Why Rice Wasn’t a Hit in Cairo

Re “Cairo Audience Cool to Rice’s Call for Democratic Reform,” June 21: It should not be surprising that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s call for democratic reform in Cairo would meet with a less than enthusiastic response. Egypt can see firsthand what imposed democracy, George Bush-style, looks like in neighboring Iraq, a lot like unending violence and chaos. They may even fear that this notion of democracy will spread with a “domino effect” throughout the Middle East, disrupting their very way of life.

No wonder Egyptians and Saudis may prefer the relative stability and security of semi-dictatorships.

Michael Duffy

Simi Valley

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In Egypt, Rice spoke of the “terrorist threat.” As an academic with a doctoral degree, she has a good command of the English language. She should be aware that there is no “terrorist threat,” it is an actuality. A “threat” is something that may happen. This is not the case in the Middle East, or even in the U.S. Terrorists have done their terrorism in the U.S., and have done so and are continuing to do so in Israel. There is no “terrorism threat” in Israel, there is terrorism.

Aharon Goldberg

Hatzor Haglilit, Israel