Jimmy Carter Redux - Obama Leads from Behind, Middle East Implodes

[Pilgrim]

Remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis thanks to Carter's ineptness? We're witnessing almost the same thing in Egypt thanks to a weak and ineffective Obama foreign policy based on leading from behind.

From the Heritage Foundation: Morning Bell

"None of these crises occurs in a vacuum -- except for the vacuum of a cogent U.S. strategy for dealing with these ever-worsening conditions. Since President Obama took office, he has pursued a diplomatic strategy of charm and restraint: attempting to broker peace between Israel and Palestine, engaging with Syria and Iran, and withdrawing from Iraq. Now we are seeing the results.

The international rogue that is Iran continues to rise, along with its threat to the world. Thousands are dead in Syria under a brutal dictator while the international community is serving up effete condemnations. America's ally Israel appears ready to take matters into its own hands in order to ensure its survival, while prospects for peace with Palestine remain dim. U.S. citizens are trapped in Egypt as anti-Western Islamists seek to consolidate their power. And Iraq's once-peaceful prospects have been marred by one terrorist attack after another after America's military forces departed. Obama has failed at every turn to safeguard U.S. interests in the region or take effective proactive initiatives to deal with threat of rising extremism and spiraling violence that could lead to regional conflict."

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/08...er&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning+Bell

The Obama record continues to worsen by the day, and yet the mainstream media appears oblivious as they provide cover for him. It's just amazing that he and his lackeys just sit on their hands while American citizens - including the SECTREAS's SON - are detained in Egypt for no reason. This is only happening because the U.S. rates no respect any more thanks to the weakness of Barack Hussein Obama. I'm beginning to think even Rosanne Barr wouldn't be this bad.

 

[layoutshooter]

Well, LaHood's son should not have been over there 'messing around'. It is not quite the same as Carter leaving the embassy staff out to dry when he KNEW that attack was coming. What Carter did was 'criminal' in my book.

Obama is VERY weak, we are seeing the results of that. It will only get worse as we get weaker. It always does.

 

[greg334]

Remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis thanks to Carter's ineptness? We're witnessing almost the same thing in Egypt thanks to a weak and ineffective Obama foreign policy based on leading from behind.

Thank Reagan and Carter for this, not Obama. Not that I need to appoligize for the guy, he doesn't seem to know what to make of it, but the facts bare out another reality - we don't need to be part of nation building when we already have no respect from most of the middle east, including our top ally in the region.

The Obama record continues to worsen by the day, and yet the mainstream media appears oblivious as they provide cover for him. It's just amazing that he and his lackeys just sit on their hands while American citizens - including the SECTREAS's SON - are detained in Egypt for no reason. This is only happening because the U.S. rates no respect any more thanks to the weakness of Barack Hussein Obama. I'm beginning to think even Rosanne Barr wouldn't be this bad.

There is a reason, they are not welcomed there and should not have been there in the first place. I don't care what people want to make of it, it is an unstable nation which is in transition and there are a number of reasons why we need to just face facts that just because we demand something, it won't happen. If we are to beleive that these "americans" are afforded the same status as a diplomat or a government representive, which many are spinning it as, we must examine our own problems south of our country to see it happens quite often that people are detained.

I take issue with the idea that Iran is a "rouge" nation because of the meaning of rouge; no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; deviating, renegade: a rogue cop; a rogue union local.

I feel that unless there is proof that they were controlled to begin with, or that they have in the past through either a true rouge organization (the UN) or by another country, they are in fact doing the same thing we have done in the past, messed with people to get a reaction out of them.

 

[layoutshooter]

Obama should not have sent them over there in the first place. (yeah, I know, he knew NOTHING about it) He has also done everything he can to make things worse. All he has to do is open his mouth and things go further down hill. I never thought I would live to see the day that we would have a bigger idiot in the White House than Carter was. Bush made a run a it but Obama wins the 'biggest idiot ever elected president award' hands down.

 

[RLENT]

Well, LaHood's son should not have been over there 'messing around'.

