Why can't the Obama administration call Egypt's Mohamed Morsi out for what he is – an elected-president-turned-a-dictator? Last year on Thursday November 22, a new dictator was born. Egypt's Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself and declared that the courts are barred from challenging any of his decisions. Morsi put himself above the country courts' oversight and also gave protection to the Islamist-led assembly writing a new constitution from a looming threat of dissolution by a court order for being unconstitutional. As a result Egypt has now a new constitution which approved only by 20% of the registered voters and does not represent the country's Christians, women, journalists, farmers, academics, liberals, labour and moderate Muslims as representatives of all these groups withdrew from the writing assembly protesting the marginalisation of their views by the Islamists. One of Morsi's decrees gave him the power to take "due measures and steps" to deal with any "threat" to the revolution, national unity and safety or “anything that obstructs the work of state institutions." The time of Morsi's decrees was perfect. Morsi was then riding high on US praise for mediating a Gaza cease-fire which was favourable to Israel. Morsi was then and still is following faithfully the American instructions: (1) not to criticise Israel, (2) to support the Syrian opposition, (3) not to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran, (4) not to criticise the government of Bahrain for oppressing the opposition and (5) not to establish friendly ties with Sudan under its current president. Following Morsi's decrees, the opposition criticised them as dictatorial and destined to divide a nation already reeling from months of turmoil following another dictator ouster two years ago. Some opposition leaders even said Morsi's new powers exceeded the powers once enjoyed by the former dictator Mubarak. "Morsi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh," said opposition leader Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former director of the UN's nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate. "The decrees are a major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences," added two presidential candidates who ran against Morsi, Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabahi. The Americans said also nothing when Morsi's police killed some 100 protesters and injured thousands during his first seven months in office. The Americans said also nothing regarding the internationally known case of protester Hamada Saber which was documented on a video footage seen by the whole world when eight policemen kicked and then dragged the poor man nude to a police mobile jail, and then blackmailed Saber to lie, saying that protesters not police who were the ones who caused his injuries. The Americans also said nothing when Morsi declared emergency law and a 9:00pm to 6:00am curfew in the three cities of the Suez Canal area which was totally ignored by the people of the three cities as was not accepted, unfair and not warranted. The Americans also said nothing when Morsi and his government facilitated and encouraged sexual harassment against women protesting Morsi's and his Muslim Brotherhood's dictatorship in order to stop nation's women from coming out to the streets. The Americans also said nothing when an extremist Imam issued a fatwa to kill opposition leaders and when opposition leaders, journalists and youth were harassed by police some of the time and by Morsi's newly appointed public prosecutor other times. The Americans also said nothing when the pro-Morsi prosecutor ordered the mass arrest of the opposition youth group Black Bloc or when pro-Morsi judges ordered the shutdown of the YouTube website. But the Obama administration rightly gave a blistering review of remarks that Morsi made almost three years ago about Jews and called for him to repudiate what it called unacceptable rhetoric. Morsi in 2010 as an MB's leader asked Egyptians to ‘‘nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred,'' and months later Morsi referred to Zionists as bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians, describing Zionists as ‘‘the descendants of apes and pigs.'' “We completely reject these statements as we do any language that espouses religious hatred,'' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. A word to the American administration: adhere to your principles and support the young democracy in Egypt not Morsi the dictator; it is a win-win situation. Elmasry is a professor emeritus of computer engineering, University of Waterloo. He can be reached at [email protected]
