The 3:00 am phone call.....from Egypt

[riverwalker]

Remember during the primaries, Hillary's TV ad about the 3:00 am phone call, and who would we want to answer it? The events in Egypt are that phone call. I want to believe (with all my heart) that in the private conversations the President and Secretary Clinton have had with Mubarak, they have told him in no uncertain terms to step down, that it's over.
As it is now, the phone is still ringing, and ringing, and ringing while 80 million Egyptians and most of the world are waiting for an answer.
The phone is ringing and NO ONE is answering.

[BzaDem]

1. I think the phone was answered.

It may not have been answered in a way you are thrilled about, but it was answered.

[shraby]

2. They can't look like they are engineering Egypt's government

anymore. They have to let the Egyptian people engineer their own destiny. Anything less will not fly.

[babylonsister]

3. Exactly. nt

[rucky]

4. yep.

From where I'm watching, Hillary & Obama are playing this perfectly.

[The empressof all]

6. In addition there are thousands of Americans in Egypt

Straddling the fence at least for now is probably a better bet for their safety.

[RegieRocker]

10. I so hope that is what they are doing and genuinely.

[aquart]

5. You are blaming Hillary for failure to interfere in Egyptian affairs?

It is none of our fucking business. NONE. We are not the gods of the universe.

80 million Egyptians are NOT CALLING US. They are calling each other and deciding their own fate.

Our arrogance never ends.

[leftstreet]

7. "80 million Egyptians are NOT CALLING US. "

"They are calling each other and deciding their own fate."

:applause:

Thank you!

[Bryn]

9. +1000

[RegieRocker]

12. Bravo

[justiceischeap]

8. A couple of points that I seem to be repeating since this happened

First, I think this uprising caught the world off guard. It would seem NO ONE ever expected the Egyptian people to rise up. Surprise, they did. However, this is not one of the points I want to make but it does lead up to the second point.

Whether we like American foreign policy, it is what it is for reasons most of us disagree with. In a lot of ways, our country is held hostage by our great Middle Eastern ally, Israel. It's a very strange symbiotic relationship we have with them that leads to us doing things in the Middle East that are far from pleasant. From the first statement made by Obama himself, he has said he stands with the people of Egypt. He said it softly, gently while asking Mubarak to act properly. Here's why I think we aren't hearing a more forceful statement at this time...

We need time to get our people out of Egypt. Imagine, if you will, that our President said forcefully and without equivocation, Mubarak you must stand down, we are no longer going to support your brand of "democracy?" A bunch of folks in the US and on DU would be like, yeah, that kicks ass, while Mubarak is pounding a fist and saying that damn traitor. We've seen that Mubarak is not against rounding people up if he thinks it will help him in some way. Can you say Iran hostage situation?

The US has stated that it will get our people out of Egypt tomorrow. I think once our people are out of Egypt, we will hear harsher language from our government. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt until then and hoping that what we are seeing up to this point is damn good diplomacy to keep our people in country safe.

[eleny]

11. If anyone isn't answering the phone right now it's Mubarak