This is Obama's legacy, the malignancy of his anti-freedom, pro-jihad foreign policy. American history is forever stained with our tacit sanction of the persecution, slaughter, and oppression of non-Muslim minorities in countries we helped enslave. We will live with this for generations, and our children will pay an unimaginable price.
This is our nightmare, and he is the nightmare of freedom-loving peoples across the world.
"U.S. ignores abuse of Christian women in Egypt" Washington Times, August 14, 2012 (thanks to David)
[....] Coptic Christian women are routinely victimized and forcibly converted by Muslims in Egypt, Miss Ghaly says.
In its annual Religious Freedom Report, released July 30, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the problem, but at the same time appeared to downplay it. The report described forcible conversions as "disputed,” asserting that while there were “occasional claims” of Muslim men forcing Coptic women (and sometimes girls younger than legal age) to convert to Islam, these accounts “often included inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape.”
Miss Ghaly has no faith in the current U.S. administration. “I feel that politically the United States will look after its own interests,” Miss Ghaly said. “I feel that they favor the Muslim Brotherhood and [Egyptian President Mohammed] Morsi more than the human rights of the Copts.”
Miss Ghaly has devoted the past 15 years to researching the problem of forced conversion in Egypt. In 2004, she teamed up with John Eibner, president of Christian Solidarity International, a human rights organization that has focused on the maltreatment of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
Mr. Eibner introduced Miss Ghaly to anti-trafficking activist Michelle Clark. Ms. Clark, an adjunct professor with the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, is former head of the Anti-Trafficking Assistance Unit at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The women wrote two reports for Christian Solidarity International on the forced conversion issue, the latest released last month. The State Department report mentioned their July study, but said “local human rights groups were unable to verify such cases.”
The report’s co-authors took issue with this. “They do not believe reports and findings such as this one, but they believe Muslims who say that these stories are full of lies,” Miss Ghaly said.
“We stand by the report,” Ms. Clark said. “We did this work through good and professional methodology. We know who we talked to.”
Their research reveals a climate where women and their families are often afraid to talk for fear of Muslim retribution. “We met in hushed rooms and church courtyards because people feel safe there,” Ms. Clark said. “The Coptic community is afraid of any reprisal, afraid of what might happen.”
[...]
Egypt's Copts are no strangers to discrimination and violence. Church burnings were common during the regime of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A car bomb last Christmas Eve killed 21 Christians. Since Mr. Mubarak was overthrown, U.S. immigration courts have seen an escalation in Coptic requests for asylum, specifically from Christian women who either escape abduction or fear abduction by Muslim men.
This is happening although the country’s new president, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has pledged to be a "president for all Egyptians," including Christians. “We will face together the strife and conspiracies that target our national unity," he said.
Miss Ghaly does not believe President Morsi. Indeed, she believes he will “make things worse for the Copts.” When she visited Egypt recently, she said she saw heightened religious discrimination. She was spat on, insulted and humiliated for wearing a cross, she says.
“The Copts who are residing in the country hide their crosses inside now,” she said. “I can only tell you that the coming of Morsi encouraged the man in the street to treat me worse as a Christian.”
Ms. Clark said Mr. Morsi’s election has led to “brazenness” in attacks on Copts. She said there is “a war of attrition against Egyptian Copts, using the women as scapegoats.”
