[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 9, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H556-H557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       POLITICAL UNREST IN EGYPT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Moran) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I was going to talk about jobs, but I think 
in light of the last address on the other side of the aisle, I will 
talk a bit about foreign policy and specifically Egypt.
  There is a quote in a play by Samuel Beckett. It's called ``Waiting 
for Godot.'' The quote, though, is applicable. It says something to the 
effect that, at this time, in this place, at this very moment in time, 
all mankind is us. And in many ways, Mr. Speaker, all mankind should be 
with the Egyptian people.
  Now, it's quite true that the Egyptian people are not supportive of 
America's foreign policy, at least Washington's foreign policy, but 
they are certainly supportive of America's fundamental values. And, in 
fact, that's what motivates this revolution.
  This protest was not started by the Muslim Brotherhood, who may, at 
most, be 20 percent of the Egyptian people and have forsworn violence, 
and, in fact, al Qaeda's second in command has issued any number of 
critical statements of the Brotherhood. That's not who is leading this. 
They may be jumping in now to take some advantage of it. But this was 
led by young, well-educated men and women very similar in motivation to 
those that led the American Revolution.
  For the most part, these are folks much like the Google executive who 
yesterday explained that he could well lead a life of leisure. He was 
making a good income. His needs were being met. He had a nice 
apartment. But he didn't have his dignity. He didn't have his dignity 
when he can be arrested at any place at any time for any reason by the 
Egyptian Police. In fact, that's what happened. Only because he was 
speaking out on the street, he was arrested, blindfolded, held in 
captivity for 12 days, had no contact with his family. Now that he is 
released, he epitomizes who it is that is conducting this protest and 
why they are conducting it.
  They want their dignity back. Sure, they would like to be able to 
stand tall

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on an Arab street or on any street and be able to say ``I am an 
Egyptian'' without embarrassment. But most of all, they want their 
individual rights to vote in a free and fair election, to have a 
government that is not corrupt, that is responsive to their needs and 
desires but that, in fact, also looks out after the 36 million 
Egyptians who are living on less than $2 a day.
  These young people care about all of the people of that country. And 
they understand that under a repressive dictatorship, no one is able to 
fulfill their potential. They may be well cared for, some of them, but 
as John Kennedy said in his first inaugural address: ``Unless we are 
prepared to address the needs of the many who are poor, we can't 
possibly protect the wealth of the few who are rich.'' They understand 
this.
  It should also be said that in addition to upholding America's most 
fundamental values, they are empowered by American industry, by our 
creativity and innovation. It's Facebook. It's all the social 
networking. It's the Internet. It's Google. It's all of that technology 
that we have exported throughout the world. We should be proud of that. 
One was quoted as saying: The government can shut and lock all the 
doors on us, but they can't close the windows of the Internet.
  This is a time when we should be excited, when we should be proud, 
and we should be on the side of the Egyptian people in Tahrir Square, 
Freedom Square.

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