Admiration

The uprisings in the Middle East are astonishing. Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, etc. And now we hear of rumblings of the same discontent in Iran and some of the major Middle East countries. The risks these people are taking are unfathomable. Mostly, it is the young people who are tired of no freedom, no jobs, no hope for anything other then to wake up each morning, find something to eat, and go to sleep that night. We are at an amazing time in the history of the world because we are seeing the people in these countries rise up against despotic rulers and risk their lives to over throw them. And clearly none of this would be possible without the internet and social media young men and women.


There was a tremendous amount of "Monday morning quarterbacking" regarding the Obama Administrations responses regarding Egypt. I don't profess to be an expert on the Middle East, but I do think the responses and tones were appropriate. Libya is a different matter because Qaddafi is now massacring his people through the use of mercenaries and thugs. I want our countries leaders to stand up and say "enough" to Qaddafi and that he must leave NOW. We are the country that became a country because we believed in freedom, stood up and said we wouldn't take it anymore, and fought to have it. I have the Declaration of Independence on my ipod and read it again yesterday: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The people in these countries are trying to obtain what we have now. 


As a country, we should tell them that we support them. Regardless of the color of their skin or which god they believe in. We are supposed to be the good guys. For way too many years, from the Shah of Iran to Mubarak, we've propped up these Middle East despots because our leaders believed that it was in our national interest to have "stability" there, and to have our military bases there. We made millionaires and billionaires of some of these evil dictators. CNN reported that Mubarak was worth somewhere between $25 and $70 billions dollars. That's BILLION, with a B. While the average person in Egypt lived on $2 a day! And we know because of those actions that radical Islam bred and grew it's hatred of the US to a point where they've attacked us many times. 


I'm happy that Hillary Clinton said condemned officially Qaddafi's violence against Libyans. We should come out and say that we are for ALL the peoples of the world to over throw unelected and oppressive rulers. That we stand with them. Then maybe we'll be admired again. And we'll admire ourselves...