Eqypt in Turmoil

[Jolie Rouge]

Internet cutoff fails to silence Egypt protests
Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – 1 hr 45 mins ago

NEW YORK – In its effort to silence protesters, Egypt took a step that's rare even among authoritarian governments: It cut off the Internet across the entire country.

The nation's four main Internet providers all went dark, and cell phone service was suspended in some areas. But the drastic move did not stop demonstrators Friday, and it could backfire by fueling anger and chaos in the streets of Cairo and beyond.

Until now, Egyptians have had nearly open access to the Web. "This is night and day," said Robert Faris, research director at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. "They have gone from open Internet to no Internet, and that has got to be a big shock."

Protesters are angry about the government of President Hosni Mubarak, so severing Internet and cell phone access only adds fuel to the fire, Faris said. "This just calls into further question the government's legitimacy," he said. The political cost of acting so aggressively will make it "difficult for them to recover. But those are the tradeoffs."

Many Egyptians, especially young people, have grown accustomed to using the Internet to discuss local issues, economic conditions and politics. The government has been able to censor traditional media, such as major newspapers, but small local publications and independent groups have enjoyed a vibrant presence online.

The shutoff is an "enormous regression for a country that has always had a very strong and very engaged civil society," said Cynthia Wong, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Project on Global Internet Freedom. The Egyptian government "just can't cut off the entire nation forever, even if it does serve short-term goals."

Egypt is not the first country to shut off Internet service to quell dissidence and prevent the spread of embarrassing images.

Myanmar did it in 2007. Iran disrupted Internet service in 2009 to try to quell protests over disputed elections. That same year, China, which already censors the Web, suspended international phone service and cut off the Internet in the far western Xinjiang region after deadly riots.

Iran blocked access to social sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook and slowed the Internet to a crawl, but did not cut it off completely. "What's notable is that Egypt has gone farther than even Iran," Faris said. "We always thought of Egypt being a more moderate regime. In this particular instance, apparently they are not."

Although the protests in Iran did not topple the government, they drew an outpouring of international support, much of it expressed on social networks. A video of a young woman's death from a gunshot wound — captured on cell phones — become a symbol of that uprising and the government's brutal crackdown.

In Egypt, authorities have gone after individual bloggers. But until Thursday, the government has typically permitted access to Twitter, Facebook and other sites, Faris said.

The information revolution has helped people in the Middle East organize in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. No longer do they need a formal political or social organization to protest. "The Egyptian government understood that very quickly in moving yesterday to put limits on social media," Shibley Telhami, professor of international relations at the University of Maryland, said Friday. "Some of it worked. Some of it didn't."

Although relatively few Egyptian homes have Internet access, cybercafes and cell phones are prevalent. Mobile phones outnumber fixed phone lines, as is the case in many developing countries.

At the end of 2010, an estimated 80 percent of Egyptians had a cell phone, according to research firm Ovum. About a quarter had access to the Internet as of 2009, according to the International Telecommunications Union, an arm of the United Nations.

So it was notable that the government shut down not just Internet connections but also mobile service. Unable to use their cell phones, some people muttered angrily about what the cutoff would mean for reaching emergency services. As of Friday, at least eight people had died in the protests.

Going from open Internet to no Internet is more shocking to people than losing it piece by piece, or not having access to it in the first place, as is the case in Cuba and North Korea. "One of the things China is particularly good at is offering alternatives to media they are blocking," Faris said. "For most Chinese Internet users, that's enough. They are probably fine with that."

That said, shutting down Internet connections in a country with limited infrastructure, like Egypt, is not technically complicated. If an Internet service provider turns off its "routers" — powerful computers that relay Internet data — then traffic is halted. Egypt has just five major providers, according to Renesys Corp.

When Iran's protests erupted in 2009, the state started filtering the country's Internet connections, blocking some types of communications and slowing the overall network.

By shutting down nearly all Internet connections, the Egyptian government is wielding a much blunter instrument, possibly because it was caught by surprise and did not have time to put an elaborate filtering system in place. And they might have acted too late. "People protested before there was Internet, and people protest when there is no Internet," Faris said. "A lot of the organization that went on online has already occurred."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/...encing_dissent

Egypt's military secures famed antiquities museum
Diaa Hadid And Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 9 mins ago

CAIRO – The Egyptian army secured Cairo's famed antiquities museum early Saturday, protecting thousands of priceless artifacts, including the gold mask of King Tutankhamun, from looters.

The greatest threat to the Egyptian Museum, which draws millions of tourists a year, first appeared to come from the fire engulfing the ruling party headquarters next door on Friday night, set ablaze by anti-government protesters. Then dozens of would-be thieves started entering the grounds surrounding the museum, climbing over the metal fence or jumping inside from trees lining the sidewalk outside.

One man pleaded with people outside the museum's gates on Tahrir Square not to loot the building, shouting at the crowd: "We are not like Baghdad." After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, thieves carted off thousands of artifacts from the National Museum in Baghdad — only a fraction of which have been recovered.

Suddenly other young men — some armed with truncheons taken from the police — formed a human chain outside the main entrance in an attempt to protect the collection inside. "I'm standing here to defend and to protect our national treasure," said one of the men, Farid Saad, a 40-year-old engineer.

Another man, 26-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim, said it was important to guard the museum because it "has 5,000 years of our history. If they steal it, we'll never find it again."

Finally, four armored vehicles took up posts outside the massive coral-colored building in downtown Cairo. Soldiers surrounded the building and moved inside to protect mummies, monumental stone statues, ornate royal jewelry and other pharaonic artifacts.

The soldiers appeared to have rounded up all the would-be looters who made it onto the museum grounds and had lined them up in a row. As the soldiers corralled one man toward the line, crowds outside the fence shouted, "Thief, thief!" A couple the troops then hit the man with the butts of their rifles and sat him down with the others apparently caught inside.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/...protest_museum

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[Jolie Rouge]

Amid massive protests, Egypt leader fires Cabinet
Hamza Hendawi And Hadeel Al-shalchi, Associated Press – 1 hr 53 mins ago

CAIRO – Facing a popular uprising, Egypt's president fired his Cabinet early Saturday after protesters engulfed his country in chaos — battling police with stones and firebombs, burning down the ruling party headquarters and defying a night curfew enforced by the army.