Indeed .... particularly if he was so doing so in violation of the laws of the land ....

The United States has similar laws ... and of course, if we arrested any folks performing similar actions within our borders, it would undoubtedly be totally righteous and holy ....

It is not quite the same as Carter leaving the embassy staff out to dry .....

Correct, it's really not the same .... mischaracterizing a lawful arrest and detainment of private citizens (which do not have diplomatic immunity) as "hostage taking" is a total canard .... however, don't expect that little inconvenient fact to stop the utterly shameless:

It's not really surprising that some Neoconmunist™ chickenhawk mouthpiece from Neoconmie Central™ (Heritage) would attempt to lie ...... and cast it in a false light .... in an effort to push the agenda for endless war ..... after all, that is what they do ..... lying to the citizens of a nation is a key tenant of ideology of Leo Strauss .... a detestable little miscreant, with decidedly immoral, un-American tendencies ....

Attempting to reframe the issue as one of "innocence" on the part of some poor "hostages" who were just over there helping the backwards Egyptians in their fight to obtain self-determination and "democracy" is just a total hoot ....

The reality is that so-called "NGOs" (non-governmental organizations) which includes such entities as NED (National Endowment for Democracy), the IRI (International Republican Institute), NDIIA (National Democratic Institute for International Affairs), ACILS (American Center for International Labor Solidarity - now known as "Solidarity Center"), CIPE (Center for International Private Enterprise) have long been tools that the CIA uses (directly, and through their lesser tool USAID - the US Agency for International Development) to subvert and overthrow foreign regimes and deny people their right to self-determination, as detailed by former CIA spook Phil Agee:

Former CIA Agent Tells: How US Infiltrates "Civil Society" To Overthrow Governments

Of course, Agee isn't the only individual to observe and speak out on the issue:

US AGENCY, IRI, BOASTS "WE WERE THE BRIDGE" IN VENEZUELA COUP

and:

CIA Coup-College

and numerous other sources ....

It is certainly true that one is likely going to have this sort of spewing of false propaganda .... when the person parroting the Neoconmunist™ propaganda is either: A. is either totally unaware of the fact that the US does indeed "meddle" in the internal affairs of other sovereign nations (something we've seen some evidence of), or B. is aware that US does indeed does meddle, but is simply unwilling to acknowledge or admit it .... and reverts to the Neoconmie™ tactic of just lying about it.

In either case above, it is matter of self-imposed personal delusion of one form or another - in the former, it's likely a case of either being too lazy to bother to inform one's self - or simply being unwilling to look - lest one find out something that would invalidate the hallucinatory fantasy one is clinging to ..... in the latter it is believing that people won't see through the obvious and blatant lies, and it can be gotten away with.

After all: the ends justify the means ...... anything for the cause ....

In any event, watching such a circus is, if nothing else ..... highly entertaining ......

 

[Pilgrim]

Thank Reagan and Carter for this, not Obama. Not that I need to appoligize for the guy, he doesn't seem to know what to make of it, but the facts bare out another reality - we don't need to be part of nation building when we already have no respect from most of the middle east, including our top ally in the region.

Neither Reagan nor Carter had anything to do with this situation. These NGO groups were tolerated when Mubarak was in power, and now they're suddenly out of favor with the ruling military and Muslim Brotherhood factions that won the first round of elections. There's no nation building going on there - these groups advise the new liberal revolutionary political parties on how to organize and finance elections so they can be competitive with the anti-western Brotherhood that has been around for many years and is far better established in the country. If there's a silver lining in all this mess, it's that a good excuse is now in place for the U.S. to halt any and all foreign aid to Egypt thus saving the taxpayers a billion dollars that could be better used at home. Obama needs to make it clear to these thugs that we're not only going to cut the money, but also that the Marines will come get our citizens out of our embassy if they're not released. It remains to be seen if the Weakling in Chief will actually take decisive action or continue to sit on his hands.

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/07/egypt-takes-american-hostages/

 

[RLENT]

These NGO groups were tolerated when Mubarak was in power,

Well ..... frickin' duh .......

