On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:22:29 -0500, peter
wrote:
: On 1/28/2011 4:39 PM, Savageduck wrote:
:
: French photo-journalist Lucas Mebrouk Dolega 32, dies after being hit in
: the head by a police fired tear gas grenade in Tunis while covering the
: disturbances in Tunis for Paris Match.
:
: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...ouk-dolega-32/
:
:
: Those guys put as much on the line, with less backup than the bravest of
: troops. I have nothing but admiration for them.

And now photographers, probably including some of the same ones, are taking
similar risks to bring us the truth about what's happening in Egypt.

The U.S. is being begged and cajoled to take on a major role in helping rid
Egypt of Hosni Mubarak. We won't, of course. For nearly two generations
American policy in the Middle East has been dictated almost exclusively by
Israel, and Mubarak is as close to a friend as Israel has in the Arab world.
But at least Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are saying some of the right
things, calling on Mubarak to reform his government and stop trying to crush
the protests. That's as much as we can expect; and quite frankly, most
Americans don't know what course of action would lead to a good outcome in
Egypt. All we know for sure is that whenever we try to throw our weight
around, things seem to get worse for whomever we're trying to help.

As for what our attitude would be in the best of all possible worlds, I prefer
this excerpt from our declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to
abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness."

If only.

Bob