Obama Supported Mubarak Right to the End - Untill He Could No Longer Be Sustained

Horhey · Mar 30, 2012

When a favored dictator is endangered, as happens over and over, Washington follows a fairly straightforward procedure: Support him as long as possible. If it is no longer possible, for example, if the army turns against him, then issue ringing declarations about our yearning for democracy and then work hard to keep the former system of domination and control in place, as much as possible. Examples abound: Somoza, Marcos, Duvalier, Chun, Ceausescu, Mobutu, Suharto, and others. That the same procedure was followed in the case of Mubarak should surprise no one.

-Noam Chomsky
Click to expand...

The Washington Post: Obama and Mubarak and democracy--an accounting

"He's on several occasions directly confronted President Mubarak on it. And pushed him on the need for political reform"
--White House senior adviser David Axelrod, January 28, 2011

When Obama took office, the administration's priority was reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. So, in public statements, references to democracy and reform were further muted. On her first visit to Egypt, shortly after she became the chief U.S. diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed the importance of a State Department report on the human rights situation in Egypt: "We issue these reports on every country," she told Egyptian television on March 2, 2009. "We consider Egypt to be a friend."

Asked whether the concerns raised in the report might prevent a visit by the Egyptian autocrat to the United States, Clinton replied. "I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family. So I hope to see him often here in Egypt and in the United States." Cables released by Wikileaks indicate that the State Department advised Clinton not even to raise the case of Nour, who had been recently released from jail.

June 4, 2009: President Obama's first meeting with Mubarak in Cairo. No mention of reform in Egypt. Obama told reporters: "As the President has indicated, we discussed the situation with Israel and the Palestinians. We discussed how we can move forward in a constructive way that brings about peace and prosperity for all people in the region. And I emphasized to him that America is committed to working in partnership with the countries in the region so that all people can meet their aspirations."

[NOTE: On that same day, Obama gave a speech in Cairo. Not mentioning Egypt specifically, he said: "I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere."]

August 3, 2009: White House announcement of upcoming meeting between Obama and Mubarak. No mention of reform in Egypt. "The two leaders will discuss the full range of issues of common concern - including Middle East peace, combating extremism and other regional threats, and promoting reform across the Arab world - as well as how to strengthen the bilateral relationship."

August 18, 2009: Meeting of the two leaders with the media. No mention of reform in Egypt by Obama. Obama gives a lengthy description of the topics they discussed, including Middle East peace, economic cooperation, even polio eradication. He does not mention reform or democracy. Mubarak, however, brings up reform: "We discussed the issue of reform inside Egypt. And I told to President Obama very frankly and very friendly that I have entered into the elections based on a platform that included reforms, and therefore we have started to implement some of it and we still have two more years to implement it."

September 1, 2010: White House statement on meeting with President Mubarak at the White House. Reform in Egypt is mentioned. Much of the statement dealt the Middle East peace but at the end it noted: "President Obama reaffirmed the importance of a vibrant civil society, open political competition, and credible and transparent elections in Egypt. The President welcomes commitments Egypt has made as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review." The headline on the official photograph of the meeting was titled: "Working Towards Middle East Peace."

January 18, 2011: White House statement on a phone call between Obama and Mubarak. No mention of need for reforms in Egypt, though the two men discussed the overthrow of the government in Tunisia: "The President raised the latest developments in Tunisia, and shared with President Mubarak that the United States is calling for calm and an end to violence, and for the interim government of Tunisia to uphold universal human rights and hold free and fair elections in order to meet the aspirations of the Tunisian people."

The first direct call for reform in Egypt from the president's lips came on January 28, 2011, after Mubarak announced he was forcing his government to resign in the wake of mass demonstrations. Obama said: "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."

The Bottom Line

Not matter what was said in private, or how forcefully, the public message sent by the Obama administration over the past two years was that democracy and human rights in Egypt was not a top priority. When given the opportunity to use the biggest megaphone in the world--the voice of the president of the United States--the words were whispered, if said at all.
Click to expand...

waltky · Jun 2, 2012

Sentencing stuns Egypt...

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gets life in prison
2 June`12 Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year. The ousted president and his sons were acquitted, however, of corruption charges in a mixed verdict that swiftly provoked a new wave of anger on Egypt's streets.

