Getting it Right in Egypt

Ever since the “Arab Spring” uprising in Egypt there has been great confusion over whether it was a good or bad thing. Much of this confusion has been fostered by both an ill-informed press and an ignorant body of our own lawmakers. You know the type; the same ones who bought into the War in Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein; and basically have mismanaged the Middle East for decades. This includes both Republicans and Democrats.

To understand what has happened in Egypt, it is necessary to look back at the history of Turkey; most notably at the reign of Ataturk; real name Mustafa Kemal Ataturk; who was instrumental in the establishment of a secular government in Turkey after the end of the First World War and the demise of the Ottoman Empire. In the past 12 years; since 9/11 and our misguided war in Iraq; we have been instrumental in restoring the Ottoman Empire, from Afghanistan to the border of Turkey. This bodes ill for the West, as it is a step backwards in time and progress, not to mention freedom.

Basically, pure democracy can be a dangerous thing. We ourselves have an Electoral College to safe guard our democracy against being hijacked by various extremists groups. The founding fathers were very wise in this respect. They saw the potential of the people to make mistakes. And, to safeguard the republic from itself, the Electoral College was formed. It has served us well for over 200 years. It is a restraint which has served as the buffer against our country falling too far to the right, or to the left.

In Turkey, when Ataturk took down the last of the Caliphate in the mid 1920’s, he took a cue from our secular democracy; seeing to it that Turkey’s military would be tasked with upholding a secular government. He also outlawed the Fez and the Veil, seeing them as roadblocks to joining the 20^th Century, as well as signs of division among her own people.

As a result of that foresight, Turkey has enjoyed almost a century of stable governance. There have been a few occasions in which the Turkish people have elected an Islamic fundamentalist to the Presidency, only to have the military take over the government until the tide of extremism has ebbed. When that happens, the military returns the government to the people for free elections. I had the privilege to see this system in action while traveling through Turkey in the 1970’s, when extremism was on the rise; and the military took control; and then again in 1984 when they returned the government to the people.

The current leader of Turkey is walking fine line. He was elected on an Islamist platform, and the military did not attend his swearing in; although they vowed to back him so long as he maintained a secular government. Recently, in the wake of the fallout from the Arab Spring, he has tried to take Turkey back a few steps toward Islamic Fundamentalism, but with the military looking on closely, he has not been able to do so.

This brings us to Egypt; which although it has a different constitution; the dynamics are about the same. The people ousted Mubarak; much as the Iraqi’s did to Hussein; and the results of both are plain to see. The power vacuum in both countries was quickly filled by extremists, such as Mursi in Egypt, and the still fractured sects vying for control in Iraq. This is the same dilemma which President Assad of Syria faces in the current troubles in his country. Although he has vowed to destroy Israel, Syria remains more of a pipeline for the supplies and weapons required by the Palestinians than an actual military threat. In his own way, he may still be considered to be a roadblock against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

On the other hand, we have helped to restore a portion of the Ottoman Empire, unbroken, from Afghanistan to the border of Turkey, which is home to the Kurds. The Kurds are Islamic Fundamentalists who, if they had the chance, would have taken Iraq and Turkey long ago. And remember, that Turkey is the dividing line between the East and West. It was only the repressive policies of Hussein, along with the secular government in Turkey which has prevented them from crossing that line.

When the Arab Spring rolled around, the news media and ill-informed people the world over rejoiced. There was going to be democracy in Egypt! That didn’t last long, as evidenced by the recent overthrow of President Mursi. That the military has stepped in and put a halt to the Islamization of Egypt is a welcome event, but it is easily misunderstood by most Americans, who see it only as a military coup and an affront to freedom.

The truth of the matter is that Egypt has taken a leaf from the pages of Turkey’s history and revoked the powers of the President, setting a respected Judge in place to run the courts, while at the same time planning for free and responsible elections next year. This is actually good news for those who can understand it. It means that Egypt’s military has taken the necessary steps to stop the slide of her country into Islamic Fundamentalism. You can almost feel the sigh of relief coming from Israel, who would soon have found itself surrounded on all sides; once again; by enemies bent on her destruction.

I wish the Egyptian people luck in their effort to maintain a secular government in the face of both the terrorists, as well as the ill-informed people who are clamoring about a military coup thwarting the so-called Arab Spring in that country.

For more about the Ataturk and the formation of the modern Turkish government you can go to; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atat%C3%BCrkwikipedia and apply the lessons learned there to the situation now taking place in Egypt.

The photo above is of the Egyptian military helicopters flying over the protesters in a show of support for the ouster of President Mursi last week.

Explaining Turkey - The Buffer to Islam

Turkey is an enigma, ruled by an elected President, whom in turn is overseen by a Secular Military tasked with upholding a Secular Constitution in an overwhelmingly Islamic country. That Turkey has recently, in 2007, elected an Islamic government, has made this all the more miraculous. That is until last week, when the military resigned in the face of a growing Islamist government. First, as I like to say, a little background....

