By Jerry Mazza
According to information gathered by the UK Telegraph in an article last Friday, Egypt protests: America�s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising, �The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning �regime change� for the past three years.�
The source of the information was a series of disclosures previously in secret US diplomatic dispatches released by WikiLeaks that American officials pressed the Egyptian government to let go of other dissidents whom the police had detained. They told of the American Embassy in Cairo helping a young dissident attend a summit for activists in New York, sponsored by the US.
Returning to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told the US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011. Read the secret document in full. It mentions that the activist had already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by the Daily Telegraph.
The Egyptian crisis follows the toppling of Tunisian President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled from the country after widespread protests for him to leave office.
Previous US diplomatic disclosures released by WikiLeaks also show that American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by police.
The US also asked for the freedom of Mohammed ElBaradei, the pro-reform Nobel Peace Prize winner and former IAEA Director General, who had been placed under house arrest after his return to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots took place in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across Egypt, a country of 80 million. ElBaradei is seen by many as the US choice to lead the National Front for Change. His distance from Egypt and its scandals is a positive to some, but his lack of being on the ground enough is a negative to others.
But Ayman Nour of the Kifaya party proved that the government could be challenged in the 2005 election and is a front-runner. Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian-American scientist, and winner of the 1999 Nobel Chemistry Prize, is another potential candidate, as is Arab League Secretary General Amr Monnsa, according to World Today�s Monarchs of the Nile. Interestingly, Mubarak�s son Gamal waved off any desire to get involved in his father�s business or politics.
Yet, Paul Joseph Watson writing in Prison Planet typified ElBaradei as a Global Stooge, preparing to hijack the Egyptian Revolution. Watson pointed out that ElBaradei is a board member of the International Crisis Group, �a shadowy NGO (non-governmental organization) that enjoys an annual budget of over $15 million and is bankrolled by the likes of Carnegie, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros� Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization�s Executive Committee.� He also points out that Zbigniew Brzezinski has touted ElBaradei.
On the other hand, ElBaradei exhibited a certain amount of courage and independence by comparing the Muslim Brotherhood with the Orthodox Jews, calling them potentially politically religious extremists, saying he would negotiate a form of government of national unity, presumably avoiding extremism and staying with the centrists among the protestors and their wish for a new and more independent point of view.
But the nasty secret behind it all comes from no less than USA Today�s Israel says ties with Egypt must be preserved. Benjamin Netanyahu recently told his cabinet, �Israel and Egypt have been at peace for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these ties be preserved.� He added, �At this time, we must display responsibility, restraint and utmost prudence.� Why?
The truth is �Israel signed a historic peace agreement with Anwar Sadat.� The secret is that Mubarak, who took power after Sadat was assassinated in 1981, has honored the peace agreement, making Egypt an important source of stability, and selling out his fellow Arab regimes, most notably Palestinians, in the meantime. Ties have been cool but stable, allowing Israel to significantly scale back its armed forces.� This also brought with it $1.5 billion in military aid from the US to Egypt, second only to what Israel receives, $3 billion plus for military aid. Additionally, some 500 of Egypt�s highest-ranking officers are trained in the US each year.
So Israelis are looking closely at the unrest, concerned that a new regime could discard the peace agreement and take up conflict with Israel again. Before the peace agreement, the countries fought four wars in three decades . . .
While relations have often been calm, Mubarak was still their face to the Arab world, often mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. Mubarak also has cooperated with Israel in reigning in the militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip, the volatile coastal strip that borders both Israel and Egypt.
Israeli officials, speaking on conditions of anonymity, were quite concerned about Mubarak�s shaky grip on power. Some feared the violence could spread to Israel�s neighboring Jordan, the one other Arab country with a peace deal with Israel, or to the Palestinian territories.
Read more:
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6885.shtml
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