[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 6 (Monday, January 11, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H264-H267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EGYPT TALKING POINTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) is recognized for 
the remainder of the hour as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and privilege to be 
recognized to address you here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives.
  I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her presentation here 
tonight and the collection of people who came down to support her 
initiative and her agenda.
  I thank the men and women who have stepped up and put on the uniform 
and actually those, also, who have risked their lives who were not 
formally wearing the uniform to defend our country.
  I am one who, I think you know, Mr. Speaker, has great reverence for 
our constitutional values and the pillars of American exceptionalism, 
the underpinnings that make this a great nation. One of the things that 
we have been able to do as a great nation is be able to inspire others.
  If we look around the world, there are those who think that the only 
thing that could happen that is good to somebody is if we just bring 
them into America and give them access to our welfare benefits and 
maybe they will become good Americans and all will be right with the 
world, but I don't know if they have done the geography very well, Mr. 
Speaker, and recognize that we can do a lot more good by helping people 
where they are so that they can help themselves.
  One of the most important things we can do is not send the wealth of 
America over to give people money and food and housing. That goes on 
from time to time, and there is a good number of times it is very well 
justified. But the best thing we can do is inspire others to live and 
model after the freedom of the United States of America. Then they can 
help themselves, Mr. Speaker.
  I think of a time I sat down with several Ambassadors to the United 
States from Israel. We had a meeting over here in a room just off the 
House floor.

[[Page H265]]

They were explaining to me that they had adopted Hebrew as their 
official language. They did that, I believe, in 1954. They formed their 
country in 1948.

