Ousted.

Editor,

Let us be clear.

In 1953 the U.S. ousted Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, and replaced him with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a bloodthirsty animal who facilitated a field day for U.S. corporations plundering Iran's economy. This is bad. Ousting a democratically elected leader is bad.

In Egypt, on the other hand, the U.S. has propped up the dictator Hosni Mubarak, another bloodthirsty animal, for the last 30 years.

So to say that the U.S. doesn't want to be perceived as ousting yet another leader in the Middle East is more than a little disingenuous. In the present case withdrawing our support for Mubarak, which has always been illegitimate and which has always been extended at the expense of the aspirations of the Egyptian people, is the right thing to do.

The time for Washington to stop waffling has long since passed. Why is our government hated in the Moslem world? Because of our freedoms? Or because the United States stifles theirs at every turn?

Re: "More Egyptian protesters demand that White House condemn Mubarak" (1/29/2011)