Reply to Ms. Kosa, United States Department of State

Lauren S. Kosa
Egypt Desk Officer
Office of Egypt and Levant Affairs
U.S. Department of State

Dear Madam;

Thank you for your reply to our remarks and concern regarding Ms. Chapman’s statement to the Egyptian Al Masry Alyoum newspaper.

First, we apologize for our error in Ms. Nicole’s name and title. We have corrected our records.

Secondly, despite the welcome comment that US is not against ElBaradei, it unfortunately continues, by omission, to imply US support for Mubarak. Further, we wish to point out that a vague support for “reform” is seriously inadequate in addressing the outrages and human rights violations that continue under his regime against an innocent population who’s only “offense” is their Christian faith.

Silence is complicity. Mubarak understands that what you do not oppose, you accept; what you do not criticize, you approve. You owe the Egyptian people, more than your tacit approval.

Thirdly, your most recent reply ignored the crisis of Egyptian Copts. Ms. Chapman minimized the officially sanctioned attacks on them as “intimidating.” That would be an appropriate word for a threat. But the crimes against innocent people are reality. There is a physical, religious and cultural genocide underway.

In 1938, at the Evian Conference, the US walked away from the impending holocaust with the same complicit attitudes that now abandon Egyptian Copts. Recently, the US condemned atrocities 95 years ago in another middle-eastern country that are all too similar to those now underway in Egypt.

We strongly suggest that a position more worthy of the United States of America would be proactive public and private objection specific to the crimes and unequivocal in its aversion to the perpetrators. That alone will avoid the need for another too-late apology decades after the complicity.

We respectfully urge the USA to openly acknowledge the plain fact of the Mubarak regime’s anti-Christian policy and actions. We ask that your office issue a public statement condemning the genocide of Egyptian Copts. Finally, we ask that a corrective statement be made that clarifies that the US neither opposes El Baradei’s presidential candidacy nor does it support the candidacy of Mubarak.

Thank you,,
American Coptic Union

Rafique Iscandar, president

ElBaradei’s Policy Is Right To Engage Muslim Brotherhood

In recent months, many newspapers and members of the US media showed no sympathy for the people of Egypt, who desperately seek freedom and dignity. Some of these newspapers insulted and falsely accused Dr. Ayman Nour, former Egyptian presidential candidate, of being anti-Semitic. A recent report by Foreign Policy Magazine expressed support for the Mubarak regime despite the regime’s crimes against humanity and anti-Christian sentiment. They also criticize ElBaradei for his campaign of freedom and dignity for all Egyptians.

Foreign Policy’s statement of ElBaradei joining main stream Islamists is not true. He reached out to opposition groups, activists, and the Coptic community in Egypt and abroad. He is a supporter of Coptic human rights in Egypt and calls for an end to the genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Copts.

ElBaradei’s primary goal is to change the Egyptian Constitution that favors Mubarak and his son’s desire to continue that dictatorship.

It is strange and hypocritical for a respected foreign policy publication to recognize, but without critical comment, a despotic constitution such as Mubarak’s that denies basic human rights according to international law.

The magazine disparages ElBaradei, claiming he lacks a constituency. Such statements by their editors merely parrot the official line of the regime, designed to lower his appeal to the people of Egypt and make the American people reluctant to support him. The lack of a past incumbency and the lack of a constituency are not the same thing at all. Despite blatant repression, a great many Egyptians are widely known to support the democratic policies that ElBaradei proposes.

Although the American Coptic Union (ACU) disagrees with the Muslim Brotherhood on many issues, comparing them to the Mubarak regime is unfair. The ACU supports ElBaradei’s policy of inclusion. He knows they cannot be ignored. They are a political force in Egypt. The US government has held negotiations with the Brotherhood and supports their 20% role in the People’s Council (Parliament). ElBaradei wants the Brotherhood to work within the public spectrum, not as an underground movement. Some of the effective governments in the world are based on a live and functioning coalition such as ElBaradei proposes. In fact, it might be said that many of the political stagnation in the USA today is the lack of functioning bipartisanship that has effectively suffocated balanced governance.

It cannot be denied or ignored that the Mubarak regime, not the Muslim Brotherhood, is responsible for deliberate crimes in Egypt against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide, kidnapping and raping of the Copts. The Mubarak regime is, on the face of it, far more dangerous to Egyptians of all religious and political persuasions than the Brotherhood.

While US Department of State Egyptian Desk Director Nicole Chapman acknowledged anti-Christian sentiment in Egypt, the Foreign Policy overlooks it. While US media criticize Iran for its harsh treatment, and poor record in Human Rights, FP Magazine, and others are continue to praise and support the Mubarak regime, despite their obvious but undeclared agenda, which is in most cases against US interest in the Middle East. Some media outlets cry for women’s rights in Afghanistan. While that is wholly justified and laudable, it is careless and irresponsible to ignore the crimes against 500,000 Coptic women who have been kidnapped, raped and forced to convert and marry with Muslim perpetrators.

We call on the American people, the America Media and the American Government, through the US State Department, to support ElBaradei’s freedom movement in Egypt. We ask that all media, print and electronic, demand just for all Egyptians. American Coptic Union speaks again, responsibly and forthrightly, demanding justice for all Egyptians, as well as for Egyptian Copts.