Jimmy's Corner

Oops Bashar, that wasn't too skillful, was it?

"Secretary General Kofi Anan has condemned as unjustified the killing by Egyptian soldiers of between 10 and 20 Sudanese refugees in a park in wealthy Cairo neighbourhood." CNN

"The UN refugee agency has expressed "shock" after up to 20 Sudanese migrants died during an operation by Egyptian police to break up their camp.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said there was no justification for the violence." BBC News

"The high loss of life suggests the police acted with extreme brutality", said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch'?s Middle East division. "A police force acting responsibly would not have allowed such a tragedy to occur." Human Rights Watch

"Given Egypt's terrible record of police brutality, an independent investigation is absolutely necessary to assess responsibility and punish those responsible." Joe Stork, Deputy director of Human Rights Watch

This is the aftermath of the way things are tackled in Egypt. Such a terrible raid should have never been the way to force the Sudanese refugees out of the park. Well, now look at what we gained out of this...
1- Innocent miserable people lost their lives, high numbers injured.
2- Police soldiers injured in a battle they should not have been involved in.
3-The world criticizing us (and they have every right to do).

I dont think this is the aftermath of what happen last Friday. This is the aftermath of the way Egyptian police force deals with serious matters. And more, it is the aftermath of the way everything goes on the political realm in Egypt. It is as simple as "you reap what you sow".

"Thousands of police stormed the camp, set up near United Nations offices in September, wielding truncheons and firing water cannon at the protesters." BBC News

I think it has never been such a delightful celebration for Minister of Interior Security El Adly aka THE UNTOUCHABLE as police raided the Sudanese refugees on Friday. The police raid left behind 30 dead refugees and tens wounded. Such an actions tells well about the man who has just maintained his position in the new cabinet line-up.

I wonder if El Adly really has an entry to the word "human" in his dictionary, that's if he has one. The Sudanese have been protesting for months in the park against the UNHCR in Cairo as their request to be left out of Egypt has been denied. I think the government could have played a role in reaching a compromise between the refugees and the UNHCR. Such a peaceful and rightful intervention by the government could have saved our reputation, that is already deteriorating after the elections, and the lives of more than 30 innocent miserable people.

Moreover, even when the police resort to violence they do it chaotically. Not only have the police ignored the very bad condition the refugees suffering from, but also used excessive violence to force them out of the park. There are a thousand less violent more effective methods that could have been used to force the protestors out of the park. Yet, even "professionalism" does not exist in the minister's dictionary.

Seems to me that the National Democratic Party (NDP) of Mubarak kept El Adly in the new cabinet line-up as a "thank you" after his police forces killed and injured civilians to keep them off the polling stations during the last legislative elections. A "thank you" that El Adly celebrated on Friday over dead bodies.

It is really a whole new world in the Egyptian cabinet as 11 new ministers are appointed in the new government. Yet, it still is a world where odds and strangeness prevail. A closer look at the whole new world of those who gonna rule Egypt for I don't know how long tells what's more funny than a thousand jokes. Ahmed El Maghraby, the ex-minister of Tourism, is now the minister of Housing!!!... I guess El Maghraby is searching for a suitable ministry for him!
Awad Tag el Din, the best minister in the resigned government, has been kicked out of the new Cabinet. As if there is no place for people who work hard in the Cabinet that is going to carry out the so-called Mubarak's election's programs and promises. One more evidence that the NDP are applying the rule "Survival is for the worst" is that the worst 3 ministers in the old Cabinet line-up survived the change!
Habib El Adly, the genius that knows well how to beat and arrest protestors while terrorists are attacking Egyptian targets. I believe Sharm's events are enough to show how this guy is but a great failure that is just so experienced in letting officers break the law and torture detainees to death. Then comes Ahmed Shafik, the minister who defies the law and insists on not carrying out a court verdict that urges him to bring Cpt. Ali Murrad of EgyptAir to his position. Shafik disrespects the law, thus, he is a minister. Finally there is Farouk Hosni, the one who manipulates the ministry of Culture as if it was his property. Nevertheless, I know why Hosni is still there in his position... Didn't he participate in the Beni Suef dramatic accident in which we lost tens of talents because of the negligence spreading in the Hosni ministy.
Now what makes it a whole new world made up of odds and mysteries is that all the key ministers in the old cabinet hold their positions except for Mofid Shehab who is appointed to be a minister, and they are still searching for a ministry for him!!!

(From a movie by Eric Henry)

Well our
Story begins, you know, with old St. Augustine.
Way back in days of old he reported on this theme:
A mighty emperor had caught himself a pirate who
Was a-terrorizin' people who were sailin' on the open seas.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: What meanest thou by keeping hostile possession of the sea?

PIRATE: What meanest thou by seizing the whole earth; because I do it with a petty ship, I'm called a robber, whilst thou who dost the same with a great fleet art styled emperor.

NARRATOR: And old St. Augustine thought that was a pretty smart answer!

'Cause there are
pirates and emperors, but they're really the same thing
When they go and try to reach the same ends
By using the same means.
Well they do it big
or they do it small
From a little tiny boat,
or from hallowed halls.
Bully is as bully does, that's plain to see.

NARRATOR: Speaking of bullies, what would you say about a gang of vicious, low-down thugs who were trying to overthrow the government by attacking undefended civilian targets like schools, farms, hospitals, & outreach centers?

UNCLE SAM: Why, I'd say they were terrorists!

[BUZZER SOUND and SUPER: "Wrong!"]

NARRATOR: I'm sorry, the correct answer is "Freedom Fighters." At least that's what you called THESE thugs, a.k.a. the Contras, when you funded their campaign of terror and indiscriminate killing to overthrow the government of Nicaragua!

There was trouble in the land of Nicaragua in the '80's, it's true.
And Uncle Sam has always said this kind of thing just really won't do.
So he paid for a bag full of dirty tricks
And turned killers into heroes with a P.R. blitz
Well freedom's sure a funny word for what the Contras did do.

Y'know there are
pirates and emperors but they're really the same thing
Even the ones who say they just wanna let freedom ring.
Well they do it big
or they do it small
But only one goes down when they break the law
While the Big One claims "This really don't apply to me"

NARRATOR: The funny thing about "pirates" and "emperors" is that they often start out as pals who get into a tiff somehow and end up enemies.

KID: You mean like Lex Luthor and Superman!

NARRATOR: Yeah, except Lex Luthor was a nice guy before he lost all his hair, whereas Manuel Noriega, Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were all known thugs and mass-murderers when they were on Uncle Sam's payroll. That's why they got the job! Either that, or Uncle Sam is just a really bad judge of character.

UNCLE SAM: I don't understand why this keeps happening to me?!

Well not so long ago we thought Saddam here was a pretty swell guy
And we helped him get the goods to make the Ayatollah Khomeini cry
But Uncle Sam decided it was not Saddam's fate
To be the leader of his Middle Eastern client state
That was sitting on top of a big huge oil supply.Big and little thugs got thuggery in common
Even if one's got stars and stripes on 'im.
Bully is as bully does, that's plain to see.

'Cause if it looks like a duck
And acts like a duck,
And quacks like a duck,
It probably is a duck.
You know a rose is a rose
no matter how much it stinks.

DUCK: I resent that comment.
I'm not a duck, I'm an anti-duck!
I'm a counter-duck!
Well I'm more of a mallard really...
Why, I'm fighting a War on Ducks!
Any ducks come around here, I'm gonna blast 'em!

THE END