Should the U.S. reduce its aid to Libya and Egypt?

Mirna -- I just returned (well 2 years ago) from living in the Middle East for a couple of years and I know that I saw women denied schooling, the ability to walk about in public unaccompanied and even beaten in the street for not being "properly" attired according to some men. I fell in love with the good hearted people while I was there and was ashamed for them that such was happening in their towns and villages. So, I don't speak out of ignorance of living conditions or of lack of knowledge of the people and culture.

Corruption is the way of large governments, look to Saudi Arabia, Iran (no nuclear weapons being built? - liar) the US is currently suffering from some of the most horrible corruption we have ever known. We have a joke - "how can you tell if a politician (and we mean all of them) is lying? Their lips are moving"....

Anytime, and anywhere, I hear large numbers of people saying that they are going to kill another group because God told them to, I worry for those people and those who have taught them such things. When I hear people chanting “death to Israel”, I know they mean my friends living in Jerusalem. When an American soldier at Fort Hood start killing other American soldiers, in the name of God, I worry about the philosophy that led him to such justification. When I hear of another car bomb in a suburb of Bagdad, I look for the e-mail from my friends to know they live…..

The historical truth is that the Middle East has never, ever had but one sectarian (and it is a stretch to call it sectarian) national government and that is Israel. Even the “Young Turks” after the fall of the Ottoman Empire quickly resorted to “strong man” tactics, not unlike a small group of dictators and founded the Muslim Brotherhood. While America’s involvement in Iraq disappointed me, not because that murder Saddam was hanged, but because we did such a poor job in caring for the people and getting electricity and water and health services working afterward. All of my Iraqi friends, even those who hated us being there, talked of that…it was one thing to invade the country, but another to not make with work….they told me over and over again – “we expected this to be like Germany after WWII and Japan, that you would help us build our nation back like it was before Saddam, and you failed us”…..and I had to admit that we had. In Lebanon, the same story was told to me time after time, “where was the US when we were being murdered by our own people?”

I have stood in the streets and heard massive numbers of people screaming “death to the Shia”, “death to the infidel”, “death to the US”, “death to Sunni’s” name your group – death to them….and I do not understand. Why such hatred, why such violence advocated for burning a book, having a different opinion about Mohammed and his life, or making a picture of the guy? People are starving all over the planet, children being raised by one or no parents at all, women sold into sexual slavery….fascism starting to raise it’s ugly head again in Europe and in the middle east ambassadors murdered and dragged through the street, schools ransacked and burned because “girls” where going there…..we have so many things we can focus on, rather than our religious convictions conflicting with another’s.

I live for the day that a Synagogue, a Mosque, a Baptist Church and a Buddhist Temple can all be on the same block in Cairo and no one thinks anything about it.

My apologies for the length of the comment - and I am very glad your rights are intact, may they remain so for you and all your sisters in the region.

All you've talked about is truly unfortunate and all your points are undoubtedly valid but what's to be done about it? You can't change the world overnight no matter how hard you work for it. Now, I wouldn't know as much as you do or have witnessed as much in the world because I am much younger in years.

And as you, I hope that one day there will be a sort of unity between people of different religions though we all know, how very hard that would be.

However, the reason why a lot of people put so much on religious issues, is because it's the one thing you were born and will die with. Because, in the current world, there's so much changing, that you can't help but want to stick to and defend your beliefs. I believe in the saying 'be and let be'. You see, if people were left alone, they wouldn't bother to start with issues or problems. There are already too many to be dealt with as of yet.

I don't deny that there are many people in Egypt who need help, who need something positive to put them back to the way they were the previous century, before Mubarak became president. I wouldn't know how they were, but I've heard about how things were back then, and sometimes I can see evidence of it today, but it's too infrequent.

During the last year and a half I've seen so much destruction and killing that I can't but hope that there Will be a change. Recently, it has been changing for the better, and surely that is a sign of better things to come.

