Roger Cohen's "Hosni Mubarak Agonistes": More Blather, This Time from Cairo

Guess who's in Cairo? Yes, that's right, Roger Cohen, the same pundit who repeatedly lectured us from Tehran in 2009 that Iran is "not totalitarian", and who is now intent upon singing praises to nascent Egyptian democracy. In a New York Times op-ed entitled "Hosni Mubarak Agonistes" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/opinion/04iht-edcohen04.html), Cohen writes today:

"Already we hear the predictable warnings from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu: This could be Iran 1979, a revolution for freedom that installs the Islamists. But this is not 1979, and Egypt’s Facebook-adept youth are not lining up behind the Muslim Brotherhood, itself scarcely a band of fanatics."

Thanks for the reassurances, Roger. But consider the following statistics released by the Pew Research Center on December 2, 2010 (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/):

"At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt . . . say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion."

Note also that according to this survey report, 95% of Egyptian Muslims believe it is "good" that Islam plays a large role in politics.

Perhaps Cohen takes comfort in the fact that according to this survey report, "only" 20% of Egyptians have a favorable view of al-Qaeda.

So do we again place our faith in Cohen, who repeatedly told us in 2009 that Iran is "not totalitarian", or do we take the view that events in Egypt are apt to unfold in a manner less sanguine than that which Cohen has in mind?

As stated in earlier blog entries, we have a "lose-lose" situation in the making here, whose tragic outcome is only being compounded by the naive blundering of the Obama administration.

[Here's an article by Hamza Hendawi of the Associated Press appearing in Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_218) concerning the furtive involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Tahrir Square protests that goes unmentioned by both Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristof:

"The Brotherhood has rushed to take a stronger role in the unprecedented protests that erupted 10 days ago, led by more secular young activists demanding the ouster of Mubarak. The Brotherhood's strength was on display in the pitched battles in Wednesday and Thursday against government supporters who attacked the protesters' camp in Cairo's central Tahrir Square before they were driven from the square by the pro-democracy forces.

Brothers — distinguishable by their close-cropped beards — dominated the front lines, often lining up to pray for 'victory or martyrdom,' before throwing themselves into the fray, hurling stones, sticks and firebombs at the attackers while shouting 'God is great.'

Amr Said, a 41-year-old chemist who said he is a Brotherhood supporter, told The Associated Press in Tahrir Square Friday morning that 'our instructions are not to assume a role that is too visible at the moment, and to get along with all other groups including and leftist and liberals.

'We also refrain from making our typically brotherhood chants and when one of us does, we quickly shut him up,' he said."

Meanwhile, Cohen and Kristof busy themselves by interviewing the lawyers, doctors and students. Is it because they are among the few demonstrators who speak English? . . .]