In a nationally televised address at midnight, President Hosni Mubarak made vague promises of social reform but did not offer to step down himself. He also defended his security forces — outraging protesters calling for an end to his nearly 30-year regime. "We want Mubarak to go and instead he is digging in further," protester Kamal Mohammad said. "He thinks it is calming down the situation but he is just angering people more."

Pouring onto the streets after Friday noon prayers, protesters ignored extreme government measures that included cutting off the Internet and mobile-phone services in Cairo and other areas, calling the army into the streets and imposing a nationwide nighttime curfew.

Egypt's crackdown on demonstrators drew harsh criticism from the Obama administration and even a threat Friday to reduce a $1.5 billion foreign aid program if Washington's most important Arab ally escalates the use of force.

Stepping up the pressure, President Barack Obama told a news conference he called Mubarak immediately after his TV address and urged the Egyptian leader to take "concrete steps" to expand rights and refrain from violence against protesters. "The United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful," Obama said.

Throughout Friday, flames rose in cities across Egypt, including Alexandria, Suez, Assiut and Port Said, and security officials said there were protests in 11 of the country's 28 provinces. Calling the anti-government protests "part of a bigger plot to shake the stability and destroy legitimacy" of Egypt's political system, a somber-look Mubarak said: "We aspire for more democracy, more effort to combat unemployment and poverty and combat corruption."

Still, his words were likely to be interpreted as an attempt to cling to power rather than a pledge to take concrete steps to solve Egypt's pressing problems — poverty, unemployment and rising food prices. "Out, out, out!" protesters chanted in violent, chaotic scenes of battles with riot police and the army — which was sent onto the streets for the first time Friday during the crisis.

Protesters seized the streets of Cairo, battling police with stones and firebombs and burning down the ruling party headquarters. Many defied a 6 p.m. curfew and crowds remained on the streets long after midnight, where buildings and tires were still burning and there was widespread looting.

At least one protester was killed Friday, bringing the toll for the week to eight. Demonstrators were seen dragging bloodied, unconsciousness protesters to waiting cars and on to hospitals, but no official number of wounded was announced.

Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading pro-democracy advocate, was soaked with a water cannon and briefly trapped inside a mosque after joining the protests. He was later placed under house arrest.

In the capital, hundreds of young men carted away televisions, fans and stereo equipment looted from the National Democratic Party, near the Egyptian Museum, home of King Tutankhamun's treasures. Young men formed a human barricade in front of the museum to protect one of Egypt's most important tourist attractions.

Others around the city looted banks, smashed cars, tore down street signs and pelted armored riot police vehicles with paving stones torn from roadways. "We are the ones who will bring change," declared 21-year-old Ahmed Sharif. "If we do nothing, things will get worse. Change must come!" he screamed through a surgical mask he wore to ward off the tear gas.

Egypt's national airline halted flights for at least 12 hours and a Cairo Airport official said some international airlines had canceled flights to the capital, at least overnight. There were long lines at many supermarkets and employees limited bread sales to 10 rolls per person.

Options appeared to be dwindling for Mubarak, an 82-year-old former air force commander who until this week maintained what looked like rock-solid control of the most populous Arab nation and the cultural heart of the region.

The scenes of anarchy along the Nile played out on television and computer screens from Algiers to Riyadh, two weeks to the day after protesters in Tunisia drove out their autocratic president. Images of the protests in Tunisia emboldened Egyptians to take to the streets in demonstrations organized over mobile phone, Facebook and Twitter.

The government cut off the Internet and mobile-phone services, but that did not keep tens of thousands of protesters from all walks of life from joining in rallies after Friday prayers. The demonstrators were united in rage against a regime seen as corrupt, abusive and uncaring toward the nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people who live below the poverty line. "All these people want to bring down the government. That's our basic desire," said protester Wagdy Syed, 30. "They have no morals, no respect, and no good economic sense."

Egypt has been one of the United States' closest allies in the region since President Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel at Camp David in 1977.

Mubarak kept that deal after Sadat's assassination and has been a close partner of every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter, helping Washington on issues that range from suppressing Islamist violence to counterbalancing the rise of Iran's anti-American Shiite theocracy.

The Mubarak government boasts about economic achievements: rising GDP and a surging private sector led by a construction boom and vibrant, seemingly recession-proof banks. But many say the fruits of growth have been funneled almost entirely to a politically connected elite, leaving average Egyptians surrounded by unattainable symbols of wealth as they struggle to find jobs, pay daily bills and find affordable housing.

Friday's unrest began when tens of thousands poured into the streets after noon prayers, stoning and confronting police who fired back with rubber bullets and tear gas. Demonstrators wielding rocks, glass and sticks chased hundreds of riot police away from the main square in downtown Cairo and several of the policemen stripped off their uniforms and badges and joined the demonstrators.

The uprising united the economically struggling and the prosperous, the secular and the religious. But the country's most popular opposition group, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, had little overt presence on the streets despite a call for its members to turn out.

Young men in one downtown square clambered onto a statue of Talat Harb, a pioneering Egyptian economist, and unfurled a large green banner that proclaimed "The Middle Class" in white Arabic lettering. Women dressed in black veils and wide, flowing robes followed women with expensive hairdos, tight jeans and American sneakers. The crowd included Christian men with key rings with crosses swinging from their pockets and young men dressed in fast-food restaurant uniforms.

When a man sporting a long beard and a white robe began chanting an Islamist slogan, he was grabbed and shaken by another protester telling him to keep the slogans patriotic and not religious.

In downtown Cairo, people on balconies tossed cans of Pepsi and bottles of water to protesters on the streets below to douse their eyes, as well as onions and lemons to sniff, to cut the sting of the tear gas.

