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| Fifth Column |
| Qatari embassy in Cairo focus of protests |
| 2002-12-22 |
| Angy Ghannam & Khaled Mamdouh for IslamOnline Hundreds of people, including prominent British and U.S. Qatar and Kuwait represent the chink in the armor of Arab intransigence. If they're not brought into line, others could follow. And trying to stage a coup against the Qatari gummint must have really screwed things up, from the point of view of the Learned Elders of Islam... More than 1,000 riot police, with truncheons and shields, surrounded the embassy and neighbouring streets to monitor the protest which was organized by several Egyptian popular groups. Addressing the gathering, senior vice chairman at the Parliamentary Labor Party, George Galloway, said; "The criminals of Suez (a reference to the aggression on Egypt by Britain, Israel and France in 1956) are getting ready to invade another Arab, Muslim country to again steal wealth, its oil, and control its people." Galloway's turned into the Jane Fonda of this war. I'll bet he's not in Baghdad when the ordnance starts dropping, and I'll bet he's not in Baghdad for the big victory parade... Addressing the Qatari people, Galloway, who participated in the International Campaign Against U.S. Aggression on Iraq (ICCA), hosted by Cairo December 18-19, said; "Do not allow your governments to work as a slave to America." "Better to be a slave to the Soddies and Egyptians..." For his part, British socialist writer and activist, John ("NATO is the New Imperialism") Rees, said that most of the British people are against the looming U.S.-led war on Iraq. "Mr. Blair is coming to Egypt tomorrow for his holiday. I am very glad that this is the kind of welcome he is getting from the Egyptians, and I urge you to continue such welcome," Rees, founder of the "Stop The War" coalition in the U.K., said. "What shall we do to relax today, Tony?" "I dunno, Cherie. Which do you prefer? The pyramids at Gizeh or the howling mobs in Cairo?" "Oh, the howling mobs, definitely. They're so picturesque!" "I'll bring the camera!" The demonstrators chanted slogans such as; "Down with the U.S. and Israel", "Shame on non-committed Arab regimes", "Arab peoples will prevail over U.S. hegemony", "No God but Allah, Bush is Allah’s enemy". "Shame on non-committed Arab regimes" is it? Qatar's problem is that it has committed — just not to the side the howling mob's on. One of the demonstrators, an Egyptian housewife carrying her baby and joining the rally, told IslamOnline that she took part in the demonstration because Iraq will not be the end but rather the start of U.S. attacks in the Middle East to control the whole region. "It’s Baghdad now, may be Cairo will be next, or any other Arab capital and people." "We certainly wouldn't want to see honest government here! It'd never work!" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 Er, sorry about that. I was SURE that was the clean laundry pile. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-12-23 10:45:40 |
| #1 Anybody smell a whiff of Boxer Rebellion? |
| Posted by: mojo 2002-12-22 16:11:06 |