                              {time}  2000

  And I said: ``Why did you establish an official language and why did 
you resurrect essentially a dead language''--Hebrew--``that had not 
been used in common discourse or business or politics''--except for 
prayer--``for 2,000 years?''
  And they said they saw the success of the United States with the 
common language that we have. English is our common language.
  They wanted a common language for Israelis. They wanted something 
that would be unique, something that would bond and bind them together, 
because they had seen the successful model here. They were inspired by 
the successful model of assimilation that came about because of a 
common language. So they adopted Hebrew as their official language in 
Israel.
  I was quite impressed, Mr. Speaker. I was quite impressed that 
America would inspire a country that had all the world history to draw 
from, yet they look at the model we have here to make such a definitive 
thing as to bring back a language that had not been utilized in common 
discussion for 2,000 years.
  I give you that example, Mr. Speaker, because I come here tonight and 
I want to talk about Egypt and how it is that the United States of 
America inspires people around the world in ways that we may not 
realize.
  I come to the floor tonight, Mr. Speaker, to commemorate and 
celebrate and give notice to and congratulate the Egyptian people. 
Yesterday they swore in and convened their parliament. That is Egypt's 
first parliament in nearly 4 years.
  It is a great day for Egypt, and it is a great day for liberty 
worldwide. It is a great day for the United States to see that there 
are others around the world who are inspired by our system of a 
representative form of government.
  I extend my congratulations to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and to 
the new speaker and drafter of Egypt's Constitution, Ali Abdel-Al, but 
also to Mr. Moussa, whom I met with on at least two occasions as he 
chaired the committee to draft the Egyptian Constitution.
  The citizens of Egypt have achieved an important foreign policy 
milestone, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday was that day. I was curious that they 
would convene on a Sunday. Only under extreme circumstances would we 
start our day here on a Sunday.
  However, Egypt is a Muslim country. It is about 95 percent Muslim--it 
has got a higher percentage of Christians than people might think--and 
they go to mosque on Friday. In fact, I learned that the Christians 
have their services on Friday as well. That way, Sunday is a workday.
  But, in any case, the short history and the most recent history of 
Egypt is really astonishing. I point out that it seems as though our 
administration has missed the importance of this.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I will just go through some of the history of Egypt 
as we commemorate and congratulate them for convening their Parliament 
now under a legitimized constitutional government of the sovereign 
nation-state of Egypt, a country that we need to expand and strengthen 
our relations with and a country that can be a central player in 
stabilizing the instability all throughout the Middle East.
  It is important that Egypt be a significant component of that effort 
that is going forward not just in this administration, but into the 
next administration and for a long time.
  Back in 1981, President Mubarak took power. He held power for 30 
years. In that 30-year period of time, some people thought that he was 
a strong man and that he dealt harshly with some of his opposition that 
was there. It may be true. I am not here to defend President Mubarak.
  When President Obama took office, it was clear that he had a 
different view of President Mubarak than I have expressed here. He went 
to Cairo to give a speech in Egypt on June 4, 2009.
  And I remind the body, Mr. Speaker, that President Obama, then-
Senator Obama and a candidate for President, in the spring of 2008 made 
a statement roughly similar to the fact he believed his middle name 
means something to the rest of the world.
  And when they recognize and see his middle name, they all know that 
he can communicate with them in a certain way that someone who doesn't 
have that middle name doesn't have that particular tool.
  And so shortly after that--being elected President and then armed 
with that conviction--President Obama traveled to Cairo, Egypt, and 
gave his speech on June 4, 2009, at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
  Now, Al-Azhar University is essentially the global center for Islamic 
thought. They have Islamic scholars there that are respected worldwide 
within the world of Islam.
  So to send a message to the Muslim world, there wasn't a place that 
was more effective than going to Al-Azhar University to give his June 
4, 2009, speech.
  It happens to be a fact, Mr. Speaker, that the seating arrangement 
was arranged, we have to presume, with the approval of President Obama. 
And who sat in the front row, Mr. Speaker?
  The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were seated in the front row 
when President Obama gave his speech at Al-Azhar University. That sent 
a powerful signal to the Egyptian people, a signal that the President 
of the United States supports the Muslim Brotherhood.
  Now, I don't bring this up as speculation, Mr. Speaker. I bring it 
back to the floor of the Congress because I am speaking from hands-on, 
eye-to-eye experience in talking with the Egyptian people and some of 
their leadership and some of their press.
  They say to us: ``Why does President Obama support the Muslim 
Brotherhood?'' That is a bit of a tough question and is a hard one to 
rebut when they are seated in the front row at Al-Azhar University.
  Well, this brought about a significant amount of unrest. It 
contributed to the unrest, is probably a more reasonable way to 
describe this, Mr. Speaker. As the unrest grew in Egypt, we also heard 
messages coming out of the State Department.
  For example, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a statement 
very similar to: Mubarak needs to be gone yesterday. And so the push 
from the Obama administration, the push from the State Department, 
then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and others, began to put 
pressure on Mubarak.
  While this is going on, the Arab Spring erupted about January, 
February 2011. Of course, it was multiple countries throughout the 
Middle East that had unrest. And there was significant unrest in Egypt, 
as we know.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, the pressure built and the demonstrations that 
took place in Tahrir Square were intense. Some of them were violent. We 
saw on television the massive amounts of people that were on the square 
and weren't going to leave.
  With the trouble that was there, finally, on February 11, 2011, 
Mubarak stepped down. When he stepped down, that left a bit of a void 
that was still wrapped up in the chaos.
  During that chaos, there were primarily Muslim Brotherhood activities 
consisting of mobs that were attacking Christian churches, attacking 
the Evangelical churches that are there, and attacking the Coptic 
Christian churches that are there. In fact, the persecution went on in 
multiple cities around Egypt. There were multiple churches that were 
burned and razed to the ground. Some were just gutted by fire.
  Well, in June 2012, Mohamed Morsi came to power. He is the face and 
the voice--and may still be--of the Muslim Brotherhood. As Morsi came 
to power, they began to see how the Muslim Brotherhood would rule 
Egypt.
  The protests died down for a while, and then they ramped back up 
again, Mr. Speaker and got worse and worse and worse and more intense.
  And so the protests accelerated up to January 25, 2013. There were 
many protests. Egypt was more or less very difficult to govern and rule 
because of the protests against Morsi and because of the way that Morsi 
had mishandled government and the way that the Muslim Brotherhood, with 
their heavy hand, had worked against many of the Egyptian people.
  Morsi was the duly-elected President. And I believe the number was 
4.6 million Egyptians that came to the polls