Since we bought and paid for Hosni, the above is somehow supposed to be some big surprise ?

How tolerant of 'em do ya think Hosni woulda been if he had 20/20 hindsight ?

..... and now they're suddenly out of favor with the ruling military and Muslim Brotherhood factions that won the first round of elections.

Yeah ..... cause they know they'll be the next ones to be targeted ....

Apparently they ain't the only ones that they are out of favor with (read below)

There's no nation building going on there - these groups advise the new liberal revolutionary political parties on how to organize and finance elections so they can be competitive with the anti-western Brotherhood that has been around for many years and is far better established in the country.

...... ahh ..... seriously ?

Think about what you just wrote above for a little bit ...... I mean, really think about it ...

But maybe before you do that, you could just put down the psychedelic Neoconmie™ Swamp Swill you seem to be suckin' on for a moment ... and have a drink of something not quite so poisonous:

Judge says NGOs were lawfully inspected, not 'raided'

By Mai Shams El-Din /Daily News Egypt February 8, 2012, 8:12 pm

CAIRO: Judge Sameh Abou Zeid, investigating the alleged illegal foreign funding of local and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), said Wednesday that inspecting their offices was legal according to the criminal procedural law. "Labeling this inspection as a ‘raid’ is inaccurate since the law gives us the authority to order the prosecution to inspect the NGOs in question," Abou Zeid said in a press conference held at the Ministry of Justice, reiterating earlier statements by the Minister of International Cooperation and Foreign Funding. Investigating judge Ashraf El-Ashmawy said the defendants were referred to court in line with Egypt’s penal code and not the controversial NGOs law, adding that the charges against the staff could lead to five-year prison sentences. "These organizations conducted unlicensed and illegal activities without the knowledge of the Egyptian government,” El-Ashmawy said. A total of 44 workers in five foreign NGOs, including 19 Americans, were referred to the Cairo Criminal Court for violating Egyptian law by receiving illegal foreign funding. The US defendants include Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Also facing charges are five Serbs, two Germans, two Lebanese, one Jordanian and one Palestinian, in addition to 14 Egyptians, all of whom have either been banned from travel or have been placed on inbound watch-lists if they are outside the country. US ambassador Anne W. Patterson urged authorities to lift the travel ban. "This is illegal and Patterson violated Egyptian laws that stipulate that ambassadors of foreign countries should not directly address the judiciary, and because she is not one of the parties involved in the case," Abou Zeid said, adding that the matter was referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to act accordingly. Abou Zeid said investigators were astonished with the interference of the American ambassador, which politicized the probe. "We are not involved in politics, but if we have to be involved we will act according to the law," he said. The move triggered the anger of US lawmakers who are currently pressuring for halting US military aid to Egypt, saying it is conditional upon the country’s commitment to democracy and preserving freedoms. Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Aboul Naga said in another press conference Wednesday that Egypt has strong strategic relations with the US, which will not be affected by such disagreements. Prosecution and army forces raided in December a group of foreign and local NGOs, confiscated equipment and documents and closed down some of the offices under allegations of receiving illegal foreign funding. Abou Zeid said that Ministry of Justice ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to start investigating the case in July, which then recommended appointing two judges to continue the investigation. The judges, according to Abou Zeid, began the investigation in September and ordered a warrant to inspect the offices of local and foreign NGOs. "We discovered that five foreign NGOs received secret money transactions from abroad under names of workers inside these NGOs not through official bank accounts [under the name of the NGOs]. Transactions were in the millions of pounds," he said. "Workers inside these NGOs deliberately had tourist visas, not work visas, and did not pay taxes," Abou Zeid continued. He said 67 items were confiscated during the raid, including documents that “prove foreign funding.” The case file also includes “reports by state experts” evaluating the confiscated items. "One piece of evidence we found was a map showing Egypt divided into four parts: Upper Egypt, the Delta, Greater Cairo and the Canal provinces," Abou Zeid said. While he didn’t explain the significance of such maps in proving the case, the accusation reflects claims made by some TV personnel and officials that there is a foreign plot to divide Egypt. Abou Zeid said the five NGOs are not involved in civil service, but their work extends to politics, which took a different direction after the Jan. 25 uprising. "Many eyewitnesses who used to work for these NGOs testified that they quit once they doubted the nature of the work of these foreign organizations," Abou Zeid claimed. "They told us surveys were conducted across the country by these NGOs asking Egyptians about their religious beliefs and their dress codes," he added. Egyptians have to state their religious affiliation on ID cards. "The results of these surveys are never published in Egypt, but are secretly reported to their mother organizations in the US," the judge said. “Homeland Security and National Security” refused to give licenses to these organizations before the revolution but they continued to operate illegally, he added. "This part of the probe is only related to the foreign NGOs, while the remaining local NGOs are [also] under investigation, including religious organizations that receive illegal funding from Arab countries," investigating judge El-Ashmawy said. He added that the other stages of the investigation will be made public once they are finished to ensure maximum transparency. The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) criticized earlier in a statement the campaign against NGOs, labeling it a plot planned by the ruling military junta to tarnish the reputation of rights organizations that have worked to expose violations by the military since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. "[The campaign casts] doubt over the real role played by these organizations and defames them, using one of the most prominent figures of the Mubarak regime, Fayza Aboul Naga, who found in this campaign an opportunity for vengeance [targeting] the human rights institutions that contributed to toppling the regime to which she belongs, ," the statement said. ANHRI claimed it was also personal vengeance since rights groups exposed the rigging of elections in 2010, through which Aboul Naga had won a seat in parliament. Both houses of parliament were dissolved following the Jan. 25 uprising. "ANHRI believes that the practices of US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson have paved the way for and fueled the campaign led by Aboul Naga against civil society. The ambassador breached rules of transparency and credibility by refusing to announce the names of the institutions that received millions of dollars from the US during the year 2011, despite the many requests submitted to her to announce these names," ANHRI said. "The ambassador knows very well that several civil society institutions in Egypt, especially the serious human rights ones, refuse to deal with her as a representative of a government known for its repetitive human rights violations and lack of credibility for its double standards … which is the US government."