Junior lawmakers in the ruling party called in to national Egyptian TV calling on calm in the city.

Some of the most serious violence Friday was in Suez, where protesters seized weapons stored in a police station and asked the policemen inside to leave the building before they burned it down. They also set ablaze about 20 police trucks parked nearby. Demonstrators exchanged fire with policemen trying to stop them from storming another police station and one protester was killed in the gun battle.

In Assiut in southern Egypt, several thousand demonstrators clashed with police that set upon them with batons and sticks, chasing them through side streets.

Mubarak has not said yet whether he will stand for another six-year term as president in elections this year. He has never appointed a deputy and is thought to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him despite popular opposition. According to leaked U.S. memos, hereditary succession also does not meet with the approval of the powerful military.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/..._egypt_protest

[Jolie Rouge]

Obama tells Mubarak: Must take 'concrete steps'
Matthew Lee And Erica Werner, Associated Press – 1 hr 35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Stepping up pressure on a stalwart but flawed Middle East ally, President Barack Obama said he personally told Egypt's Hosni Mubarak Friday night to take "concrete steps" to expand rights inside the Arab nation and refrain from violence against protesters flooding the streets of Cairo and other cities. The White House suggested U.S. aid could be at stake. "Surely, there will be difficult days to come, but the United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful," Obama told reporters in the State Dining Room after speaking with the long-time leader from the White House.

The president made his comments on television shortly after he and Mubarak spoke. The half-hour phone call was initiated by the White House. The conversation between the two leaders followed closely on a middle-of-the-night TV speech in which Mubarak, in Cairo, announced he was sacking his government to form a new one that would accelerate reforms. At the same time, he said, violence by protesters would not be tolerated.

Obama's remarks capped a day in which his administration struggled to keep abreast of developments in Egypt, where Mubarak ordered police and then the military into the streets in response to the thousands of protesters. Before Obama spoke, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced the administration might cut the $1.5 billion in annual foreign aid sent to Egypt, depending on Mubarak's response to the demonstrations.

Obama also repeated demands by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for Egypt's government to restore access to the Internet and social media sites, cut by the authorities in an apparent attempt to limit the flow of information about the protests demanding an end to Mubarak's rule.

Obama noted the United States and Egypt have a close partnership, a reference to Mubarak's support over the years for peace with Israel. But he said, "We've also been clear that there must be reform, political, social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people."

"When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight, he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity. I just spoke to him after his speech, and I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words; to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise," Obama said. "Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people, and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away."

He added that the demonstrators had a responsibility "to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms they seek."

Obama's decision to speak about the crisis in Egypt underscored the enormous U.S. interest at stake — from Israel's security to the importance of the Suez Canal and the safety of thousands of Americans who live and work in Egypt. Gibbs said Obama had been briefed repeatedly during the day about the events unfolding half a world away.

The State Department issued a warning for Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Egypt.

Clinton said Mubarak should seize the moment to enact the long-called-for economic, political and social reforms that the protesters want. She said authorities must respect the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of speech, assembly and expression. "We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters, and we call on the Egyptian government to do everything in its power to restrain the security forces," Clinton said.

She sidestepped a question on whether the United States believed Mubarak was finished, but she said the U.S. wanted to work as a partner with the country's people and government to help realize reform in a peaceful manner. That underscored concerns that extremist elements might seek to take advantage of a political vacuum left by a sudden change in leadership.

Asked about U.S. aid to Egypt, Gibbs said the review would include both military and civilian assistance. Since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1978, the U.S. has plowed billions into the country to help it modernize its armed forces, and to strengthen regional security and stability. The U.S. has provided Egypt with F-16 jet fighters, as well as tanks, armored personnel carriers, Apache helicopters, anti-aircraft missile batteries, aerial surveillance aircraft and other equipment.

While the White House spokesman was emphatic in his calls for Mubarak and his government to abandon violence, he was less forceful on other issues. Asked about Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition figure who has been placed under house arrest, he said, "This is an individual who is a Nobel laureate" and has worked with Obama. "These are the type of actions that the government has a responsibility to change."

Like Clinton, Gibbs would not address Mubarak's future directly but said "we are watching a situation that obviously changes day to day and we will continue to watch and make preparations for a whole host of scenarios." He also suggested contingency plans had been made for the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, should that become necessary.

Mubarak has long faced calls from U.S. presidents to loosen his grip on the country he has ruled for more than three decades since he replaced the assassinated President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was Sadat's vice president and was slightly wounded in the attack in which Sadat died.

Mubarak has seen past U.S.-backed reforms in the region as a threat, wrote Ambassador Margaret Scobey in a May 19, 2009, memo to State Department officials in Washington. "We have heard him lament the results of earlier U.S. efforts to encourage reform in the Islamic world. He can harken back to the Shah of Iran: the U.S. encouraged him to accept reforms, only to watch the country fall into the hands of revolutionary religious extremists," Scobey wrote in the memo, among those released recently by WikiLeaks. "Wherever he has seen these U.S. efforts, he can point to the chaos and loss of stability that ensued."

Senior lawmakers expressed growing unease with the developments, which could affect their deliberations on future assistance to Egypt.

Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Egypt's leaders must step back from the brink as Mubarak called in the military to help quell the protests that continued into the night, spreading in defiance of a curfew and attempts by police and security forces to break them up. "In the final analysis, it is not with rubber bullets and water cannons that order will be restored," Kerry said. "President Mubarak has the opportunity to quell the unrest by guaranteeing that a free and open democratic process will be in place when the time comes to choose the country's next leader later this year."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the protests were a sign that the Egyptian people's "cries for freedom can no longer be silenced." She said she was troubled by the "heavy-handed" government response. "I am further concerned that certain extremist elements inside Egypt will manipulate the current situation for nefarious ends," she said.