[[Page H266]]

out of 83 million Egyptians altogether. So it was a low percentage of 
turnout, but they saw him get elected.
  And then, as he essentially disempowered the legislature and 
disempowered the judicial branch of government, there was a democratic 
election for Morsi, an election one last time. The dictator had taken 
over, and the Egyptian people knew it. And they began to push back, Mr. 
Speaker.
  So the protests accelerated from January 25, 2013, on throughout that 
spring. And then, as we watched, there was a funeral at the main Coptic 
church in Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood mobs attacked the funeral and 
killed people. And so that is a brutal division within the society that 
took place. That was April 7, 2013.
  Throughout that summer, the Christian groups were gathering together, 
Mr. Speaker, and during that period of time they would have regular 
prayer meetings to pray that God would bring relief to Egypt and turn 
the country back over to the Egyptian people and let them govern their 
country and have their country back, take it away from Morsi.
  As I sat and listened to Pastor Maurice, who leads a 4,000-member 
Evangelical church in Egypt, as they were gathering for prayers on the 
night of June 29, he said to the other pastors who had been regularly 
coming together to pray: I am going to lead the prayer tonight. I am 
going to be in charge of the prayer tonight.
  So they agreed. They gathered together and Pastor Maurice offered 
this prayer. He said: God, we have been praying daily for relief from 
Egypt. I am tired of waiting. I don't want to wait any longer. I want 
this relief tomorrow.'' It is the night of June 29, 2013. ``God, bring 
us this relief tomorrow.''
  That was the eve of the relief that came. By June 30, the following 
day, the streets and every city began to fill in Egypt. Tahrir Square 
became full again. People poured into the streets of Egypt, and they 
poured into the streets on June 30, July 1, July 2, and July 3.
  The numbers of people in the streets in Egypt that came out to 
protest were estimated at 33 million people out of 83 million 
Egyptians. Now, think of that. If we had that same percentage come out 
in the streets of America, we would have 125 million people in the 
streets of America, Mr. Speaker.
  It was a massive turnout in Egypt. And something had to happen. They 
pleaded with General el-Sisi: Will you take over in this country? We 
can't take this any longer. We have got to have some leadership. We 
have got to have somebody in charge of our country, Egypt.
  General el-Sisi demurred. He said: No. I don't want to do this. I 
don't want to step in. Finally, by the 3rd of June, he relented and 
stepped in with the military to bring order in Tahrir Square. That 
turned out to be a move that stabilized Egypt.
  Shortly after that, they stabilized Egypt. They had more peace in the 
streets. There was still trouble. The Muslim Brotherhood was still 
attacking people.
  There were still arrests of some of those who had been violent take 
place in the square that had been attacking people. But they installed 
an interim President and put some stability into the government. This 
is early July of 2013.
  Myself and a couple of other Members went to Egypt over the Labor Day 
break in September 2013. We met with the interim President in one 
meeting, in a different meeting with the Pope of the Coptic Church, in 
a separate meeting then with General el-Sisi, and in a separate meeting 
with Mr. Moussa, who was the chairman of the committee that was writing 
a Constitution.
  I remember each of those meetings in a distinct way. The Coptic Pope 
said: We are praying for the people who are killing us. We are not 
going to be sucked into a civil war in Egypt. We are praying for them 
and are asking God to forgive them, which I thought was a very high 
level of faith that I don't know that I could reach, Mr. Speaker. I was 
very impressed with the Coptic Pope.
  We met with Mr. Moussa, who described the Constitution they were 
drafting, but he said it is up to the Egyptian people. They have got to 
ratify it.
  And as we met with General el-Sisi, I recall asking him a series of 
questions: If this Constitution is ratified and a legitimized civilian 
government takes charge in Egypt, will the military take orders from a 
civilian President or a civilian prime minister and a civilian 
parliament?
  He looked me in the eye and he said: Yes. The military will.
  So I didn't know at the time--and I don't think he knew at the time--
that he would eventually become a candidate for President and actually 
be the one issuing the orders to the military. But he has kept his 
word.
  As he promised to me and others promised to me, they would ratify a 
Constitution, they would elect a national leader or President, and once 
the Constitution was ratified and the President was elected, they would 
then have elections and seat a parliament or a legislative body.
  Within their Constitution they wrote the language that said, of the 
roughly 100 churches that have been destroyed--mostly by the Muslim 
Brotherhood--they would use Egyptian tax dollars to rebuild those 
churches.
  I am here tonight, Mr. Speaker, to say thank you to President el-Sisi 
of Egypt, thank you to Mr. Moussa and those others that worked on the 
Constitution, and to congratulate the Parliament in Egypt that is now 
seated as of yesterday. Their country is put in place now so that the 
Egyptian people are finally in charge of their country again.

