"Wild Behavior"

MEMRI Special Dispatch|3151| August 8. 2010
Saudi Arabia/U.S. and the Arab and Muslim World

Article in Saudi Daily Accuses U.S. Ambassadors in Arab States of ‘Wild Behavior,’ ‘Political Blackmail’

An American ‘old bag’ ambassador has no right to make enquiries about a young Egyptian human rights activist who was murdered by police. What are those filthy infidels thinking!? Pay the jiziya and STFU!

Maysar Al-Shamari, a columnist for the daily Al-Hayat, wrote an article in
the paper’s Saudi edition lambasting U.S. ambassadors in Arab countries for
“defying the sovereignty of the countries where they serve” and interfering
in their affairs. He was especially critical of the U.S. Ambassador in
Egypt, Margaret Scobey, whom he called an “old bag.” He urged the Arab
states, starting with Egypt, to put the ambassadors in their place.

Following are excerpts from the article:[1]

“Why are the U.S. ambassadors in the Arab countries so politically reckless,
or, to put it differently, why do they [engage in] political blackmail? Why
do the U.S. ambassadors in Latin America stay within the boundaries of
accepted [diplomatic behavior] while their colleagues in the Arab countries
defy the sovereignty of the countries where they serve? This question, and
many others I do not dare to voice [here], open the door to [discussing] the
enslavement of the [Arab] ‘governments’ to the West in general and to the
U.S. in particular, and reflect Washington’s disdain for these
‘governments,’ which have given up their sovereignty in order to appease the
U.S. ambassadors.

“Yesterday, the Egyptian press reported that the U.S. ambassador to Cairo,
Margaret Scobey, had made a surprise visit to the headquarters of [Egypt's]
National Human Rights Council, where she demanded clarifications from the
head of the council, Moqbel Shaker, about the death of an Egyptian young man
named Khaled Sa’id on June 6, [2010] at a police station in Alexandria. The
old bag’s wild behavior did not stop there. She also visited Egypt’s
minister of legal and parliamentary affairs, Dr. Moufid Shehab, for exactly
the same reason. This was an infringement on Egypt’s sovereignty and
interference in its internal affairs. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry should
have asked the U.S. State Department to put the old bag in her place!…

“[The young man,] Khaled Sa’id, was an Egyptian citizen, as are the two
policemen suspected of killing him, and the case is being handled by the
Egyptian justice system… Therefore, Scobey has no right to interfere in
Egypt’s affairs. This is arrogance and even worse, stupidity on
America’s part, and it must be stopped.
“But the most painful [example] of American stupidity was provided by U.S.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. When the U.S. administration got
the impression that the inter-Arab reconciliation was being renewed, Crowley
said: ‘Damascus must listen carefully [and internalize] the need to get away
from Tehran.’ Crowley’s statement cannot be regarded as anything other than
political blackmail of the most despicable kind. Its purpose was to sabotage
inter-Arab relations, and to leave Lebanon vulnerable without an Arab
umbrella to protect it from civil war and from Israel’s [aggression]. If the
U.S. wanted to dismantle the Syria-Iran alliance, it could have asked Syria
directly, but Crowley made this silly statement in order to sabotage the
inter-Arab reconciliation.

“Returning to the issue of the U.S.’s wild behavior in Egypt, and Ambassador
Scobey’s surprise visits… I think that the silence on the part of the
Egyptian administration encourages Scobey to continue this wild behavior.
Why did the Egyptian Foreign Ministry summon the ambassadors of the European
Union in Cairo in protest of a statement [they] issued about the death of
Khaled Sa’id? Why didn’t the Egyptian Foreign Ministry ask the State
Department to curb the behavior of Ambassador Scobey, as it did with the
European ambassadors?”

[1] Al-Hayat (Saudi Arabia ), August 2, 2010.

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