Words From Egypt

Words From Egypt

EDITORIAL

Tuesday, October 30, 2001; Page A20

EARLIER THIS month we suggested here that one of the most difficult problems of the U.S. campaign against terrorism was that some of the Arab governments considered allies of the United States themselves contribute to Islamic extremism. Egypt, we said, was a good example: Its autocratic ruler, Hosni Mubarak, "props himself up with $2 billion a year in U.S. aid while allowing and even encouraging state-controlled clerics and the media to promote the anti-Western, anti-modern and anti-Jewish propaganda of the Islamic extremists." Even as Egyptian officials hotly protested, we soon saw some excellent examples of just the kind of hostile propaganda we were talking about. They came in replies to The Post published by two government-controlled newspapers, Al Ahram and Al Akhbar.

Al Ahram's editor, Ibrahim Nafi -- who owes his position as editor of Egypt's most well-known newspaper to Mr. Mubarak -- called our commentary "deranged" and "barbaric," while Al Akhbar editor Galal Dewidar, a government employee, said it was "a lie based on deceit." That's okay; we would be the last to question another editorial writer's prerogative to dish it out. What's more interesting is what the two editors had to say about the nature of the American media and the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. According to Mr. Dewidar, not only do "American media submit to the directives of the Jewish lobby" but their "identity is American in theory but Zionist in practice." He added: "We have begun to view these mouthpieces as a media apparatus in the pay of . . . the Zionist organizations and the apparatuses working clandestinely."

Mr. Nafi, who moved on from The Post to roundly condemn the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, also has a theory. "There were several reports," he recounted, that the food supplies dropped in Afghanistan by U.S. planes "have been genetically treated, with the aim of affecting the health of the Afghani people. If this is true, the U.S. is committing a crime against humanity." There's more, but you get the idea: anti-American, anti-Jewish diatribes mixed with flagrant pro-Taliban disinformation, all disseminated by the top editors of newspapers that faithfully reflect Mr. Mubarak's views (Al Ahram) or the official government line (Al Akbar).

It is not our idea that Mr. Mubarak or any other Arab ruler should suppress these views, which are no doubt widely held around the region. What Egypt and other Arab states need is not more censorship but a genuinely free press, where all political views could compete -- and where those who oppose Islamic extremism and support the U.S. campaign against terrorism could be clearly heard. In such an environment there might be Egyptian newspapers that criticize not just alleged Jewish manipulation of the American media but also Mr. Mubarak's refusal to allow free and fair elections in Egypt; not just American bombing in Afghanistan but also the torture and massacres used by Egyptian security forces to combat Islamic militants inside the country. As it stands now, those who broadcast anti-American and anti-Jewish libels are stroked and encouraged by Mr. Mubarak's government, while people who advocate peaceful democratic reforms and human rights in Egypt, such as the academic Saad Eddin Ibrahim, are unjustly imprisoned.

Mr. Mubarak may be a longtime American ally, as American and Egyptian defenders both insist. Unlike many Arab nations, Egypt has recognized Israel's right to exist. It allows more freedom internally than Iraq or Saudi Arabia. But those sad comparisons no longer seem sufficient grounds for accepting the unacceptable. The poisonous words encouraged by Egyptian officialdom, and the absence of other voices, run counter not only to America's interest but also, in the long run, to Egypt's as well.