Jordan’s opposition: Arabs will topple tyrants
My Way
The leader of Jordan’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood warned Saturday that unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple leaders allied with the United States.
Hammam Saeed’s comments were made at a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy in Amman, inspired by massive rallies in neighboring Egypt demanding the downfall of the country’s longtime president, Hosni Mubarak.
About 100 members of the fundamentalist group and activists from other leftist organizations and trade unions chanted “Mubarak, step down” and “the decision is made, the people’s revolt will remain.”
Elsewhere, a separate group of 300 protesters gathered in front of the office of Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifai, demanding his ouster. “Rifai, it’s time for you to go,” chanted the group.
Jordan’s protests have been relatively small in size, but they underline a rising tension with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally who has been making promises of reform in recent days in an apparent attempt to quell domestic discontent over economic degradation and lack of political freedoms.
Saeed said Arabs have grown disgruntled with U.S. domination of their oil wealth, military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and its support for “totalitarian” leaders in the region.
“The Americans and (President Barack) Obama must be losing sleep over the popular revolt in Egypt,” he said. “Now, Obama must understand that the people have woken up and are ready to unseat the tyrant leaders who remained in power because of U.S. backing.”
Saeed did not specifically name King Abdullah. But he said Jordan’s prime minister “must draw lessons from Tunisia and Egypt and must swiftly implement political reforms.”
“We tell the Americans ‘enough is enough’,” he said.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
And look what we have in power, a muslim that has already stated who he has loyalty to.
The actual quote from Obama’s book is from page 261 and is as follows: “Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
Yes, these “people’s revolts” can quickly turn into chaos, mayhem, cruelty et cetera… Well, look at the French Revolution, right? In any event, sometimes societies must go through this “flu” in order to get better. We can hardly expect that these muslim countries, after being oppressed since the muslims took over, suddenly find peace and democracy. It will in any event make things a lot clearer on where they stand. With the West, or against us, and that, in my opinion, is always a good thing. A clear target is always better than a muddy one!
Ed
I like your last sentence Eddy. This revolt may turn into a type of civil war with the Muslim Brotherhood types battling the secular pro democracy types. I know which side obama would support.
Eddy, ditto that!!!
Tom, yes your right, Obama has his agenda and all for the muslims.
Wild Thing, you wouldn’t look good in a burka!