Thomas Friedman, "Defendant No. 34 Has Her Say": A Very Short Memory

Apparently Thomas Friedman's memory is extremely short.

This past Sunday, Friedman asked, "Does America need an Arab Spring?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/friedman-down-with-everything.html). Today, in his New York Times op-ed "Defendant No. 34 Has Her Say" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/opinion/defendant-no-23-has-her-say.html), Friedman observes how the "Arab Spring" that he once ballyhooed from Cairo's Tahrir Square has resulted in the ongoing prosecution of democracy workers in Egypt.

Drawing attention to the defendant Nancy Okail, "who leads the Cairo office of the U.S.-based Freedom House," Friedman writes:

"While seven American democracy workers who were slated to be tried with Okail had been allowed to leave the country, she and dozens of her Egyptian colleagues still face prosecution at a trial re-set for June. She is deeply — and rightly — worried that the U.S., now that it has gotten its citizens out by paying a $5 million bail — will forget about the Egyptian democracy workers.

. . . .

It’s sad to see Egypt’s ruling military council — which has done good things to shepherd Egypt’s democratization process — get maneuvered by remnants of the old regime into this xenophobic attack on groups whose only crime was supporting Egyptian efforts to monitor elections and form parties."

The Egyptian military was "maneuvered by remnants of the old regime"? Is Friedman unaware that this prosecution of democracy workers has the support of the Muslim Brotherhood? As reported by Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-01/u-s-ngo-workers-leave-egypt-after-travel-ban-lifted-in-foreign-funds-case.html):

"Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, called the lifting of the travel ban [on the 15 non-Egyptian NGO workers seeking to flee Egypt and avoid prosecution] 'regrettable.' The case 'shows that America continues to interfere in Egypt’s affairs,' he said."

And, as this Bloomberg article proceeds to observe, even Egypt's youth movement, although doubting the merits of this case, did not hesitate to condemn the decision to free the foreign NGO workers:

"The April 6 movement, one of the youth groups that organized the protests that led to Mubarak’s overthrow, said in a statement that it 'strongly condemns' the 'blatant intervention' in the work of the judiciary and the 'mysterious' decision to revoke the travel ban."

Friedman continues his opinion piece by declaring:

"But now you have a six-way struggle for power in Egypt: the Army, the Islamists, the youths, the liberals, the old regime’s loyalists and the business community.

This is going to take a long time to sort out. America’s job is to let whoever wins know that their relations with us will depend on their commitment to free elections, an independent judiciary, free press, open trade, religious pluralism and the rule of law."

More balderdash. In Egypt's Parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more radical Salafis garnered an overwhelming majority of the vote, and it is plain that they are not planning a Western-style democracy for Egypt. As reported by NDTV (http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/egypt-crisis-not-against-sharia-law-says-muslim-brotherhood-83659):

"'The Muslim Brotherhood are interested in the government, in the law that protects human dignity, freedom, equal opportunities, that stops corruption, and in favour of development...We are not rallying actively for Sharia Law, but it [sic] the majority wants it, then why not?' said Dr Kamal El Helbawy, Member, Muslim Brotherhood."

Friedman concludes his op-ed by stating:

"Without vibrant civil society groups, there will never be a sustainable democratic transition in Egypt."

A "sustainable democratic transition in Egypt"? In a country in which at least three-quarters of its Muslim population "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" (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/)? Sorry, Tom, but you're again talking claptrap.