Turkey, at the end of the First World War, was struggling to recover from her near destruction as the seat of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the war Turkey had already fought the Italian-Turkish War (1911–1912), the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), and the resultant First World War (1914–1918). T.E. Lawrence, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, had sided with the Turks in their fight against the Axis powers, advocating for a strong and unified Turkey.

The Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) was born of the ethnic struggles between the differing tribes of Islamics. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the leader and first President of the new Republic. His vision was to bring Turkey into the 20th century by ending the tribal warfare which had plagued Turkey since the birth of Islam. In order to do this he had to outlaw both the Fez, and the Veil, two of Islam's most iconic images. His goal is best stated in this quote from a 1923 speech in which he outlined this vision, “ ...by complete independence, we mean of course complete economic, financial, juridical, military, cultural independence and freedom in all matters. Being deprived of independence in any of these is equivalent to the nation and country being deprived of all its independence.”

Turkey’s road has not been an easy one. Since the founding of the Turkish Government in 1923, she has been continually plagued by sectarian fighting and terrorism. That Turkey has survived in the Middle East, sandwiched, as it is, between the Soviet Union and the West, is somewhat of a miracle. That she has survived internal divisions is unbelievable. But there is a reason that she has weathered the storms. And that reason is often hard for Americans to understand.

We, in the West, take for granted the freedoms which we enjoy. Our military is limited to strategic goals defined by our elected officials. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. We argue amongst ourselves, and we even come close to the edge of destroying our own democracy, but we always seem to step back at the last moment, allowing reason to prevail. Currently, we are struggling with a fervent religious movement which would bring religion into our government, in spite of the tenets of our Constitution. Here is where a good look at Turkey can offer a lesson in regards to safeguarding our secular freedoms.

The Turkish military is today facing the largest crisis since the formation of the government almost 90 years ago. In the last Presidential election, in 2007, the people elected a Pro-Islamic candidate as President. When the time came to swear the new President into office, the military was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. And with good reason. Let me give you an example, which I witnessed first-hand during my travels in Turkey between 1978 and 1984.

When I first visited Turkey in 1978, the country was in turmoil. Islamic insurgents, seeking to topple the duly elected government, were doing what they do best. There were daily bombings and shootings in the streets. These battles were fought not only with the government, but with the competing tribes vying for control of the country, who would gladly take Turkey back to the days preceding formation of the Government. When the people went to the polls and elected an Islamic candidate as President, the military simply took over, as mandated by their Constitution, until such time as the people were willing, and able, to elect a responsible secular leader. At the time I remember thinking what a load of crap this was. There was no way in which the military would ever give the reins of governance back to the people. Boy was I wrong.

By 1983 the people had united behind a secular candidate and the military held elections. The Secular candidate prevailed and the military returned control of the country to the Turkish people. I was there. I was astonished.

By 2007 the electorate voted for Abdullah Gul as a candidate for president. However, Turkey's secular establishment considered Gül as having a hidden Islamist agenda that sought to undermine the strict separation of religion and state, and they opposed his nomination. The Grand National Assembly – the body politic that at the time chose Turkey's president – much like our Electoral College system, allowed Gül to take office. That vote was annulled by the courts on Constitutional grounds, Gul had not received the required 2/3 majority of the Grand National Assembly. A major political crisis ensued, and new laws were enacted to have the President elected by popular vote every 5 years, beginning in 2012. Thus, the President’s term would be reduced to 5 years, rather than the 7 year term which had been the norm.

By March of 2008, Turkey's chief prosecutor petitioned the Constitutional Court to ban the Justice and Development Party (Gul’s party) for "anti-secular activities.” This came on the heels of parliamentary approval for a constitutional amendment which would allow women to wear headscarves at universities. Although the Constitutional Court later ruled that the scarf reform violated the constitution's secular principles, the Court narrowly upheld the amendment.

What all this amounts to is Turkey’s slide back into an Islamic state, and the restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Last Friday the top Commanders of the Turkish military resigned en masse. This was the result of a disagreement with the Government over military promotions and some corruption trials, which are ongoing. At first glance this looks like an ordinary legal case, but the roots run much deeper than that. They strike at the heart of modern Turkey, which has, in recent years, once again been struggling against Turkish Islamists, notably in the Southern part of the Country, with the Kurds, who are supportive of an Islamic state. This is the same tribe which was a problem to Iraq’s military government under Hussein, which we toppled in an ill-advised war in 2003.

The real fear for Turkey, at this juncture, is the question of whether or not the military will allow the country to slide backwards into an Islamic state. As the land-bridge straddling the East and West, this is of extreme importance to America, as well as Western Europe. Having toppled the regime in Iraq, replacing it with an ineffective government, at a time when Egypt also seems to be sliding in that direction, an Islamist Turkey would virtually restore, intact, the Ottoman Empire which was so carefully taken apart as a result of the First World War. This bodes ill for the West. Turkey has served us well for almost 90 years, acting as the buffer between the East and West. Keep your eyes on this situation, as the outcome will affect us greatly in the years to come.

A Mosque at Ground Zero

A brief thought concerning the proposed Mosque at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan;

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Just because you have the Right doesn't always make it right. Think of the bridge that could be built between us if the Mosque were to be built elsewhere.