Mubarak replaced the assassinated President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was Sadat's vice president and was slightly wounded in the attack in which Sadat died.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/...us/us_us_egypt


comments

"Stepping up pressure on a stalwart but flawed Middle East ally..."

I love how the AP starts making excuses for Obama's weakness in the first sentence of every Obama story. Stalwart but flawed...like they're talking about some great, loyal friend who occasionally cheats at cards.

---

Mubarak, like the Shah of Iran of long ago, is a pathetic US/Israeli/Globalist puppet. Obama, the Great Wimp, is trying to sound like John Wayne: "You get your act together or else...!" You can pretty much count on "or else" in this uproar, meaning Mubarak is going to go down in one fashion or another. His wife, son and much of his extended family have already been reported as "fled from the country." This usually doesn't happen unless you've been told in advance that your goose is cooked. --- Globalists need more wars and conflicts to keep their profit machines running. They need to be stopped. And Obama needs to keep his trap shut.

----

He is silent when Iran oppresses their citizens for wanting democracy but he trash talks an ally. What an idiot.

[Jolie Rouge]

Obama tells Mubarak: Must take 'concrete steps'
Matthew Lee And Erica Werner, Associated Press – 1 hr 35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Stepping up pressure on a stalwart but flawed Middle East ally, President Barack Obama said he personally told Egypt's Hosni Mubarak Friday night to take "concrete steps" to expand rights inside the Arab nation and refrain from violence against protesters flooding the streets of Cairo and other cities. The White House suggested U.S. aid could be at stake. "Surely, there will be difficult days to come, but the United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful," Obama told reporters in the State Dining Room after speaking with the long-time leader from the White House.

The president made his comments on television shortly after he and Mubarak spoke. The half-hour phone call was initiated by the White House. The conversation between the two leaders followed closely on a middle-of-the-night TV speech in which Mubarak, in Cairo, announced he was sacking his government to form a new one that would accelerate reforms. At the same time, he said, violence by protesters would not be tolerated.

Obama's remarks capped a day in which his administration struggled to keep abreast of developments in Egypt, where Mubarak ordered police and then the military into the streets in response to the thousands of protesters. Before Obama spoke, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced the administration might cut the $1.5 billion in annual foreign aid sent to Egypt, depending on Mubarak's response to the demonstrations.

Obama also repeated demands by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for Egypt's government to restore access to the Internet and social media sites, cut by the authorities in an apparent attempt to limit the flow of information about the protests demanding an end to Mubarak's rule.

Obama noted the United States and Egypt have a close partnership, a reference to Mubarak's support over the years for peace with Israel. But he said, "We've also been clear that there must be reform, political, social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people."

"When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight, he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity. I just spoke to him after his speech, and I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words; to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise," Obama said. "Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people, and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away."

He added that the demonstrators had a responsibility "to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms they seek."

Obama's decision to speak about the crisis in Egypt underscored the enormous U.S. interest at stake — from Israel's security to the importance of the Suez Canal and the safety of thousands of Americans who live and work in Egypt. Gibbs said Obama had been briefed repeatedly during the day about the events unfolding half a world away.

The State Department issued a warning for Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Egypt.

Clinton said Mubarak should seize the moment to enact the long-called-for economic, political and social reforms that the protesters want. She said authorities must respect the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of speech, assembly and expression. "We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters, and we call on the Egyptian government to do everything in its power to restrain the security forces," Clinton said.

She sidestepped a question on whether the United States believed Mubarak was finished, but she said the U.S. wanted to work as a partner with the country's people and government to help realize reform in a peaceful manner. That underscored concerns that extremist elements might seek to take advantage of a political vacuum left by a sudden change in leadership.

Asked about U.S. aid to Egypt, Gibbs said the review would include both military and civilian assistance. Since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1978, the U.S. has plowed billions into the country to help it modernize its armed forces, and to strengthen regional security and stability. The U.S. has provided Egypt with F-16 jet fighters, as well as tanks, armored personnel carriers, Apache helicopters, anti-aircraft missile batteries, aerial surveillance aircraft and other equipment.

While the White House spokesman was emphatic in his calls for Mubarak and his government to abandon violence, he was less forceful on other issues. Asked about Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition figure who has been placed under house arrest, he said, "This is an individual who is a Nobel laureate" and has worked with Obama. "These are the type of actions that the government has a responsibility to change."

Like Clinton, Gibbs would not address Mubarak's future directly but said "we are watching a situation that obviously changes day to day and we will continue to watch and make preparations for a whole host of scenarios." He also suggested contingency plans had been made for the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, should that become necessary.

Mubarak has long faced calls from U.S. presidents to loosen his grip on the country he has ruled for more than three decades since he replaced the assassinated President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was Sadat's vice president and was slightly wounded in the attack in which Sadat died.

Mubarak has seen past U.S.-backed reforms in the region as a threat, wrote Ambassador Margaret Scobey in a May 19, 2009, memo to State Department officials in Washington. "We have heard him lament the results of earlier U.S. efforts to encourage reform in the Islamic world. He can harken back to the Shah of Iran: the U.S. encouraged him to accept reforms, only to watch the country fall into the hands of revolutionary religious extremists," Scobey wrote in the memo, among those released recently by WikiLeaks. "Wherever he has seen these U.S. efforts, he can point to the chaos and loss of stability that ensued."

Senior lawmakers expressed growing unease with the developments, which could affect their deliberations on future assistance to Egypt.

Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Egypt's leaders must step back from the brink as Mubarak called in the military to help quell the protests that continued into the night, spreading in defiance of a curfew and attempts by police and security forces to break them up. "In the final analysis, it is not with rubber bullets and water cannons that order will be restored," Kerry said. "President Mubarak has the opportunity to quell the unrest by guaranteeing that a free and open democratic process will be in place when the time comes to choose the country's next leader later this year."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the protests were a sign that the Egyptian people's "cries for freedom can no longer be silenced." She said she was troubled by the "heavy-handed" government response. "I am further concerned that certain extremist elements inside Egypt will manipulate the current situation for nefarious ends," she said.

