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DIGLA, Egypt -- Several hundred voters lined up Saturday in the hot mid morning sun to cast their votes at Victoria College in the upper middle class district of Digla, a leafy oasis on the outskirts of crowded Cairo and home to many in Egypt’s expatriate American community.
If presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, guardian of stability and secularism to supporters and proxy of the hated old regime to critics, would do well, one would expect it to be here.
After all, he is running against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi who has pledged to impose religious law.
But the reality was very different.
"If you have a snake, you have to cut off the head and tail, or the serpent will revive. Shafiq would give the snake a new head,” said retired army officer, Mahmoud Sabri, as he leaned on his cane.
Charlene Gubash / NBC News
Mahmoud Sabri shows the dye on his finger used to make sure voters cast ballots only once.
“I think these people (the Muslim Brotherhood) had been imprisoned for eight years. They are still struggling against the dictatorship and against every bad thing we have suffered since the revolution of 1952,” added Sabri.
Engineer Mohamed Hassan, who lived in the U.S. for 10 years and got his PhD from the University of Illinois, said, “I am voting for Dr. Morsi ... (he) will continue what we started one and a half years ago. The revolution was started to change the regime and Morsi will continue to build a real democracy. We do not want a military backed system. We need freedom, and different parties and so on.”
Was he worried they would impose an Islamic state?
“They are peaceful people ... and have been pushing for democracy for thirty years.”
Pharmacist Ayman Mohamed also shared his opinion.
“I want Morsi,” said Mohamed. “Shafiq represents the old system and corruption and the revolution hoped to remove Shafiq. If there is no corruption, I think Morsi will win.”
“I am very worried about the country,” added Hisham Watani, a young music composer. “I am worried about Shafiq winning so I voted for Dr. Morsi. All of (former President Hosni) Mubarak’s men will destroy us and destroy Egypt.”
Haitham, an engineer who gave only his first name because he works with an international company, asked: “Why did we do a revolution? If Shafiq will come, the revolution is dead. We need change. My choice depends on Morsi. He can change the system.”
“I am not happy with either but I have to choose one,” said Mohamed Abbass, project engineer with a petrochemical company. “Shafiq is against the revolution so I chose Morsi. I hope Morsi will make big changes,” added Abbass.
Some Shafiq voters were also unenthusiastic but more concerned about stability than change.
"God help us!," said Ali Mostafa, one of the first to arrive to vote. "I had to choose a candidate to feel like I did something. I chose Shafiq."
“I prefer Shafiq who will bring back security and stability,” said businessman Mohamed Mohsen.
Haitham, a computer engineer who also refused to provide his last name because of his company affiliation, said he had more confidence in Shafiq’s ability to lead.
“I voted Shafiq because of his previous experience as a leader and manager. Experience plays a bigger role in time dependent decisions.”
Surgeon Maher Salib voted Shafiq for the same reason. “I believe he can control this country.”
A senior citizen, aided by a young woman, refused to provide his name but said that while it was a tough decision, he voted for Shafiq. “He will return stability and security,” he said. “I feel relaxed. At last I have voted.”
Haitham, the computer engineer, voiced concern about the day results are announced. "What will happen after the election is what worries everyone. We expect unrest no matter who wins."
Many worry the ruling military council will stage a coup if the Muslim Brotherhood candidate prevails. Others fear Islamists will take to the streets if Shafiq wins, in the belief that power was snatched from their hands by fraud. Stay tuned.
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Voting for the Muslim Brotherhood candidate will further isolate the 'haves' from the 'have nots' (or the rest of Egypt's population) and allow them to continue their 'honor killings', rapes and prosecution of unwilling women for being 'promiscuous'. Islam is based around killing those who do not agree with you and keeping women from gaining a voice in politics.
Sounds very familiar ... having two poor choices and some of the more gullible believe that perhaps 1 choice is a vote for "hope and change". Been there, done that. Take a lesson from the USA and don't go down that road like we did. It will set you back decades and can only lead to ZERO prospects for real happiness, economic vitality, and freedom.
Going back to the blood debacle but now adding the blood of others, especially children sounds more of a crime globally systematically as we crash into hell at least.
The voters need to exercise caution here. The choices are not very good on either side, but one side can take the country back many years, just exactly as Iran.
Women in Iran are educated, and appreciate the value of an education, but they are still second class citizens. Iran was going full speed ahead in the 60's with the Shah, until he had to ask for political asylum in Mexico. The people decided instead to go for the Ayatollah, and they have been in bad shape ever since.
