then they will be forced to initiate some kind of emergency themselves in order to facilitate and implement martial law in America. The writer of this article, Mr. Ali Alsharnoby, is correct in his assessment about what army in the world could ever stand up to and stop 30 million angry protestors. And THAT supposition is exactly what OAS is all about.

    • Absolutely RP...........America can defeat the Obama destruction......but they must know there is an option...Operation American Spring is that option...........if there is something better, I'm ready to go, but.....until then we are motivated to challenge the lawlessness in D.C.

      • If you watched Fox news today, Chuck Schumer is ramping up the rhetoric, blaming Fox, Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party for all of the problems with the gov't.....sounds like they are preparing to create a crisis to instigate martial law ! Trying to short circuit Operation American Spring maybe ????   Methinks they are starting to get worried !

      • Thanks for posting this Harry. Relates very well with our operation and answers the question of our being attacked, it won't happen if we get our numbers.

    • Exactly right RP. That is what I keep trying to tell all the ones worried about being attacked. It won't happen if we get our numbers. Did you see the article about how Obama's brother and muslime brotherhood were working with each other today? I think it was by that guy Shoebat.

  • wnd last week claimed Obama is giving the leaders of the muslim brotherhood a salary. for what? an employee?i wonder if Egypt has a income tax? bev

  •   Americans better wake up to the Reality of Obama and all his henchman in America. Those sitting in the Whitehouse with him are a DANGER to the Future of America. People better look at what has happened in ALL of Europe as the same thing is happening here because of Obama. Wake Up AMERICA as We Better Prepare for War that is coming to Our Shores because of this idiot sitting in he Whitehouse. God Help us if America does not Wake the HELL UP NOW and NOT Later

  • I definitely picked up on this quote, "so tell me is there a police force in the world capable of killing or arresting or even standing up to 30 million angry protesters in the streets?", and so very relevant of the OAS mission, in a republic, where we even see the once trusted members of loyal unions turning from within, seeing family, neighbors, and friends, uniting of the imposed suffering being faced.

  • There's no such thing as failure, other than a lack of follow-through...Semper Fi V'nam 66-67

  • Amen Michael.........we cannot fail.........we have set a course that will spell doom to our nation if "we the people" do not support this massive/gigantic call to D.C.  The criminals, deceivers, betrayers will view our efforts as one of two ways..........either they see determination, resolve, attitude of peaceful revolution in massive numbers; or, a minimal turnout which is surrender.  Surrender is not a word I ever apply to myself...........

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