Worldwide Radical-Islamist Terrorism Is Everyone's Problem, Mr. Obama

Let's review what has happened in the Middle East today. (1). A car bomb exploded in a crowded southern Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah, killing at least 14 people and trapping dozens in burning cars and buildings in the latest violence linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria, officials said. Opponents of Bashar al-Assad have threatened to retaliate against Hezbollah for intervening on behalf of his regime in the conflict. The blast raises the specter of Lebanon being pulled further into the Syrian civil war, which is becoming increasingly sectarian. The blast appeared to be an attempt to frighten the group's civilian supporters and did not target any known Hezbollah facility or personality. (2). Eight separate car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing 25 and wounding at least 200. This is the latest episode in a continuing escalation of violence that has killed 1,000 and wounded 2,000 Iraqis this year. Iraq's foreign minister, in Washington for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, told CNN's Hala Gorani that the fundamental problems in the Middle East include the ongoing and spreading civil war in Syria and the lack of leadership both at the regional level and internationally that could give direction. (3). Egyptian authorities authorized police to use deadly force to protect themselves and key state institutions from attacks, after presumed supporters of deposed Islamist-Moslem Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi torched two local government buildings near the capital in the latest of a series of apparent reprisals following a bloody crackdown on their protest camps yesterday. The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of national security, said that the new measures come after an angry crowd stormed the buildings in Giza, the city next to Cairo that is home to the Pyramids. Officials say the death toll is now 43 security force members and 525 Morsi-Brotherhood supporters, while 3,700 have been injured. Meanwhile, Egypt's military-backed government pledged to confront "terrorist actions and sabotage" carried out by members of Morsi's Moslem Brotherhood group. "These actions are carried out as part of criminal plan that clearly aims at toppling down the state." Also today, in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, witnesses and a security official said they saw Morsi supporters stab a taxi driver to death for hanging a picture of Defense Minister General Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, the leader of the July 3 coup, in his cab. The cab driver argued with them to watch out, they pulled him out (of his car) and stabbed him," said Mohammed el-Mashali, a reporter for the al-Fagr weekly who said he witnessed the killing. Tamarod, the youth organization that started the protests that led to Morsi's ouster, asked civilians to set up neighborhood watch groups to protect government and private property. Meanwhile, attacks on Coptic Christian churches continued for a second day, according to Egypt's official news agency and human rights advocates. Egypt's MENA agency said Morsi-Brotherhood supporters set fire to the Prince Tadros church in the province of Fayoum, nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Cairo. There have been eyewitness reports of incidents of violence against 30 or more churches, monasteries, Coptic schools and shops in different parts of the country. ~~~~~ These events do not offer any sense that the Middle East is able to manage itself. And yet, today US President Obama made the following comment : "America cannot determine the future of Egypt." This was Obama's first statement since violence erupted Wednesday. "That's a task for the Egyptian people. We don't take sides with any particular party or political figure." He said Egypt would have "false starts" in its efforts to embrace democracy and recalled America's own "mighty struggles to perfect our union." The President also ordered his national security team to "assess the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the US-Egyptian relationship. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement that he called Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to relay the decision that the biennial joint US-Egypt military exercises have been cancelled by Presidenr Obama. Hagel said he made it clear that "the violence and inadequate steps towards reconciliation are putting important elements of our longstanding defense cooperation at risk." ~~~~~ Americans, Iraqis, Afghans, Syrians, Libyans, Tunisians and Egyptians have become accustomed to President Obama's lukewarm to non-existent support for Middle East governments battling radical-islamist terrorists trying to insinuate themselves into the political process. The media, intent on denouncing the violence of conservative governments, often launch verbal attacks those very governments when they are simply trying to stave off radical-islamist takeovers leading to repressive Islamist religious states. And the UN, always ready to talk and give advice but lacking any success it can point to, will now talk about Egypt. We do not need more talk. We do not need western security and political experts telling Egypt to bring the Moslem Brotherhood into the political process - would the US or France or the UK want to be told to try to bring car-bomb terrorists into their political processes? We need to act -- by making military and intelligence advisors and aid available to governments under radical-islamist attack; by offering social and economic aid and cover to make sure it gets to those local groups trying to cope with radical-islam in their terrorist-shattered communities; by stopping the drumbeat of messages that suggest that these governments are as evil as the radical-islamists they are confronting. It is not Egypt's problem, alone. It is the worldwide war on radical-islamist terrorism. We are all on the front line. So, Mr. President, when your holiday is over, perhaps you would consider working day and night with the Egyptian military to keep Egypt, the lynchpin of the Moslem world, from turnng into a radical-islamist terror-ground. If not you - and America - who?