IOW, the real human rights organizations over there don't want anything to do with these CIA front groups - they know that the real intent is foreign meddling ..... and have no interest in trading one slavemaster for another .....

The Daily News Egypt: Judge says NGOs were lawfully inspected, not 'raided'

 

[RLENT]

If there's a silver lining in all this mess, it's that a good excuse is now in place for the U.S. to halt any and all foreign aid to Egypt thus saving the taxpayers a billion dollars that could be better used at home.

Good idea ...... pull all foreign aid from everywhere - including Israel .....

Obama needs to make it clear to these thugs that we're not only going to cut the money, but also that the Marines will come get our citizens out of our embassy if they're not released. It remains to be seen if the Weakling in Chief will actually take decisive action or continue to sit on his hands.

Said like:



Of course, what's really ironic is how much lip service some might give to the idea of the rule of law .... but when it comes time for that principle to actually be applied by others to something they worship (namely, the State and it's minions), my how do they howl ....

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/07/egypt-takes-american-hostages/

Linking to the above is sort like suggesting that one head on over to the Ministry of Propaganda and read a little of the musings of some junior lackey to Goebbels to find out what the underlying "problem" was in 1933 Germany ....

 

[RLENT]

What Pete sez:

 

[witness23]

What Pete sez:

Priceless!!!

 

[witness23]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim
There's no nation building going on there - these groups advise the new liberal revolutionary political parties on how to organize and finance elections so they can be competitive with the anti-western Brotherhood that has been around for many years and is far better established in the country.

...... ahh ..... seriously ?

Think about what you just wrote above for a little bit ...... I mean, really think about it ...

But maybe before you do that, you could just put down the psychedelic Neoconmie™ Swamp Swill you seem to be suckin' on for a moment ... and have a drink of something not quite so poisonous:

I also couldn't believe what I was reading when I read that. I was like, really, seriously?