Remember, empathy is the first step to reconciliation.

Just a thought..

"A Time To Betray" by Reza Kahlili

This memoir, written by a former member of Irans notorious Revolutionary Guard, illuminates the oft misunderstood period of the Iranian Revolution. He has used a "pen name" to protect the identity of his family. They now live in the United States.

Iran was, prior to the First World War, primarily a vassal state of Russia and England. The stakes were high, as the region is rich in oil. This vast reserve of oil has made Iran a pawn to many nations, including some of her own Arab neighbors. The 1980 war between Iran and Iraq is a prime example of the latter.

That war was largely the result of a power vacumn created when Ayatollah Khomeini returned from 12 years of exile in France to overthrow the government of the Shah. With promises of freedom and democracy, Khomeini was able to take over Iran in an Islamic Revolution that left the country in worse shape than before. Seemingly overnight, all freedoms of assembly, dress, speech and even the type of Islam practiced were affected. The death squads of the deposed Shah (SAVAK) paled in comparison to the new regime and it's Revolutionary Guards. When his own Air Force tried to oust him in a coup, Khomeini had every military officer in the country executed. This left his military in the hands of amateurs and gave great hope to Saddam Hussein in his desire to conquer Iranian oilfields. The war lasted 8 years with no clear winner.

The author spends his boyhood years in Iran with two close friends, Kazem and Naser. In this phase of the book he gives us a good bit of background on the political turmoils that led to the overthrow of the Shah. When the author goes abroad to study at USC in America he returns to an Iran that is vastly different than the one he left. He finds himself enthralled with the return of the glory of the Persian Empire. Under the leadership of Khomeini he is moved to join the Revolutionary Guards, planning to use his computer skills to further the Revolution.

Through a series of events, one of his boyhood friends, Naser, becomes a Mujahedin and therefore an enemy of the Ayatollah. He is executed. His other friend, Kazem, becomes a powerful member of the Revolutionary Guards. Kazem, like the author, is a true believer.

When their boyhood friend, Naser, is arrested and his sister and brother taken to the notorious Evin Prison, the author begins to feel his first doubts about the Revolution. He has been exposed to the intellectual freedoms of America and cannot understand the harsh treatment of human beings for "thought crimes." His education is just beginning.

When Naser's sister is raped in Evin before being executed (this is done to keep her from being allowed to enter Paradise) Reza vows to do something to alter the course of events in Iran. Under cover of his Aunt Gitta's illness in the United States, Reza is able to return there to help her. While in California he contacts the FBI and the CIA. He is then trained in London, where he goes on the pretext of visiting his in-laws, before returning to Iran.

Once back in Iran he begins his assignment, which consists of writing seemingly innocent letters to a relative in London. He is actually providing important information concerning the political situation in Iran, as well as laying out the power stucture of the Ayatollah's government.

When the author comes under suspicion he sends his wife and child to London to live with her parents. Eventually he joins them there and continues to work for the CIA. Tensions with his wife begin to mount and he realizes that he can never go home again. With this realization comes the knowledge that he is caught between two worlds. One is the world of terrorism, in which he is forced to play a part in order to keep his cover. The other world is one in which he is forced to betray his past and some of his family and friends. He comes to a conclusion; he is going to the United States with his family to live.

This book is an eye opening account of the forces that led to the Iranian Revolution and it's violent aftermath. It is also an insight into the dangerous games played by both sides in order to garner and retain power. A must read for those wishing to understand just how we got ourselves to where we are currently in the Middle East, particularly concerning Iran.

"Traitor" with Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce

This film is a real insight into the world of terrorism and counter intelligence in todays “War on Terrorism.” When is killing justified? And by whom? For God? For Country? For Honor? These are the central questions at the heart of this pulse pounding film.

The film, wide in its scope, covers the terrorist cells that operate with seeming impunity while also offering a realistic look behind the scenes of law enforcement as they try, under great restraint, to contain a growing threat to us all.

Samir (played with intensity by Don Cheadle) is an African-American of Yemen birth. When we first encounter him he is selling explosives to Radical Islamics. When he is captured and imprisoned in Yemen he meets Ahmed, who is a terrorist. When the two become friends they are broken out of jail by fellow Jihadists and embark upon a series of terrorist attacks.

Hard on their trail is a team of FBI agents(lead by Guy Pearce) who, without jurisdiction in the respective countries they visit, manage to successfully identify Samir and even come close to catching him just before another successful bombing. The film also explores the nature of counter espionage within the various agencies, who are all pursuing the same goal, but are all reluctant to share their information with one another.

With a minimum of special effects, this film manages to capture the real essence of the War on Terrorism. It also explores the chasm between Radical Islam and Islam as a Religion. At times it serves as an education about all of the different ideologies and beliefs that battle for control of the worlds politics. In addition, it explores the question of why someone looks to Radical Islam in the first place. And ultimately it asks the viewer how many killings are justified in any cause?

This film is a thriller from beginning to end. It draws no conclusions, it only reinforces the questions we all have concerning the role of religion and terrorism in todays world.