And please don't apologize, your comment is very appreciated indeed :)

Mrina - For two years my life depended upon two young women who served as my interpreters and guides. They taught me a deep abiding respect for the courage of the good people of the region. One chose to wear the hajib (sp?) the other not. One was very observant of Islam and the other not. Both became my beloved daughters as we tried to help governments in the region see the needs of the people in three nations. I guess that you could say that they were also my protectors, for on several occasions they very politely took me away from locations I was to be at and explained that “tomorrow will be better for this” and somehow they knew that where we were headed would not be safe. I marveled at their powers of observation, and their wise council after meetings as to who we had been able to influence and who would never support our project.

My wife of 40+ years sent them gifts regularly with her thanks and appreciation for them. She often joked that she was very glad that I had gone to live among beautiful Arabian women after I had gotten old :-)

I know that old men like me cannot change quickly, so the future of your people and your family rests with you and your generation. I hope, and pray, that the world has not become so corrupt that old men in positions of power around the world remove that future from you. If we let that future come, it will be better and kinder I do believe.

I have fought in too many wars to think that they are the answer. I have seen too much blood and too much of the worlds treasure spent, young lives stopped short and unlimited possibilities lost to think that anything other than kindness and love can solve humanities problems. We must stop hating for the sake of an eternity in which a loving God reigns; we cannot kill for God, any more than we can make war for peace. We cannot hate the Muslim or Jew or Hindi and truly love ourselves and the God that created us all.

It is the young man who lets his honor, perceived insult or passion permit him to kill other men and women in other than the defense of his wife and home. With all of my soul, I wish that I could take back my own actions in the name of nation, duty or passion and be the person I am today, back then. I know that my heart would be more at peace were it so. But, I also know that through these conversations; where you and I become people to one another and not some predefined evil that greater peace can be found now.

I hope that we can become regular correspondents, so that I can be kept informed as to what is really happening. It may sound a bit odd, but those two years where ones that I will treasure for the rest of my life, and seeing the Nile was an amazing experience. Jimnorris51@gmail.com

obama does not care about America and he does everything he wants to destroy this
nation. obama would rather apoligize when a muslim kills people, just like the guy who killed the 14 in Texas remember?
923 Executive Orders in 40 Months
During my lifetime, All Presidents have issued Executive Orders, for reasons that vary, some more than others. When a President issued as many as 30 Ex. Orders during a term in Office, people thought there was something Amiss.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT 923 EX. ORDERS IN ONE PART OF ONE TERM
?????? YES, THERE IS A REASON.
IT IS THAT THE PRESIDENT IS DETERMINED TO TAKE CONTROL AWAY FROM THE HOUSE AND
THE SENATE.
Even some Democrats in the House have turned on him, plus a very small number of
Democrat Senators question him.
HE SHOULD BE QUESTIONED. WHAT IS HE REALLY TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH ????
DOES THIS SCARE YOU AS MUCH AS IT DOES Me?
Not really surprising that he appointed "Czars" to be in charge of everything.
Emperor Obama ?
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
....THIS IS NOT FUNNY, AND IF YOU VOTE FOR HIM AGAIN, YOU CAN EXPECT MORE!
Remember what he told Russia's Putin: "I'll be more flexible after I'm re-elected".
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Obama has signed 923 Executive Orders in 40 months!
What did Congress do in those 40 months? (The House - considerable. The Senate
-nothing, not even a budget nor allowing any House bill to be considered.) A
whole new order must prevail in Wash. DC as a result of this next election! Now
look at these:
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of
transportation and control of highways and seaports.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the
communication media.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power,
gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and
farms.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work
brigades under government supervision.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education
and welfare functions.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the of all persons. Postmaster General to
operate a national registration
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to
take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate
communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be
abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland
waterways and public storage facilities.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal
departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued
over a fifteen year period.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency
Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in
times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce
the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to
establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate
penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to
develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and
distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money
in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also
provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress
cannot review the action for six months.
Feel free to verify the "executive orders" at will... and these are just the
major ones I'm sure you've all heard the tale of the "Frog in the Pot"... you
all comfortable???
Watch Obama's actions, not his words! By his actions he will show you where
America is headed.
. Just this week, Obama has issued a new executive order that seeks to
"harmonize" U.S. economic regulations with the rest of the world. This new
executive order is yet another incremental step that is pushing us closer to a
North American Union and a one world economic system.