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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=267325102-11022011>Great thinker who knows the ME and US!
Lee/Mom/Cuz</SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B>
ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org@lists.mayfirst.org
[mailto:ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org@lists.mayfirst.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Phyllis Bennis<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, February 10, 2011 4:19
PM<BR><B>To:</B> UfPJ Afghanistan working group; UFPJInternational;
ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org; UFPJLegislative action
group<BR><B>Subject:</B> [ufpj-activist] mubarak defiant<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">MUBARAK DEFIANT</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.”</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.”</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But that was all
before.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Up
until Mubarak’s speech, today the military in Egypt were widely welcomed as
partners of the popular opposition.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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?</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Tomorrow, Friday, will be crucial.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
key will be the response of the military.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What
will he and his administration – including his Pentagon – do now?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The requests have been
denied.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Now
what?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Those hopes have
been dashed, their mission is not accomplished.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They will have to make the hard
judgments and develop the complicated strategies for the struggle that lies
ahead.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
decision how to continue their revolution rests with the Egyptian people. The
decision for where our government stands rests with us.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">.
</FONT></P></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Phyllis Bennis</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Director, New Internationalism Project</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Institute for Policy Studies</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1112 16th Street NW #600</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Washington DC 20036</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial>tel: (1-202) 234-9382 ex 5206</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://www.ips-dc.org/ href="http://www.ips-dc.org/"
target=_blank>www.ips-dc.org</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Check out Phyllis Bennis' books -- the just-released</DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM>Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer </EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>as well as the latest updated edition of her best-selling
<DIV><STRONG><EM>Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A
Primer</EM></STRONG></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://www.interlinkbooks.com/
href="http://www.interlinkbooks.com/"
target=_blank>www.interlinkbooks.com</A></DIV></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>