Mubarak replaced the assassinated President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was Sadat's vice president and was slightly wounded in the attack in which Sadat died.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/...us/us_us_egypt


comments

"Stepping up pressure on a stalwart but flawed Middle East ally..."

I love how the AP starts making excuses for Obama's weakness in the first sentence of every Obama story. Stalwart but flawed...like they're talking about some great, loyal friend who occasionally cheats at cards.

---

Mubarak, like the Shah of Iran of long ago, is a pathetic US/Israeli/Globalist puppet. Obama, the Great Wimp, is trying to sound like John Wayne: "You get your act together or else...!" You can pretty much count on "or else" in this uproar, meaning Mubarak is going to go down in one fashion or another. His wife, son and much of his extended family have already been reported as "fled from the country." This usually doesn't happen unless you've been told in advance that your goose is cooked. --- Globalists need more wars and conflicts to keep their profit machines running. They need to be stopped. And Obama needs to keep his trap shut.

----

What an idiot. He is silent when Iran oppresses their citizens for wanting democracy but he trash talks an ally. What an idiot. Where is Palin when you need her. A community organizer versus a governor. Biggest scam sold to American ever. Thanks "Thrill Up My Leg" Matthews and the Loser Olbermann.

[jasmine]

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/10/la..._lnk3%7C200634
Mubarak Isn't Stepping Down, and Protesters Are Furious

CAIRO -- President Hosni Mubarak announced tonight that he would transfer some powers to his vice president but gave no indication that he would resign. His televised speech shocked the tens of thousands of Egyptians packed into Cairo's main square as well as viewers around the world, who had widely expected him to step down.

Angry roars of "Get out! Get out!" arose from the crowds jammed into Tahrir Square as they realized Mubarak had no intention of relinquishing power anytime soon.

"The speech is a game, it's all a game!" said Gihad Ahmed, a medical student in the crowd.

"He didn't hear his people," she told AOL News. "It's best for all of us if he leaves. This is our final order."

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Mubarak's move would be the last straw for angry protesters.

"Egypt will explode," he warned in a feed from his Twitter account.

He called on the military to intervene.

"The Army must save the country now," ElBaradei tweeted. "I call on the Egyptian army to immediately interfere to rescue Egypt. The credibility of the army is on the line."

Around 2,000 protesters marched to the heavily guarded presidential palace following the address, CNN reported.

In his televised speech, Mubarak said he would stick by his earlier pledge not to run for re-election in September but indicated he would not leave before then.

"I express a commitment to carry on and protect the constitution and the people and transfer power to whomever is elected next September in free and transparent elections," he said, according to a BBC translation of the Arabic speech.

The 82-year-old president said the demands of the protesters were legitimate and just, and that those who had instigated violence against demonstrators would be punished. He said he had asked for certain changes in the constitution to meet demonstrators' demands.

He also stressed that Egypt would not give in to "foreign dictates," in an apparent attempt to suggest that the unrest that has rocked Egypt since Jan. 25 was stirred up by outsiders.

President Barack Obama said Mubarak's speech had left too many questions unanswered.

"The Egyptian people have been told there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or significant," he said in a statement.

"Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world. The Egyptian people must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity," Obama said.


Earlier, government officials and the military said Mubarak appeared to be on the verge of resigning after nearly 30 years in power, as mass demonstrations and labor strikes spread across Egypt.

Photos From Egypt


Getty Images
500 photos

[Jolie Rouge]

Mubarak’s departure: What it means, what’s next
Fri Feb 11, 4:51 pm ET
By Steve Clemons

Pro-democracy protesters celebrated in cities across Egypt on Friday after forcing President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Mubarak, who had announced Thursday night in a televised speech that he would keep his title and give some of his authority to Vice President Omar Suleiman, suddenly handed over power to the military and left Cairo.

Mubarak's resignation, which ends three decades of authoritarian rule, raises numerous questions about what led to his decision, what happens next and what the transition means. Here are some answers.

What does the change in Egypt mean for the United States?

Mubarak's resignation and the uncertainty facing Egypt are serious issues for American foreign policy. Mubarak's Egypt was a longstanding American ally that cooperated with the United States on a long list of issues, ranging from combating terrorism to assisting U.S. military operations in the Middle East to helping secure shipping lanes to facilitating Arab-Israeli negotiations. The tectonic shift going on in Egypt, and in the broader Middle East, may have dramatic effects on the future price of oil, the extent of American regional influence, Israeli security, and a host of other key questions. With Egypt in a state of transition, the United States might see some of its interests suffer and some remain secure. Whatever ultimately happens in Egypt, the process has only just begun. The fate of America's regional influence and its diplomatic, economic and military ties to the Middle East is a part of that process.

Who is in charge of Egypt now?

Around 11 a.m. EST, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president for almost 30 years, resigned. In a 30-second statement, his vice president, Omar Suleiman, announced that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces would manage the state's affairs. The military now appears to be fully in control of the country. Suleiman, Mubarak's ally, is still part of the governing body but with potentially diminished influence. It is a fluid situation, and how power ultimately will shake out is unclear. The Supreme Council is made up of the heads of the different branches of the military as well as the Minister of Defense and the General Chief of Staff. Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi chaired the most recent meeting of the Council in Mubarak's absence.

What happens next? How will the transition work?

What is clear is that a process will begin in which the opposition parties will be involved, though how it will work has not been defined. Much depends on how the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will structure the tasks ahead. The military already has said it will not accept the legitimacy of the state, meaning it has no intention of maintaining power for the long term. The Army probably will now step back to establish a playbook by which the nation moves to both change laws in the Constitution that have hindered democracy—and set up a process by which new political groups get a role in determining collectively how a fair election needs to be structured.

Where is Mubarak now, and where is he likely to go?

