why support goons?
The USA has provided - over the past several decades - massive support (hundreds of billions of US dollars to fascist regimes in the middle east. Has this been a good policy? Has it been good on the level of security? On the level of social stability? On the level of progress toward self-sustaining participation in regional and global economy? On the level of human rights, self-representation and democracy?
As American support of government-run societies continues, what is happening to the fabric of life in mideast states? Governments are controlling more and more. There is almost no free speech, no free political activity, no freedom for academics, no freedom for businesses to function free of the bureaucracy and corruption in government. Meanwhile unemployment is massive and systemic, jobs are scarce and wages don't support families. Why would the USA continue to provide sustaining support for such brittle and harsh governments, all of which function in direct contradiction to what are publicly stated to be "American values"?
To help evaluate what kind of answers to give these questions, consider the facts of life in places like the US-supported Egypt under Mubarak:
But in the weeks since Mr. Said disappeared into the netherworld of Egyptian jails, it has also begun to appear that his case may have as much to do with efforts to challenge the governing party’s monopoly on power, as it does with holding a view of Islam that many Muslims consider heretical. The arrest appears part of a zero-tolerance policy toward anybody who challenges the status quo, political analysts said.
In recent days, hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the popular outlawed political movement, have been arrested. A request was denied to free from prison the onetime presidential candidate and political dissident Ayman Nour. A prominent member of Parliament who helped form a new political party was forced out in connection with a years-old financial case.
The state-controlled press has virulently attacked Egyptians who attended a conference in Doha, Qatar, to discuss democracy. And elections on Monday to select members of the upper house of Parliament were described by independent organizations as manipulated to ensure that the governing party won a majority of the seats — a charge the government denies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/world/africa/15egypt.html?fta=y
Surprisingly, research revealed that fresh graduates continue to dream of landing a job with the government, since it ensures a fixed income, health insurance, training, a pension and other benefits. But in reality, civil servants bemoan the low income from such "secure" jobs. Some 82 per cent of respondents complained that both wages and bonus sums are not enough to cover their basic needs. Even annual increases in wages are not enough to cope with continued price jumps, and the majority said they cannot afford to have any savings.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/907/ec1.htm
A court in the port city of Alexandria has sentenced a young Egyptian blogger to four years' jail for contempt of religion, insulting the president and spreading false information. Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, 22, is the first Egyptian blogger to stand trial for views expressed on the internet. The case against him was based on a complaint from al-Azhar University, where he studied law until he was expelled last year because of his critical writings about religion.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6386613.stm
On Human Rights, U.S. Seems to Give Egypt a Pass
Last month, Hisham Kassem, an Egyptian human rights advocate, met with President Bush in Washington when he was flown there for an award granted by the National Endowment for Democracy. Mr. Kassem, the only winner from Egypt, said that Mr. Bush had spoken effusively about promoting democracy to the other recipients, but he did not address the topic when it came to Egypt. “In comparison with my colleagues from other countries, this was the least of his interests,” Mr. Kassem said. He and other democracy campaigners in Egypt say that when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Egyptian officials in Sharm el Sheik on Tuesday as part of her preparation for a Middle East peace summit meeting, they expect from her a similar approach to Egyptian human rights and democracy. Even if she does raise the issues, analysts here say, it will have little impact.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/world/africa/16cairo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Al-Hurra -- "The Free One" in Arabic -- is the centerpiece of a U.S. government campaign to spread democracy in the Middle East. Taxpayers have spent $350 million on the project. But more than four years after it began broadcasting, the station is widely regarded as a flop in the Arab world, where it has struggled to attract viewers and overcome skepticism about its mission.
Propaganda has become a primary front in the war against terrorism, with the United States and al-Qaeda each investing heavily to win over hearts and minds. This article examines one aspect of the U.S. effort to influence people through the airwaves. Tomorrow, another will look at al-Qaeda's online propaganda campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201228.html
Wouldn't it be preferable (to those who hold freedom dear) to abandon support of the dictatorships in the Arab world?
At the rate things are going, these governments are going to fall anyway. Why back them against our interests?