                              {time}  2015

  And when I am asked why does our administration support the Muslim 
Brotherhood, I am going to continue to give the same answer: The 
American people support the Egyptian people. The Egyptian people don't 
support the Muslim Brotherhood. They have proven that over and over 
again. The leadership that the Egyptians have elected has proven that 
they have given their word, they have kept their word, they have 
performed in the fashion that they said.
  And as I have gone back now a couple of times since then, most 
recently last spring, in about March or April, at some significant 
expense, I might add, I remember sitting down with President el-Sisi, 
and he said a couple of things that I think that we should remember, 
and I believe he wanted me to convey them here on this floor, Mr. 
Speaker; and that is that, he gave a speech January 1 of last year at 
Al-Azhar University, in the center of Muslim thought, and here is the 
message that he delivered.
  The message was this, he is asking a rhetorical question, and it was: 
Is it possible to accept the idea that the whole world must die so that 
Muslims can live? That is verbatim, Mr. Speaker. It is a rhetorical 
question. It is the most powerful rhetorical question that I believe 
that I have heard.
  And, of course, he rejected that idea. He understands that Muslims 
and Christians and Buddhists and atheists and agnostics and all the 
religions need to live on this world together, and he is looking for 
that kind of peace and stability, so that no religion is persecuted, no 
religion is being murdered while they are going to someone else's 
funeral, or their wedding. And that happened also in Egypt, Mr. 
Speaker.
  So I want to thank President el-Sisi for his commitment. And I would 
add, also, that he made another statement that I think we also need to 
think about, Mr. Speaker, and that is, he said they, speaking of the 
Muslim Brotherhood, they are trying to establish and impose divine law 
on all the world.
  When he looked at me he realized it didn't quite register, and he 
said, sharia law. They want to impose sharia law on the entire world. 
And he put his head down, almost between his knees, as he sat there, 
and shook his head in rejection.
  I am convinced we can work with this man. He is a dedicated Muslim 
who is a peaceful leader, who understands this picture of the world the 
way it sets.
  When I look at the work that was done by Ataturk in Turkey, how he 
provided a bridge between the East and the West, and that has been 
drifting back a bit the other way under Erdogan, but I believe that 
President el-Sisi has the skill set, the convictions, and the 
foundation to, one day, with the right kind of support, the support of 
the United States of America and the free world and the Middle East,

[[Page H267]]

could become the Ataturk for the world to bring about that bridge 
between the Muslim world and the Christian world and the West.
  If we fail in that effort to do that outreach and tie these bonds 
together, these bonds that go back through history, a long ways back, 
Mr. Speaker, if we fail, then I am afraid there will be a tremendous 
amount of bloodshed.
  If we succeed, I believe we can eliminate and forestall a significant 
amount of bloodshed and bridge over this division that is coming at us. 
And he deserves and needs our help to defend himself from terrorists 
that are attacking from all directions, from Sinai and everywhere else.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your indulgence here tonight.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________