Earlier this morning President Mubarak's presidential plane reportedly left for and landed in Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort city in the south of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. There are some rumors at the moment that he has left the country, but that has not been confirmed. If he has not yet left, it is very possible that he will try to leave Egypt for a safe haven in one of the Gulf States, Europe, or perhaps in the United States, but any nation that accepts Mubarak will have to deal with the anger of the Egyptian public. Mubarak also might have to worry about legal challenges and extradition.

What happened between Mubarak's speech last night and his decision to resign today?

Totalitarian regimes don't fall very neatly and predictably. There were 18 days of pressure that finally produced a resignation, but there was no certainty that Mubarak would in the end give in. Mubarak's ability to stand against the headwinds facing him was impressive on one level. The military most likely had some divisions between those who believed Mubarak should go and those who remained loyal or fearful. This might have been a "soft coup" in which Mubarak was forced by the military to announce the suspension of his presidency. It is important that we did not hear Mubarak resign; we heard Suleiman announce the words that Mubarak refused to utter.

Did the White House play a role in Mubarak's decision to step down?

Yes, the White House mattered but certainly did not play the decisive role. The Egyptian public catalyzed the events that brought Mubarak down. The White House defined the core principles that it most cared about—no violence, respecting the right of people to assemble and protest, and calling for meaningful, inclusive transition—and these became the frame for many other key nations and commentators. This principle-driven pressure from the United States made a difference but was not what mattered most.

What will the relationship be between the United States and the interim government and the civilian opposition leaders now?

This is unclear. The military continues to have robust communication with the Pentagon, and the White House and State Department are in increasing communication with representatives of opposition leaders. The future course of this communication is unclear — but United States can be expected to reach out at the appropriate time to a broad array of leaders in Egypt who themselves are committed to democratic principles. The United States will not, however, attempt to select political winners or losers. This would backfire and undermine America's ability to have a healthy relationship based on mutual interests with Egypt's next government.

What will the repercussions be across the Middle East?

Egypt is a major anchor in the Arab world, in the Islamic world, and a key nation of Africa. The effects of this earthquake may be substantial but also hard to predict. The governments in the region that may be most vulnerable immediately might be Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen, but the political and government dynamics in those countries are not the same as that in Egypt. The dynamic we have seen unfold in the Middle East probably is not done unfolding.

Will the protesters leave Tahrir Square?

Tahrir Square probably will remain a heavily populated site for weeks to come, not because of protesters but because of celebrations that the people there on that site changed their history peacefully and powerfully. Some also might remain in Tahrir Square so that the interests of the public remain visible to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Steve Clemons is founder and senior fellow of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. He is part of a group of foreign policy experts that the White House has consulted with concerning the situation in Egypt. He also is publisher of The Washington Note.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclus...ans-whats-next

[Jolie Rouge]

Fri Feb 11, 2:39 pm ET
Social media plays role in Egypt some expected in Iran



As Egyptians celebrated in the streets of Cairo Friday, CNN's Wolf Blitzer posed a question to activist Wael Ghonim: "First Tunisia, now Egypt, what's next? "

Ghonim, a 30-year-old Google executive who became a symbol of the country's democratic uprising against Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime, replied with two words: "Ask Facebook."

"I want to meet [Facebook founder] Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him, actually," Ghonim said.

Dictators are toppled by people, not by media platforms. But Egyptian activists, especially the young, clearly harnessed the power and potential of social media, leading to the mass mobilizations in Tahrir Square and throughout Egypt. The Mubarak regime recognized early on that social media could loosen its grip on power. The government began disrupting Facebook and Twitter as protesters hit the streets on Jan. 25 before shutting down the Internet two days later.

In addition to organizing, Egyptian activists used Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to share information and videos. Many of these digital offerings made the rounds online but were later amplified by Al Jazeera and news outlets around the world. "This revolution started online," Ghonim told Blitzer. "This revolution started on Facebook."

Egypt's uprising followed on the heels of Tunisia's. In each case, protestors employed social media to help oust an authoritarian government--a role some Western commentators expected Twitter to play in Iran during the election protests of 2009.

But there was no revolution in Iran, as President Ahmadinejad cracked down brutally on protesters. While "Twitter Revolution" might have made for snappy headlines, social media alone wasn't enought to topple a strongman. For a social media to work, it still needed a deliberate mobilization of activists on the ground.

So the "Twitter Revolution" talk proved premature and led to some backlash.

Evgeny Morozov writes in his new book, "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom," that only a small minority of Iranians were actually Twitter users. Presumably, many tweeting about revolution were doing so far from the streets of Tehran.

"Iran's Twitter Revolution revealed the intense Western longing for a world where information technology is the liberator rather than the oppressor," Morozov wrote, according to a recent Slate review. In his book, Morozov writes how authoritarian regimes can use the Internet and social media to oppress people rather than such platforms only working the other way around

The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell, in a much-talked-about piece in October, wrote how the "revolution will not be tweeted."

It's true that tweeting alone--especially from safe environs in the West--will not cause a revolution in the Middle East. But as Egypt and Tunisia have proven, social media tools can play a significant role as as activists battle authoritarian regimes, particularly given the tight control dictators typically wield over the official media. Tomorrow's revolution, as Ghonim would likely attest, may be taking shape on Facebook today.

(Photo of Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt on Feb. 11, 2011: AP/Tara Todras-Whitehill. Photo taken by NBC correspondent Richard Engel and uploaded via Twitter)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecut...9jaWFsbWVkaWFz

[PopCulture]

The power of Facebook. Unbelievable.

[Jolie Rouge]

Monday, February 14, 2011
Obama the Clueless

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/20...-clueless.html

It’s refreshing (and astonishing) to see Newsweek and MSNBC allow stinging criticism of President Obama’s feckless performance during the recent Egyptian crisis and point out his general failure to form any coherent foreign policy. A year or two ago both MSM outlets were virtual in-house organs for the Democratic Party and the Obama administration, but times seem to have changed.

