On the Road to Peace and Democracy in the Middle East

At the beginning of October 2006, Ayman's wife, Gameela Ismail, was not allowed to leave Egypt to attend a conference in the U.S. How was she kept from leaving Egypt? Why with that government's old standby--they simply created a lie against her.

For those of us throughout the world who live in truly free countries, we must wake up and realize the frightening path that has and continues to be carved by our indifference, but even more so by the belief and acceptance that there are "good" (friendly to us) dictators and then there are "bad" (unfriendly to us) dictators. There is a tremendous cost that comes with such thinking. Dictators are all the same--highly insecure, narcissistic, despotic, and greed-ridden personalities. We are pushing the citizens of these countries whose dictators we support down a painful path. History has shown when the west supported Batista, the world ended up with Castro; when the west supported Farouk, the world ended up with Nasser, and when the west supported the Shah of Iran, the world ended up with Ayatollah Khomeini. The heart and soul of any nation are its people, not its leaders. Therefore, if the west is concerned about its long-term interests in the region, then the west needs to reach out to the citizens of these nations.

The Middle East is the cradle of civilization. It is from where democracy was born. We who are free must help this region heal by stop supporting the region's dictators; through the practice of fairness and equality by not favoring one nation over others; and by working toward bettering the lives of each and every citizen of the region so they can each have the opportunity to live the Egyptian dream or the Iranian dream or the Syrian dream, etc., if they so choose. Those dreams are exactly the same dreams we who are free have opportunities to either achieve or to not achieve--the difference being we have the freedom to choose.

As more citizens of the free world become educated, knowledgeable, and aware of what is causing so much conflict and unrest in the area, leaders of free nations will find that to successfully lead, they will have no choice but to deal with policies that each and every man, woman, and child are subjected to under the tyrantry of a dictator. Some leaders have already stepped up to the plate and to each of them we are grateful and thank MEP Ari Vatanen and MEP Edward McMillan-Scott; Congressman Adam Schiff, Congressman Frank Wolf, Congressman Dave Obey and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. We salute you for your foresight, for your efforts, and for staying consistent!