http://www.accuracy.org/an-open-letter-to-president-barack-obama/

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

January 30, 2010

Dear President Obama:

As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As citizens, we expect our president to uphold those values.

For thirty years, our government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Egypt and around the world have spoken. We believe their message is bold and clear: Mubarak should resign from office and allow Egyptians to establish a new government free of his and his family’s influence. It is also clear to us that if you seek, as you said Friday “political, social, and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” your administration should publicly acknowledge those reforms will not be advanced by Mubarak or any of his adjutants.

There is another lesson from this crisis, a lesson not for the Egyptian government but for our own. In order for the United States to stand with the Egyptian people it must approach Egypt through a framework of shared values and hopes, not the prism of geostrategy. On Friday you rightly said that “suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” For that reason we urge your administration to seize this chance, turn away from the policies that brought us here, and embark on a new course toward peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East. And we call on you to undertake a comprehensive review of US foreign policy on the major grievances voiced by the democratic opposition in Egypt and all other societies of the region.  

Sincerely,

Jason Brownlee, University of Texas at Austin


Joshua Stacher, Kent State University


Tamir Moustafa, Simon Fraser University


Arang Keshavarzian, New York University


Clement Henry, University of Texas at Austin


Robert Springborg, Naval Postgraduate School


Jillian Schwedler, University of Massachusetts at Amherst


Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project

Joel Beinin, Stanford University


Ellen Lust, Yale University


Tarek Massoud, Harvard University

Amaney Jamal, Princeton University

Helga Tawil-Souri, New York University


Anne Mariel Peters, Wesleyan College


Gregory White, Smith College


Asef Bayat, University of Illinois


Diane Singerman, American University


Cathy Lisa Schneider, American University


Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania


Ahmet T. Kuru San Diego State University


Toby Jones, Rutgers University


Lara Deeb, Scripps College


Michaelle Browers, Wake Forest University


Mark Gasiorowski, Louisiana State University


Samer Shehata, Georgetown University


Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa


Emad Shahin, University of Notre Dame


John P. Entelis, Fordham University


Tamara Sonn, College of William & Mary


Ali Mirsepassi, New York University


Kumru Toktamis, Pratt Institute


Rebecca C. Johnson, Northwestern University


Nader Hashemi, University of Denver


Carlene J. Edie, University of Massachusetts at Amherst


Laryssa Chomiak, University of Maryland


Mohamed Nimer, American University


Steven Heydemann, Georgetown University


Miriam Lowi, The College of New Jersey


Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University


Hesham Sallam, Georgetown University


Melani Cammett, Brown University


Michael Robbins, University of Michigan


Katherine E. Hoffman, Northwestern University


Asli Bali, UCLA School of Law


Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University


Guilain Denoeux, Colby College


Tom Farer, University of Denver


Norma Claire Moruzzi, University of Illinois at Chicago


Saad Eddin Ibrahim, American University of Cairo & Drew University


Asma Barlas, Ithaca College


Ethel Brooks, Rutgers University


Maren Milligan, Oberlin College


Alan Gilbert, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver


Glenn Robinson, Naval Postgraduate School


Ahmed Ragab, Harvard University


Kenneth M. Cuno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Agnieszka Paczynska, George Mason University


Zillah Eisenstein, Ithaca College


Quinn Mecham, Middlebury College


Riahi Hamida, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences Sousse Tunisia


Jeannie Sowers, University of New Hampshire


Hussein Banai, Brown University


Joel Gordon, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville


Ed Webb, Dickinson College


David Siddhartha Patel, Cornell University


Bassam Haddad, George Mason University

Thomas Pierret, Princeton University


Nadine Naber, University of Michigan


As`ad AbuKhalil, California State University at Stanislaus


Dina Al-Kassim, University of California at Irvine


Ziad Fahmy, Cornell University


William B. Quandt, University of Virginia


Lori A. Allen, University of Cambridge


Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Notre Dame University Lebanon


Alfred G. Gerteiny, University of Connecticut (ret.)