Any smart-butt knows, an Iranian could have floated ashore and have been met by kind men who gave him the right to nutrition.
You know STexan you need to read the words you write. You want a dictorial system? That or you are talking on the Nazism of your party lines. Yes I can tell your a republican. You see we the people can control things, like unions but try to control a fanatic is harder.
nazism is a left-wing ideology, it is a socialist party, they were right to the left but left to the right at the time of their coming to power and they still are a left-wing party. im sure someone as smart as you knew that democrat party members founded the KKK and has several prominent KKK members in the party itself for decades, i cant recall any outspoken KKK members in the republican party not that they dont have skeletons but you are just a drone of the democrats, i can do without either and all.
control over people is not isolated to who you think might be doing it, read history and its full of people who seize power for whatever reason but always ends in subjugation of the masses for the 'good of humanity'. these muslims have no clue how to be free and they will elect dictator after dictator as long as it fits with their barbarous religion. obama was naive to support the ouster of mubarak.
man cannot self-rule as long as man keeps giving his power away.
@ Swagganaut
I am confused here. People keep referring the extreme left as "communist" and now you say they are Nazi as well?
So extreme left are both "communist" and "Nazi", but there are no extreme right? It's fun to paint the picture black whenever you want to make your point.
@Swaggernaut,
I am from Alabama. Our two senators are Sessions and Shelby, both Republicans. Sessions still "mentions" in speeches his connection to the KKK and Aryan Nation and hails them as "protectors of tradition." Shelby is a little more subtle. He always reminds people that before the Civil War, his family owned 170 slaves.
Yep, southern Democrats have a lot to answer for in their race relations history. But when white southern male Democrats fled the Democratic Party after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, they took all that with them to the GOP. When Eisenhower was re-elected about 72% of Blacks voted for him. But to get the southern male white vote, the Republicans drove Blacks, Latinos, and Gays out of the "big tent" to make room for southern white male racists. It was not a good trade and probably doomed the GOP to a slow agonizing death as minorities take more and more power to the Democrats. (If you want a good example, look at New Mexico --- solidly Republican until 1988, then moving Democratic, and now solidly Democratic with no indication of any future switching.)
The world would want Egypt to maintain peace outside its borders, like the US and Israel. However, to maintain peace, it has taken a militaristic dictatorship under Mubarak to accomplish this. Noe the choice is to back to that or choose an Islamist organization that will stifle secularism, women's rights, etc. What a choice!!!
I am referring to Mathuin's original comment: You are an idiot....I love it how some American fools get on the news sites to spout their knowledge when chances are they have never even left the country...Keep it up..The world already thinks we are idiots for having elected W....
Such a sad situation, voting the muslims into power will only guarantee that Egypt will continue the same hate filled downward spiral of low education, failed government, denigration of women, forbidding of education and killing and maiming of non believers in the hate filled muslim culture as every other muslim country in this world. Horribly sad that this hideous culture might be seen as a change for the better. The world must awake and rise up as one to stamp out the entire corrupt, hate filled culture of islam which is disguised as a relgion and demands authority over all government functions in those areas where it is a dominant factor. World wake up! Islam is the enemy!
@CuongDNguyen,
Yes the Nazi Party is the "National Socialist Party", you need to look up Hitlers policies to see that they are far from the beliefs of contemporary conservatives. The communist and Nazi beliefs are (like Swagganaut stated) leftist in core beliefs. And the Nazi practices of Eugenics were taken from American Progressives.
In regards to the contemporary right, the extremists would be considered Anarchists (who believe in no governance), and the Libertarians (who believe in limited government, and more self governance).
In my personal opinion, I feel that the majority of Americans if asked, would fall under the "extreme right wing" beliefs of Libertarianism. Because it is based in the beliefs of individual freedoms and liberties that most Americans share, that make us great.
Chris
Your lack of historical knowledge is shocking!!! Where did you pick up such drivel.
Without the republican party, there would have been no civil rights laws. Even one of your icons fathers (Gore, just in case your liberal indoctrination neglected to teach you ) voted against it.
Heard Sessions speak lots of times, never heard a word about the klan, unless he was referring to Sen. Robert Byrd.
Just wondering RP-2387990. Who was it that Prescott Bush supported in WW2?
are you friggin sh*tting me? i cannot believe that was even printed......again........
