Pompeo Tells Egyptians, ‘The Age of Self-Inflicted American Shame Is Over’

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Pompeo Tells Egyptians, ‘The Age of Self-Inflicted American Shame Is Over’

Jan. 10, 2019 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Egypt after his stops at Iraq and Jordan, and met today with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo.

“The Secretary reiterated the United States’ commitment to the strategic partnership with Egypt and in its fight against our common security threats, including terrorism and the Iranian regime’s malign influence,”

the U.S. State Department readout said.

Beside meeting the Egyptian President, Pompeo spoke at the American University in Cairo, the very place where Barack Obama, in 2009 spoke of a new beginning with Muslim and Arab countries. Without mentioning Obama by name, Pompeo, however, made that identification clear when he said:

“It was here, in this city, another American stood before you and told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not stem from ideology. He told you that 9/11 led my country to abandon its ideals, particularly in the Middle East, he said. He told you that the United States and the Muslim world needed, quote, ‘a new beginning.’ The results of these misjudgments have been dire....

“Our eagerness to address only Muslims, not nations, ignored the rich diversity of the Middle East, and frayed old bonds. It undermined the concept of the nation-state, the building block of international stability,”

he said. “And our desire for peace at any cost led us to strike a deal with Iran, our common enemy.”

Promising the audience that the Trump Administration was ushering in a new era of U.S. foreign policy, he said “the age of self-inflicted American shame is over, and so are the policies that produced so much needless suffering. Now comes the real new beginning.” The transcript is posted to the State Department website.