Randi Rhodes: Enter the Thugs

Street protests are continuing in Egypt. This has been going on a long time, even by oldest-civilization-on-Earth standards. No more camels have been involved. I guess Hosni Mubarak decided not to try to disperse the protesters by emptying the Cairo zoo. But Mubarak supporters attacked the protesters with clubs, rocks, and knives. Do the hired Mubarak thugs get paid extra for causing bloodshed? Or are they just gung-ho employees trying to impress the boss?

The new Egyptian prime minister denied the government was involved in the attacks, and then called it a “blatant mistake.” Make that two mistakes. If you really have nothing to do with something, you’re not the one to say “oops.” The prime minister said “Everything that happened yesterday will be investigated so everyone knows who was behind it.” Well, while an investigation is a good idea, I can assure you we already know who was behind it. Who beside the government would have orchestrated the attacks yesterday? The Egyptian Camel Association? If there is one, I bet Michael Brown is in charge of it.

A lot of conservatives don’t understand the differences between Iran in 1979 and Egypt now. And a lot of them just don’t want you to understand the differences. Despite what rightwingers are saying, Egypt in 2011 is not Iran in 1979. Conservatives just like to think it’s 1979 because that would mean we’re looking at 8 years of Ronald Reagan. The main opposition figure in Iran 1979 was the Ayatollah Khomeini, a fundamentalist religious leader. In Egypt 2011 the main opposition figure is a Nobel Peace Prize-winner who holds a PhD from NYU. The irony is that the people who confuse Iran with Egypt have a lot more in common with Khomeini than they do with Mohamed ElBaradei. The protests in Egypt are secular. The protesters want democracy and opportunity, not religious fundamentalism. And it’s hard for the religious fundamentalists in our country to understand that. It’s quite possible that this revolution will take Egypt closer to American values while at the same time rejecting the long-standing policies of the American government. America would do well to do the same.

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Anderson Cooper recounts getting attacked in Cairo yesterday by pro-Mubarak thugs…