The factory workers must be keeping a watchful eye at the poll stations through the broken windows that hopefully will be repaired with the representative of their choice.
Well as far as the other wacked out islamist over there, yeh they are.
@6dogs,
They want a global caliphate, all goverened by Sharia Law. And they consider Isreal to be their #1 enemy and the US a close second.
I don't see that as peaceful, I see them as the "wacked out Islamists" that you refer to.
Anything with the word muslim in it, is not Peaceful!
Yes, and Ali Abu brought little teddy confetti.
to AmadoC, all your comments are incoherent. Are you trying to be funny?
Well, as long as they don't discriminate against virgins' .. the fathers have full right to snipe them bastards!
gee....ya think?
What do they call the before and during stuff, campaign rallies in force?
The big loser with what is going on in both Syria and Egypt, no matter how either turns out, will be Israel.
1) Syria is pretty much in free-fall right now as the whole country slides into anarchy and civil war. The Russians will support Assad because Syria has their only overseas military bases except for some slowly ending rental agreements in former Soviet republics. Iran is supporting Assad because Iran is a Shiite country. Iraq is majority Shiite. But Syria is controlled by a tiny Alawite Shiite minority. Losing Syria would be a huge setback to Iranian hegemony.
2) If Syria becomes a failed state, it will drag Lebanon right along with it. Syria collapsed the government of Lebanon so it would have an unstable "buffer" state between it and Israel.
3) If the heritage candidate wins in Egypt, there will be popular discord. In that case the military will most likely step in and take over the government just as it did in 1952. And, to rally the people around it, the Egyptian military will make trouble with Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood candidate wins, there will be popular discord. The military has a high probability of stepping in here as well, also leading to trouble with Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood candidate wins and the military does not step in, there is a very high likelihood that relations with Israel will deteriorate rapidly since that is a campaign plank of the Muslim Brotherhood.
From where we stand today, it looks like Israel can expect retrouble from two sides --- Syria and Egypt. Israel has focused so much attention on Iran for the last 4-5 years that it has had little opportunity or resources to do the same with Syria and Equpt. It is beginning to look like Israel has made a bed that will be very difficult to get any sleep in.
Won`t be the first time a country commits suicide by voting for a lifelong dictator who puts in a police state and the big killer boot on their throats.The Germans did it with Hitler and Venezuala con Chavez, If the Bro wins.and gain power...it will be a sharia dictatorship .They may win, but the military still has to be the guardians of the country.The Bro is just one party.They can`t use an election to overthrow all liberites and put in a police state.The Brotherhood was in prison before and that`s where they belong now. As for their fans, well the Creature from the Black Lagoon had his fans too!
Voting to further the revolution? Unless I'm mistaken I thought the Muslim Brotherhood stood on the sidelines during the revolution, letting everyone else do the fighting as cowards do.
Now they are the symbol of the revolution?
Not even the Germans are going to take it lightly and might use a can of Nuke-it-all for suspicious ballot thiefs.
I believe in democracy but I don't trust the Muslim Brotherhood, if they win then goodbye tourism and a secular society.
Be-careful who you vote in to power, Democracy is just a way for radicals to seize power. Looks like rule in Egypt will be by the Army and courts - sound familiar?
Clapper, one of Obozo's idiots said they are mostly secular and non violent. LOL.
He was talking about Obozo's idiots. Ignore him.
democracy has never worked, ever single great scholar has said that eventually democracy lead to a dictatorship because the masses figure out how to game the system for their favor but its never to their favor in the end because they eventually elect a single leader who promises them the sky but seizes power for himself. democracy is not a new concept, its as old as civilization itself and its been tried and failed along with everything else, we live in a cyclical society.
thank god our founders made us a REPUBLIC! and by the US constitution we are to remain a republic, unfortunately, currently we are not a republic and are in violation of the US constitution, just following the cycle.
I would point out one thing. Not defending the Muslim Brotherhood, but Arabic social organizations are put together a great deal differently than Western social organizations.
Organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc are always composed of several separate functional wings. All do a lot for the poor (as a part of a Muslim obligation) and run schools and clinics and hospitals. All have a financial wing that gets around the Muslim prohibition of charging interest and manages quirky loans for individuals and small banks --- kinda like a no-interest credit union. All have international humanitarian arms. All have very strong cultural heritage programs. And all have "militant" wings that are like unofficial militias. Because they have no access to significant weaponry, most of these militants turn to terrorist because asymmetric force is the only option available to them.
Organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood are kinda like the Red Cross, the local credit union, church run hospitals and schools as we have here, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and white supremacist militias all rolled into one.
Hey Obozo, still praise the "Arab Spring"? Hows that hope and change arab style working out for ya?
Plenty of coconuts to last for the rest of year, a cargo ship of surgical precise equipment on track... induced-safe supply of reinforced silk rubbery duckies. Enjoying it well I bet along with the Egyptians, not bad at all.
So, when democracy is not in your favor or what you want, you cry about it?
Looks like Egypt is stuck with having to vote for the lesser of two evils. We in the USA can empathize with you Egypt - we've been doing that for many years.
At least they have a parliamentary system, which is more truly representative than our "Coke or Pepsi" farce of a Democracy.
"Meet the new Boss. Same as the old Boss"
If you think that electing the Muslim Brotherhood is going to be bad for them just look at what we did to ourselves in 2008. Our only hope is to rid this country in 2012 of all the Alleged Hope and Change that we fell for in 2008
Because voting for Palin as VP and continue the wars and even to greater depression is your idea of better future, right?
If GOP actually in WH now, we would have invade Iran and more people would die of those wars.
Whoever wins still has to have the support of the military, who is still in charge and seemed pleased with the recent court decision to dissolve the Parliament. More and maybe worse violence to come.
That is one of Obamas concerns unless he can get his civilian military (aka Chicago gangs) organized and armed quickly. The Fast and Furious dry run went well.
Hardline Islamists are in control now. There is your Arab Spring! The Syrian rebels are hardline Islamists also. Assad is a tyrant but the rebels are alot worse. Coptic Christians and Jews will be slaughtered.
What about the Middle East?
Folks, the reason for the Riots and Revolutions going on in the Middle East is due to High Unemployment, Poverty, Middle Class being wiped out, Financial Injustice and Oppression from their Government. The Financial Institutions get Bailed Outs for Major Mistakes, Mismanagement, and the Middle Class gets the Shaft. Sound Familiar? Don’t be surprised when it happens here.
For years this Country has been ran by by the Lobbyist, Special Interest, and the Self Righteous. It’s gotten to the point where the young people are fed up with the Greed and Corruption in our system. It has reached a Boiling Point.
The Middle East is the Land of da Devil. The U S should just stay out of there. They will never have Peace.
Why do all the Middle Eastern women have to dress up like “Cousin It”?
Hopefully there will come a day when we can tell them to “Drink their Oil and Eat their Sand”.
Remember Republicans, when these Foreign Countries ask for Aid and Funding….just say No.
Cut off all Funding to Pakistan. Why are we giving them Billions of $$$$$$ just to be our “Little Friend”? Did they Apologize for Hiding Out Bin Laden?
You Bet Cha….Fer Sure
Makes our choices in November seem sane by comparison.
Sarah Palin can see Egypt from her Kitchen Window.
You BetCha.....Fer Sure.
and you can see Obamas small intestine from his, er, kitchen window.
There are Two things you really need to watch out for in this World. Religious Extremists and da so called “Republican TeaBilly Conservative”. Neither one can be Trusted and always has an Evil Agenda. You Bet Cha..Fer Sure.
Da Facts. You be correct right there. Folks here abouts are also fans of the Brotherhood, Chief amongst them be folks name Hussein. Long history. But we got Holder on our side. We gonna win regardless of da vote.
Brought to you by "Mothers Basement News Service"
You Bet Cha..Fer Sure.
Quite a few in the White House as well.
Especially and in particular those named Jared?
On a positive note, we now know of at least one vote going to Obama for some more Hopey Changey.
"“I am very worried about the country,” added Hisham Watani, a young music composer."
You should be. It is so comforting here in the United States that 1/3 of the eligible voters or less may be voting in a Conscientious Objector to be President.
Should be a democrat favorite....after all, they are the sissy party.
I find it enlightening that in every 'hot spot' in the world (excepting Greece) that the common denominator is muslims and islam. But yet they claim it's a religion of peace. This just in, you wouldn't have to say that phrase if it were true.
That is because we are sending in Drones to kill their women anc children.
You voted to put Berry the Bomber in office!
What kind of animals hide behind females and children?
Wow, and Americans complain that THEY have no good choice. Egypt can have either more of the same or even worse in the form of religious nutjobs. Poor Egypt...
The muslim brotherhood has a fan in the Whitehouse.
Common Man, I think that be Many Many fans in the WH.