I really hope to hear his thoughts on that statement after he has taken your advice and really, really thinks about it.

 

[RLENT]

I also couldn't believe what I was reading when I read that.

Could be that this goes a long way toward explaining why there seems to be a visual acuity problem with respect to discernment of "overseas meddling in the internal affairs of others" ......

Brings back memories of my oldest son as a child of three or so .... when he used to put his hands over his ears and commence to talkin' when there was something being said that he didn't really care to hear .....

 

[RLENT]

Must really suck to be Sam LaHood .... bummer dude ....

Oh well, play with fire, ya might get burned:

The ‘Cairo 19′ Got What They Deserve
​

Regime-changers up against the wall in Egypt ​

by Justin Raimondo, February 10, 2012

Walking along a Moscow street, in 2006, a man picks up a rock and carries it away: nothing about that is suspicious in itself, now is it? Except that the rock was fake, a hollowed out simulation that contained electronic equipment: it was the equivalent of a “drop box” in which Russian agents of British intelligence were able to download information from a hand-held device – likely a mobile phone — and provide it to their British handlers operating out of Her Majesty’s Embassy. One of the individuals secretly filmed by the Russian security bureau retrieving messages was the British official responsible for making disbursements to Russian “human rights” organizations. When the Russians examined the contents of the fake rock, they found it contained information on illegal payments made to Russian individuals working for “human rights” NGOs.

Although the Brits denied it at the time, Jonathan Powell, a former chief of staff to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, admitted to the scheme in a recent four-part BBC series on Putin’s Russia.

The admission came at an inconvenient time: during Russia’s tumultuous presidential election, in which the Russian opposition was accusing Vladimir Putin of stealing the vote, and Putin, in turn, was characterizing the opposition as paid tools of Washington. The Americans did nothing to disabuse Russians of this charge: indeed, when the new US Ambassador to the Kremlin, Michael McFaul, arrived in Moscow, he met with leaders of the Russian opposition on his second day in town. As Eric Kraus, a Moscow-based fund manager, put it:

“One should first ask what the reaction would have been in the United States if the British ambassador to Washington began his mandate by throwing an open house for ‘Occupy Wall Street’ – it would have been considered a hostile act. Why is Russia any different? Russia is a sovereign state, not a protectorate, and the job of any ambassador is to facilitate state-to-state relations, not to become a player in domestic politics.”

But of course the US is indeed involved in the domestic politics of practically every nation on earth, and it even has an official agency in charge of such meddling. TheNational Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a “public-private” institution that receives direct grants of US tax dollars, which it then funnels abroad via its four main constituent parts: the National Democratic Institute (NDI), affiliated with the Democratic party, the International Republican Institute (IRI), a division of the GOP, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), sponsored and partially funded by the AFL-CIO, and the Center for International Private Enterprise, affiliated with the US Chamber of Commerce. Founded in 1984, NED played a key rolein undermining the Nicaraguan government at a time when the US government was illegally funding the so-called “contras,” who were carrying out a terrorist campaign against the authorities in Managua.

In 1985, it was revealed the NED had been financing two groups in France, of all places: the National Inter-University Union (UNI), and Force Ouvriere (FO), a labor organization. UNI was an offshoot of the Service for Civic Action, an extremist right-wing terrorist group that had killed several people in the south of France and engaged in drug smuggling. UNI scored $575,000 from NED. FO was in a pitched battle with left-wing unions for supremacy in the French labor movement, and the US funding via NED – to the tune of $830,000 – was seen as an attempt to undermine Francois Mitterand’s socialist government.

In 1989, when Nicaragua’s Sandinista government was being challenged by the opposition — led by newspaper publisher Violeta Chamorro, and her United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO) — Congress passed a $9 million appropriation for the NED to get involved in the Nicaraguan election. It passed with one restriction, however: none of the money was to be used to help one particular party. In reality, however, almost all the funding went to the UNO. In tandem with the flood of millions of dollars into the opposition, the US unleashed the contras, inflicting unprecedented violence on civilians and wrecking the economy.

