[PAA-Discuss] FW: [ufpj-activist] mubarak defiant --Phyllis Bennis

[Lee Loe]

Great thinker who knows the ME and US! Lee/Mom/Cuz

  _____  

From: ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org at lists.mayfirst.org
[mailto:ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org at lists.mayfirst.org] On Behalf
Of Phyllis Bennis
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 4:19 PM
To: UfPJ Afghanistan working group; UFPJInternational;
ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org; UFPJLegislative action group
Subject: [ufpj-activist] mubarak defiant


MUBARAK DEFIANT

 

After deliberately raising the hopes of millions of Egyptians and millions
more around the world, U.S.-backed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak defied
the rising demand of the hundreds of thousands, the millions of protesters
who have taken to Egypt’s streets, to announce he will remain in office.
Claiming he would not bow to “foreign pressure,” Mubarak, he said he had
“laid down a vision
.toexit the current crisis, and to realize the demands
voiced by the youth and citizens
.without violating the Constitution.”

 

With those words, he took up the mantle of protecting Egypt’s Constitution,
an approach championed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from last
weekend. Clinton had urged that Egypt’s political transition go slow
because, she said, if Mubarak stepped down the Constitution required
elections within 60 days – to early for free and fair elections.  What she
ignored was the popular demand of the Egyptian opposition to scrap the
current constitution, widely understood to be designed to keep the ruling
party in power. Mubarak did describe a range of organizational and political
processes he said would lead to amending the constitution, even listing
specific articles that should be changed, but the constitutional committee
he announced a few days ago is made up of Mubarak loyalists and is broadly
distrusted.

 

Mubarak claimed he is “totally committed to fulfilling all the promises” he
made earlier, but those promises, including a pledge he would not run again
in September elections, are based on the assumption that he remains in power
at least until then. He did refer to delegating some authority to his
newly-appointed Vice-President Omar Suleiman, long known for his links with
the CIA in coordinating Egypt’s interrogation-and-torture role in
Washington’s extraordinary rendition program, but did not give up the power
of the presidency.

 

The celebratory crowds in Tahrir Square – which had grown to monumental size
over the last six or eight hours as people gathered in anticipation of a
very different speech – as well as those in Alexandria and elsewhere across
Egypt, reacted with fury.  There is little question that the rumors, which
reached fever-pitch by the time Mubarak addressed the nation around 11:00
p.m. Egypt time, also stoked the anger when the hated president made clear,
despite claiming his belief that the protesters’ demands were legitimate,
that he would not leave Egyptian soil until he was “buried under it.”

 

The question now is what happens next. There is little doubt the protesters
of Tahrir Square, those outside the Parliament building, the Canal workers
in Suez, and the wide range of Egyptians who have joined the protests in the
last few days, will continue their opposition. It is not clear what role the
military will play.  Earlier reports indicated that the top military command
was meeting without Mubarak – a sign, it was thought, that the military was
recognizing Mubarak was no longer in command. Their communiqué spoke of
supporting “the legitimate demands of the people,” as they have said before,
and was one of the factors that sent tens of thousands of more people to
Tahrir Square and its counterpart venues in Alexandria and elsewhere.  But
that was all before.  The rumors proved false – the claims from military
commanders that “everything you want will be realized,” claims from leaders
of Mubarak’s party that he would hand over power to the vice-president, word
from the prime minister that Mubarak might step down, all proved false. 

 

In the U.S., CIA director Leon Panetta in a public hearing this morning said
publicly that it was possible that Mubarak might step down – an admission
unthinkable until today, and an indication of how far out of the loop White
House and other administration officials are.  It is certainly possible that
there had been an earlier agreement among the powerful players for Mubarak
to indeed resign – and that he reneged at the last minute. But so far there
is no way to know.

 

Up until Mubarak’s speech, today the military in Egypt were widely welcomed
as partners of the popular opposition.  Statements from the military brass
to protesters led to chants of the partnership between the people and the
military, echoing across Tahrir Square. But the military brass has also made
clear that it will not force or even urge Mubarak to resign – that it would
violate their military mandate.  What we don’t know is where they will stand
now – will they maintain their commitment to not fire against the people, if
Mubarak orders them to put an end to the protests by any means necessary?

 

We also don’t know what the relationship is this moment between the Pentagon
and the Egyptian military. While it seems clear the political echelon of the
Obama administration is scrambling to figure out what is happening in Egypt,
which of the players are up and which are down at any moment, and what the
U.S. response should be, the military has a much longer, more consistent
relationship with their Egyptian counterparts. Mubarak’s newly-anointed
Vice-President Suleiman is the linchpin of that relationship, and it is
likely that his longstanding Pentagon supporters, those who actually
arranged to funnel the money, arrange the training of his officers, buy &
transport the U.S.-made teargas, the B-16 bombers, the tanks, etc, so they
may know the military’s intention more clearly.

 

Tomorrow, Friday, will be crucial.  Fridays have seen some of the biggest
protests throughout this revolution, especially after Friday prayers when
people headed to Tahrir Square and other protest venues from the mosques.
But today – with the numbers of protesters swelled by workers’ strikes,
mobilizations of tens of thousands of lawyers and doctors, and hundreds of
thousands of Egyptians across class, religious, gender, and geographic
divides all pouring out into the streets, we are already seeing what the
people will do tomorrow.

 

The key will be the response of the military.  And of course, their sponsors
in the U.S. So far President Obama has not spoken after Mubarak’s speech.
Before the speech, Obama said briefly that we are watching history in Egypt.
What will he and his administration – including his Pentagon – do now?  This
is where the role of the U.S. remains key. Mubarak may claim he will not
resign under outside pressure, but the reality is there has been little
pressure so far – there have been requests.  The requests have been denied.

 

Now what?  Will we see police and/or soldiers once again shooting U.S.-made
teargas canisters at the hundreds of thousands of women, children, men,
families, filling Tahrir?  Expectations had been sky-high. Wael Ghonim, the
Google exec whose emotional interview after his release by Mubarak loyalists
a few days ago, tweeted “Mission accomplished. Thanks to all the brave young
Egyptians.”  Those hopes have been dashed, their mission is not
accomplished.  They will have to make the hard judgments and develop the
complicated strategies for the struggle that lies ahead.

 

The decision for us is whether we will continue to allow our government to
stand by, continuing to pay $1.5 billion of our tax money, to enable this
dictatorship to continue. We need to make real President Obama’s earlier
call, ironically also in Cairo, for an entirely new way of engaging with the
Arab world.  That commitment will be evident here. Either we continue to
enable dictatorship, or we begin the hard task of redefining all of U.S.
policy across the region, from one based on U.S.-defined interests in oil,
Israel and stability regardless of human rights and sovereignty, to one
instead based on internationalism, equality, real democracy, dignity and
human rights.

 

The decision how to continue their revolution rests with the Egyptian
people. The decision for where our government stands rests with us.

 

. 

 
 
Phyllis Bennis
Director, New Internationalism Project
Institute for Policy Studies
1112 16th Street NW #600
Washington DC 20036
tel: (1-202) 234-9382 ex 5206
www.ips-dc.org <http://www.ips-dc.org/> 
 
Check out Phyllis Bennis' books -- the just-released
Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer 
as well as the latest updated edition of her best-selling 
Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer
www.interlinkbooks.com <http://www.interlinkbooks.com/> 
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