The Egyptian protests kept my attention all weekend. They’re unprecedented in both the actions (tens of thousands of protesters on the streets) and the reactions (their government shutting off the Internet entirely).

This is certainly a reminder to never take freedom for granted. Hopefully the uprising results in more rights for the Egyptian people—I assume most Americans feel the same.

That’s why it surprised me to hear some of the comments Egyptians made about America in the news. Most notably, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was very critical of the United States.

“America is really pushing Egypt and pushing the whole Arab world into radicalization with this inept policy of supporting repression,” ElBaradei said in Friday’s New York Times.

Wait, what? I oppose Egyptian repression. Who in America would support such repression?

Ah, but the United States government is, in a way. We have given Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid each year since President Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David peace agreements in 1979.

On Friday, that aid gave us some awkward pictures of the Egyptian army spraying tear gas at protesters with cans clearly labeled “Made in U.S.A.”

Oops. This inconvenient truth sent a strong signal to Egyptians.

“The way I see it, the U.S. administration supports dictators,” protester Aly Eltayeb told ABC News.

While that is deductively true, I hope it would be comforting for the protesters to realize Americans in general do not support oppressive dictatorships.

“People want moral support; they want to hear words of encouragement,” Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center told the Washington Post. “Right now, they don’t have that. They feel the world doesn’t care and the world is working against them.”

That’s why protesters are shouting at every reporter they find. They want everyone to hear their message. They are desperate, and rightfully so.

It is difficult for them to realize how much vocal support they have from Americans, especially since most of them lost Internet access.

So it pleased me to watch YouTube videos of the protests—specifically ones uploaded by Egyptians who managed to find Internet access—and see Americans leave supportive comments. Many of them say all the correct things. Here is my favorite example:

“I am a normal American, and to those of you who can read this—we are watching you! Americans don’t hate Egypt! Blogging has power—keep doing it! Don’t let them shut off the Internet on you—don’t become like the Chinese. Your country can try to block your voice by controlling the news—DON’T LET THEM!”

Expression like this is a good start. Now we should refrain from trying to pick who is next to lead Egypt.

The Egyptian protesters want our support for their decisions, not for us to be making decisions for them. They are sick of their authoritarian regime and want more freedom. Odds are, the Egyptians will protest until they find a leader who gives them more rights. Odds are, a leader like that will earn our support.