Lucia Volk, San Francisco State University


Anne Marie Baylouny, Naval Postgraduate School


Ulrika Mårtensson, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology


Emma Deputy, University of Texas at Austin


Sherry Lowrance, University of Georgia


Kaveh Ehsani, DePaul University


Ebrahim Moosa, Duke University


Benjamin N. Schiff, Oberlin College


Jeff Goodwin, New York University


Margaret Scott, New York University (adjunct)


Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University


Kevin M. DeJesus, York University, Toronto


Courtney C. Radsch, American University


Gamze Cavdar, Colorado State University


John F. Robertson, Central Michigan University

Amir Niknejad, College of Mount Saint Vincent

Mehdi Noorbaksh, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

Anthony Tirado Chase, Occidental College

Russell E. Lucas, Florida International University

Ariel Saizmann, Queen’s University

Patrick Kane, Clatsop Community College

Behrooz Moazami, Loyola University New Orleans

Anthony Shenoda, Scripps College

Mark Allen Peterson, Miami University

Amel Ahmed, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Ilana Feldman, George Washington University

Marwan M. Kraidy, University of Pennsylvania

Mohamad Daadaoui, Oklahoma City University

Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University

Nathalie Peutz, New York University Abu Dhabi

Kamran Rastegar, Tufts University

Najib Ghadbian, University of Arkansas

Mojtaba Mahdavi, University of Alberta, Canada

Stefanie Nanes, Hofstra University

Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University

Zeinab Abul-Magd, Oberlin College

Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco

Andrea Teti, University of Aberdeen

Denise M. Walsh, University of Virginia

Frances S. Hasso, Duke University

Waad El Hadidy, New York University

Elliot Colla, Georgetown University

Monika Halkort, Queen’s University

Sonia Alvarez, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Christa Salamandra, City University of New York

Shirin Saeidi, Cambridge University

Shiera Malik, DePaul University

Steve Tamari, Southern Illinois University

Sean Yom, Temple University

Ali Banuazizi, Boston College

Sinan Antoon, New York University

Moustafa Bayoumi, City University of New York

Jennifer Derr, Bard College

Mirjam Künkler, Princeton University Wilson

Jacob, Concordia University, Montreal

Alan Mikhail, Yale University

Narges Erami, Yale University

Gwenn Okruhlik, Trinity University

Pete Moore, Case Western Reserve University

Max Weiss, Princeton University

Margaret Susan Thompson, Syracuse University

Sarah Shields, University of North Carolina

Sonia Alcarez, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Roberto Alejandro, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Manal Jamal, James Madison University

Justin Stearns, New York University at Abu Dhabi

Nicholas Xenos, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Rebecca Hopkins, University of Texas Austin

John Calvert, Creighton University

Nir Rosen, New York University

Ian Lustik, University of Pennsylvania

Steve Niva, The Evergreen State University

Michael C. Hudson, Georgetown University and National University of Singapore

Shane Minkin, Swarthmore College

Feisal Mohamed, University of Illinois

Ahmed Kamel Khattab, Free University Berlin

Benjamin Simuin, University of Utah

Stephen Engelmann, University of Illinois at Chicago

Stacy Fahrenthold, Northeastern University

Sondra Hale, UCLA

Nicole Watts, San Francisco State University

Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Alan Fisher, Michigan State University

Laurie King-Irani, Georgetown University

Gary Fields, UC San Diego

Curtis Ryan, Appalachian State University

Keelu Fahoum, Naval Postgraduate School

Steven Brooke, University of Texas Austin

Andrew Fibbert, Trinity College

Ted Swedenburg, University of Arkansas

John Womack Jr. Harvard University

Sayed Eisisi, University of Maryland

Louis Cristillo, Columbia University

David Waldner, University of Virginia

John Measor, St. Mary’s University

Institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. Views reflected in this letter are those of the individual signatories.