A must read.

"September 11 Remembered…in the Wake of the Egyptian Elections," Freedom for Egyptians, 9/11/05.

This thoughtful woman, Freedom for Egyptians, has written an exceptional post on the reservoir of good will in Egypt for things American and liberal values, as well as on the failing of U.S. policy.

It is refreshing to read intelligent commentary from the minds of people of good will in other countries and to perceive that they understand very well the benefits to humans that came from the political advances in the West.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out several years back that the desire for democracy in the hearts of the people in Tian An Men Square was entirely Chinese in its origin. No one from the West led the demonstrators to that place. Freedom for Egyptians herself reveals that she, an Egyptian, has an excellent grasp of the mechanics of democracy, the importance of press freedom, and the universal problem of thugs wanting to hold onto power at the expense of the majority of the people.

She writes "now we are threatened to fall victims for a merciless ideology that does not share any values of the accumulated legacy of humanity."

We all have a stake in that legacy and the greater tragedy is that this woman shows more appreciation of and understanding of that legacy than many in the West. The Colonel attests to his belief that few of his own countrymen have the slightest understanding of the original constitutional scheme of the United States, let alone an understanding of how THAT incredible legacy in this particular country was debased by political opportunists and citizens caring only to receive some portion of the monies flowing from the public coffers.

She further writes:

I find that many Muslims fail to question Islam’s shortcomings unlike Christianity and Judaism which were subjected to reasonable questioning. It is true that extremism does exit in every creed but not to the extent of blowing the self up in a children’s school bus while believing of going to paradise.

The contrast between the common sense views of this woman and the hysteria of the Mad Mujahadin threatened by loss of their privileged status takes one's breath away, inured as we are to year after year of jejune diatribes from the fanatics.

It is sad that, in the Colonel's view, this voice coming out of Egypt is such a rarity. It might be that the voices would be a great chorus if people could speak without fear of retribution in Egypt. (See, esp., "URGENT:An APPEAL from an Egyptian Journalist to the Free World- PLEASE HELP " in her "RSF on Mubarak's fifth term." 9/12/05.)