The historian Niall Ferguson was featured first in Newsweek, and then on Joe Scarborough’s program on MSNBC. Below are some excerpts from the magazine article:

Wanted: A Grand Strategy for America

“The statesman can only wait and listen until he hears the footsteps of God resounding through events; then he must jump up and grasp the hem of His coat, that is all.” Thus Otto von Bismarck, the great Prussian statesman who united Germany and thereby reshaped Europe’s balance of power nearly a century and a half ago.

Last week, for the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama heard those footsteps, jumped up to grasp a historic opportunity ... and missed it completely.

In Bismarck’s case it was not so much God’s coattails he caught as the revolutionary wave of mid-19th-century German nationalism. And he did more than catch it; he managed to surf it in a direction of his own choosing. The wave Obama just missed — again — is the revolutionary wave of Middle Eastern democracy. It has surged through the region twice since he was elected: once in Iran in the summer of 2009, the second time right across North Africa, from Tunisia all the way down the Red Sea to Yemen. But the swell has been biggest in Egypt, the Middle East’s most populous country.

In each case, the president faced stark alternatives. He could try to catch the wave, Bismarck style, by lending his support to the youthful revolutionaries and trying to ride it in a direction advantageous to American interests. Or he could do nothing and let the forces of reaction prevail. In the case of Iran, he did nothing, and the thugs of the Islamic Republic ruthlessly crushed the demonstrations. This time around, in Egypt, it was worse. He did both — some days exhorting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave, other days drawing back and recommending an “orderly transition.”

The result has been a foreign-policy debacle. The president has alienated everybody: not only Mubarak’s cronies in the military, but also the youthful crowds in the streets of Cairo. Whoever ultimately wins, Obama loses. And the alienation doesn’t end there. America’s two closest friends in the region — Israel and Saudi Arabia — are both disgusted. The Saudis, who dread all manifestations of revolution, are appalled at Washington’s failure to resolutely prop up Mubarak. The Israelis, meanwhile, are dismayed by the administration’s apparent cluelessness.

[…]

This failure was not the result of bad luck. It was the predictable consequence of the Obama administration’s lack of any kind of coherent grand strategy, a deficit about which more than a few veterans of U.S. foreign policy making have long worried. The president himself is not wholly to blame. Although cosmopolitan by both birth and upbringing, Obama was an unusually parochial politician prior to his election, judging by his scant public pronouncements on foreign-policy issues.

There’s much more in the full article, which is recommended reading. http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/13/w...r-america.html

On Niall Ferguson’s appearance on MSNBC:

This is refreshing analysis, especially by MSM standards. It’s a pity the public discussion about the Muslim Brotherhood couldn’t have started long ago, before the first hint of trouble in North Africa.

One suspects that certain members of the Obama administration are all too aware of the nature and intentions of the Ikhwan, both in Egypt and the United States. Their function, however, is to make sure that the rest of the government — and the country — remain in the dark.


---

Obama's foreign policy only lacks coherence if someone is expecting it to uphold the interests of American national security. If viewed from within the context of Obama being a de facto socialist, everything crystallizes into perfect focus.

Never before in all of our nation's history has the United States elected a chief executive officer that so virulently hates this country.

The president has alienated everybody: not only Mubarak’s cronies in the military, but also the youthful crowds in the streets of Cairo.

This is, perhaps, Obama's greatest failing with respect to Egypt. The youth of that country is one of the only hopes for any introduction of "Western" values. While some of them are radicalized, many others are most likely infected with notions of real Democracy, elected representation and, maybe even, constitutional law.

A far more grim possibility is that Obama actually wishes for a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Egypt and, therefore, pulled the plug on any support for more youthful factions.

Instead, due to this apparently calculated inaction, the most probable beneficiaries are the Muslim Brotherhood and their efforts to install a Shari'a-based government every bit as repressive as Iran's and equally corrupt.

Although cosmopolitan by both birth and upbringing, Obama was an unusually parochial politician prior to his election, judging by his scant public pronouncements on foreign-policy issues.

An alternative explanation is that Obama knew damn well that his own personal leanings with respect to American foreign policy would be deemed unacceptable by a large portion of the voting public and, wisely or unwisely, kept his trap shut. This notion is supported by Obama's consistent silence in the face of listening to DECADES of Jeremiah Wright's torrid anti-American sermons.

One suspects that certain members of the Obama administration are all too aware of the nature and intentions of the Ikhwan, both in Egypt and the United States. Their function, however, is to make sure that the rest of the government — and the country — remain in the dark.

[Jolie Rouge]

America's talks with the Muslim Brotherhood: A mistake?
The Week – Fri, Jul 1, 2011

The Obama administration will engage with Egypt's influential Islamic group. Will that help keep the movement in check, or seal its rise to power?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. will begin engaging in "limited contacts" with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement that was outlawed under Hosni Mubarak, but has emerged as a powerful political force since his downfall. Clinton said the U.S. would press Muslim Brotherhood leaders on the importance of non-violence and respect for minority and women's rights. Critics of the Obama administration say the move will only increase the power of religious extremists. Will opening ties with the Muslim Brotherhood do more harm than good?

We are legitimizing the enemy: The Obama administration is making a terrible mistake, says Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary. It's sending Egypt and the world the message that we have "no problem with the Brotherhood’s bid for more influence," even though it's a "militant anti-Western group" that wants to destroy our ally, Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood isn't trying to participate in the Arab Spring, but exploit it to install Islamist rule in the world's most populous Arab nation.

"U.S. recognizes Muslim Brotherhood. Will Hamas be next?"

Simply talking does not imply an endorsement: Look, the Muslim Brotherhood is better organized than Egypt's other political parties, says Arab politics expert David Schenker, as quoted by Voice of America. So like it or not, it's poised to grab substantial power in any election. We should make it clear that "our discussions with the Brotherhood in no way suggest our endorsement," but pretending these guys don't exist will leave us sitting on the sidelines with little influence in the new Egypt.