Revolutionary groups and the powerful Muslim Brotherhood have called for a massive protest at Tahrir Square, the heart of the uprising, at 5 p.m. local time. After the sentencing, the 84-year old Mubarak suffered a "health crisis" while on a helicopter flight to a Cairo prison hospital, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not immediately be confirmed.

The officials said Mubarak cried in protest and resisted leaving the helicopter that took him to a prison hospital for the first time since he was detained in April 2011. Mubarak stayed at a regular hospital in his favorite Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from his arrest until his trial began in on Aug. 3. The officials said he insisted on the helicopter that he be flown to the military hospital on the eastern outskirts of Cairo where he has stayed during the trial. Mubarak finally left the chopper and moved to the Torah prison hospital more than two hours after his helicopter landed there.

Earlier, Mubarak sat stone-faced and frowning in the courtroom's metal defendants' cage while judge Ahmed Rifaat read out the conviction and sentence against him, showing no emotion with his eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. His sons Gamal and Alaa looked nervous but also did not react to either the conviction of their father or their own acquittals. Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to resign in February 2011. He and his two sons were acquitted of corruption charges, along with a family friend who is on the run.

Rifaat opened the session with a strongly worded statement before handing down the verdicts. He expressed deep sympathy for the uprising. "The people released a collective sigh of relief after a nightmare that did not, as is customary, last for a night, but for almost 30 black, black, black years darkness that resembled a winter night. "The revolution by the people of Egypt was inspired by God. They did not seek a luxurious life or to sit atop the world, but asked their politicians, rulers and those in authority to give them a decent life and a bite to eat," he said. "They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held a tight grip on power."

MORE
Click to expand...

See also:

Hosni Mubarak Life Sentencing Stuns Egypt
Jun 2, 2012 : Ousted president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of protesters. Dan Ephron on how the ruling instantly divided the nationand why an appeal could reverse it.

Judges in the trial of ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak might have thought their ruling had something for everyone. The three-member panel sentenced Mubarak and his former interior minister to life in prison on Saturday for the killing of hundreds of protesters last year, but acquitted top security officials of the same charges. Instead, their decisionwhich also cleared Mubarak and his two sons of corruptionappears to have angered both sides of an increasingly polarized Egyptian street: opponents of the old regime and people who feel its time to set aside the anger and move on.

Among the former, thousands took to the streets following the decision, accusing the judges of a soft sentencing that served the interests of the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak was toppled and calling for an overhaul of the judicial system. "Ahmed Rifaat, you coward, how much did you sell the martyrs' blood for?" protesters chanted at Cairos Tahrir Square, referring to the panels lead judge.

Among the latter, in Mubaraks hometown of Kafr El-Maselha and in other parts of the country, some Egyptians held up portraits of the former president and decried the sentence as exceedingly harsh. The verdict, carried live on Egyptian television, follows a 10-month trial that many Egyptians hoped would serve as a kind truth-and-reconciliation process for the three decades of Mubaraks repressive rule. It focused mainly on the first days of the Egyptian revolution last year, when troops killed more than 800 protesters.

But the proceedings were marked mostly by disarray. Judges banned cameras after the second day of the trial and kept the key testimony secret. During todays hourlong hearing, Mubarak lay on a gurney, clad in dark sunglasses and a white jogging suit. He did not react when the sentence was read. His two sons, Gamal and Alaa, stood in front of him to prevent cameras from filming their father. Following the decision, scuffles erupted in the courtroom between supporters and opponents of the defendants.

MORE
Click to expand...

waltky · Jan 13, 2015

Granny says, "Dat's right - dey gettin' ready to put him back in office...

Official: No legal grounds to keep Egypt's Mubarak detained
Jan 13,`15 ~ An Egyptian judicial official says there are no legal grounds to keep deposed President Hosni Mubarak in detention after an appeals court ordered his retrial in a corruption case.

The official at the chief prosecutor's office says Mubarak has the right to walk free after the country's top Appeals Court ordered a retrial in a corruption case against him and his two sons earlier Tuesday.

It was the only case still keeping Mubarak behind bars. Mubarak has already been cleared over the killings of protesters during Egypt's 2011 uprising that toppled him.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media. He says "paperwork is being processed" for Mubarak's release but declined to speculate if and when that could happen.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-13-05-49-06
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Obama Supported Mubarak Right to the End - Untill He Could No Longer Be Sustained

Horhey Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Obama Supported Mubarak Right to the End - Untill He Could No Longer Be Sustained

Horhey Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches