By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
United States Representative Mo Brooks (R) from Huntsville commented on American foreign policy in his monthly newsletter to his Fifth District constituents.
Congressman Brooks said, “In recent days, rising tension in the Middle East has been acutely felt here at home with the tragic murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya, John Christopher Stevens, and three embassy staffers. In Egypt, our embassy walls were scaled and the American flag ripped apart; similar demonstrations were held throughout the Middle East.”
Rep. Brooks continued, “In my view, America must stop spending our treasury and risking American lives for those who neither appreciate our sacrifices, nor believe in basic liberties like freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Further, America should minimize or eliminate its role in Civil Wars that alienate combatants and later become fertile recruiting grounds for anti-American combatants.”
The United States has spent $ billions helping Libyan rebels overthrow the government of longtime military dictator Muommar Gadaffi. When the rebels offensive on Tripoli was crushed by the professional Libyan Army and the resurgent government’s forces were advancing on rebel held cities, President Barack Obama and a coalition of European allies launched a massive air offensive against the Gadaffi’s forces. Exposed out in the desert in the midst of their own offensive Libyan forces were devastated by the American military might thrown against them which included heavy bombers. The continuous United States air war helped the rebels take the country. Eventually the rebels would kill Gadaffi and his sons. Since the revolution militant Islamists have become an increasingly vocal force in Libyan politics and on the streets. Four Americans were killed when Al Qaeda linked assassins stormed the American Consulate there.
Egypt has been America’s strongest ally in the Middleast for forty years; but that was under the secular dictatorship of Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. When protestors demanded that Mubarak step down, President Barack Obama supported the protestors. Since the toppling of the Mubarak regime by protesting mobs the Islamic Brotherhood has won both control of the Egyptian Parliament and the Presidency. Protestors throughout Egypt and the Middleast are demanding that American embassies be closed.
The Islamic Brotherhood has advocated (in the recent past) a new Caliphate that stretches throughout the Muslim World. Critics say that a billion person Islamist Empire that controlled much of the world’s oil would not be in the best interests of the United States particularly if it supported armed jihad in nation’s with sizable Islamic minorities and persecuted minorities and women in its own borders. Coptic Christians have come under increasing attacks in Egypt. Christians have also been targeted in Iraq and in Syria where Islamist rebels are in an armed revolution to takeover that country. Meanwhile Iran (where the modern Islamic Revolution began in the 1970s) is rapidly working on both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Congressman Mo Brooks represents Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District. Brooks is seeking a second term in the U.S. Congress. His Democratic opponent in November is Charlie Holley.