"US to have 'limited' contacts with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood"

We can't ignore them, but engagement is risky: "Certainly, the Muslim Brotherhood is a player in Egyptian politics," says Michael Rubin at The American. But the U.S. should recognize that although the group says it has renounced violence, its members still advocate violence against Jews and Christians. We should be doing everything in our power to limit the influence of people with such hateful views. To do that, we should be actively engaging "liberal reformers and democratic dissidents," not the Muslim Brotherhood.

http://news.yahoo.com/americas-talks...114000032.html

[Jolie Rouge]

August 14, 2012
Fiasco: Islamists purge Egyptian Army
By James Lewis

Don't expect our navel-gazing media to take much notice, but our national security has just hit an Arctic iceberg, scraping long rows of steel rivets from our luxury ocean liner, and leaving a long, gaping gash in our bottom. Thousands of tons of icy seawater are pouring into the ship while you are reading these words, but Washington is too transfixed by the election to take notice. Until Election Day 2012, Obama's dance band will just keep playing happy tunes on our crazily tilting deck.

Still, the rest of us had better turn our attention to Egypt, where radical Islamists have just conducted a massive Blitzkrieg against the Egyptian Army, police, intelligence apparatus, and now the media.

Those Muslim fascists were put into power a few weeks ago, with the direct aid and support of the Obama administration and Hillary's State Department. Obama told us that the new dictator of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, was a fine human being, and besides that, the Egyptian Army would keep most of the power anyway. So who cares that the Muslim Brotherhood always wants to wipe out Israel and America?

Reminder: Egypt has been the Arab pillar of peace in the Middle East for the last 30 years, after the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. For making peace with Israel, Sadat was quickly assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood, but his successor Hosni Mubarak kept the peace for three decades -- until Barack Hussein Obama ordered him in the most humiliating way to resign, in public, telling him that "Now means now!" Mubarak resigned and was put on trial on national television in his hospital bed behind iron jail bars, to rub in the humiliation even more.

Obama's call for Mubarak's downfall started the phony-baloney "Arab Spring," which has now killed tens of thousands of Arabs from Libya to Syria, as radical Islamists are driving out the moderates all over the Arab world. The "Spring" has killed maybe 50,000 people so far. Some Spring. As al-Qaeda just boasted, "[t]hat 'Arab Spring' will become an 'American Winter.'" They are right.

This is Alinsky-style community organizing for the whole Middle East. It is what Obama delicately calls an "organic" revolution. Islamist warmongers have now taken over Egypt.

And if you've forgotten, the equally fanatical Iranian warmongers are now building nuclear warheads for their high-tech missiles. Egypt will have its own nukes as soon as the Saudis buy them from Pakistan. The Saudis are run by their own Sunni radicals, and between Qatar and Saudi, the Gulf States practically own Egypt today. Don't ask about women's right or human rights, because in the Middle East they are back in the 7th century.
If you don't think Islamic fascists are warmongers, you've forgotten Iran's daily chants in all the schools and public rallies: Death to Israel! Death to America!

That means us, friends. Plus anybody who doesn't surrender. Islam means "surrender." (Not peace.)

Liberals keep telling us that those daily death chants all over Iran are really hard to interpret, but indoctrinated Muslims seem to understand it well enough. Iran's last war killed a million people, and the ayatollah said it practically killed him to stop it.

Obama's Middle East policy is now headed straight for the bottom. As we know, the One never admits a mistake, and he will certainly deny this historic fiasco, too. The media have already started a CYA publicity campaign.

What Titanic?

What iceberg?

What unemployment?

What recession?

What Muslim revenge?

George W. Bush did it.

Why, that Romney-Ryan ticket is full of capitalist racist tax-cheating criminals out to kill women, the middle class, the elderly, your health care, and LGBTs. And Rep. Allen West beats up on white women.

As George Will put it, our government is now ruled by "unhinged smarminess."

But you knew that already.

So back to reality.

Notice that Obama is following in the footsteps of Jimmy "Crazy Legs" Carter, who brought in the first Islamist reactionary regime in Iran, after shafting our close ally, the modernizing shah of Iran. The Carter administration lied about the radicalism of Ayatollah Khomeini -- or it lied to itself, which is worse -- and when Khomeini took power, he killed off the opposition, including the shah's army, police, and intelligence services, except for the ones who surrendered.

We've just seen the identical farce play out in Egypt, thanks to Obama.

Oh, and ten years ago it played out, step by step, in Turkey, which is now ruled by a party that celebrates "neo-Ottomanism."

The people of Greece, the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa remember the old style of Ottomanism very well, and they are not too happy about the "neo" brand. That includes the Russians.

NATO surrendered Turkey to neo-Ottomanism, just as Jimmy Carter surrendered Iran to Khomeini-style radicalism, just as Hillary and Barack just surrendered Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Charles Krauthammer just wrote that we are seeing an Islamic ascendancy, but that's a mild way of putting it. What we are seeing today, over and over again, is Islamofascist appeasement in Europe, the United States, North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria), and in Afghanistan, where Obama is negotiating a humiliating defeat to the Taliban.

Nobody seems to remember that those same Taliban gave Osama bin Laden a safe haven to plot and implement the 9/11/01 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Bill Clinton knew all that after the 1993 truck bombing of the Twin Towers by the Blind Sheikh, but he just kicked the can down the road to George W. Bush.

George Bush is still being burned in effigy for trying to fix what the Democrats sabotaged during the Clinton years.

It was Karl Marx who said that history always repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. But he forgot about all the other times, when history repeats itself as profound ignorance, unconquerable arrogance, deliberate sabotage, and dismal stupidity.

Those times are beyond farce. They are not funny anymore.

Today's fiasco in Egypt will surely come back to haunt us, just as the 9/11 assault saw those chickens coming back to roost. But Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright twisted one little fact: it's not the exercise of American power that comes back to haunt us, but our liberals' cowardice and preemptive surrender.

Don't forget.

The liberal media will do everything in its power to make you forgetful and confused. They are already working on it.

Don't forget.

You owe it to your country and to the future.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/...#ixzz23XJo5VvT