The Endowment has been a vital instrument in the deployment of “soft power” to further US interests, acting as a conduit for funding the “color revolutions” that were sparked by US-funded activists in Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. It is, in short, a weapon in the US arsenal designed to effect “regime change” in countries deemed insufficiently enthusiastic about becoming – or staying – a US protectorate.

Although the “Arab Spring” looks to have taken the US by surprise, Washington moved quickly – via the NED and USAID – to coopt the movement. It appears, though, that the Egyptian government – which has just elected a majority Muslim Brotherhood parliament – is having none of it: Cairo recently put NED activists, including the son of the US Secretary of Labor, on a “no fly” list, and announced it will prosecute a number of individuals, including 19 Americans, for engaging in illegal activities. Washington is outraged, and its amen corner is already mobilizing in support of the “Cairo 19.”

Egypt, like the US, has strict controls on foreign interference in its internal politics: foreign-funded organizations must register with the government, and give a complete accounting of their activities. The US has even stricter controls: foreign contributions to electoral activities on American soil are forbidden by US law, and, in addition, groups receiving funding from foreign governments must register as foreign agents. The penalty for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine – roughly equivalent (except for the fine) to the penalty faced by the “Cairo 19.”

Neither IRI nor NDI ever registered with the authorities in Egypt: the claim is that they didn’t do so because “the laws required licenses that were almost never granted” and “exerted government control over foreign contributions.” Of course, the New York Times reporter who wrote this neglected to inform his readers that the US absolutely bans any foreign intervention in the electoral process on its own soil. That’s the Americans’ signature stance in the world: one standard for me, and another for thee….

It’s hard to believe anyone with the least bit of objectivity would blame the Egyptians for reacting to interference in their politics the way they have, but Harper’s Scott Horton has stepped into the breach with a polemic that is as unconvincing as it is arrogant.

Horton blames the Muslim Brotherhood for “coddling the military,” and seeking to cement its power by refusing to investigate corruption in the barracks. He writes that the Brotherhood’s pact with the military brought on the prosecution:

“Under attack are the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute — two venerable, congressionally funded organizations linked to America’s two political parties, each with a solid record of accomplishment in the global struggle for democracy.”

From funding the French extreme right to overthrowing the Sandinistas by means of terrorism – that’s a “solid record of accomplishment,” alright, except it has nothing to do with “the global struggle for democracy” and everything to do with advancing Washington’s global ambitions. For Horton, naturally, there is no difference between these two goals – but the inhabitants of the countries whose politics we are meddling in may see it differently.

While speculating the Egyptians could actually “believe that organizations dedicated to promoting democracy are actually working to overthrow the Egyptian state in the interests of some foreign power,” he dismisses this out of hand because “placing the blame for domestic problems on the unseen hand of a foreign foe is an ancient and sometimes effective strategy for a government in extremis.”

Given the NED’s long record of manipulating the internal politics of nations we’ve targeted for “regime change,” is it really all that unreasonable for the Egyptians to suspect something is amiss? Oh, but no, according to Horton:

“Whether they occur in Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Hungary, or Israel, attacks on NGOs, especially those focused on democracy advocacy and human rights, are the hallmark of illiberalism. In Egypt, they demonstrate how the revolution has run off course. And they show the country’s deep-seated suspicion of the United States. The Obama Administration is right to treat these developments with alarm. So should the Egyptians still protesting at Tahrir Square.”

If it’s “illiberal” to resent and oppose foreign interference in domestic politics, then one looks forward to Horton’s call for the abolition of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and similar legislation.

Apart from that, however, a far more important point is Horton’s definition of illiberalism as a refusal to allow such interference: implicit here is the idea that the US government is the agency of a “liberal” ideology which it is duty bound to export abroad. Washington, in this view, is the embodiment of “liberalism,” just as Moscow embodied Leninism in the cold war era. To oppose the activities of the NED and its international affiliates is “illiberal” in the same sense opposing Communist subversion in, say, the Americas, was considered “reactionary” by the Kremlin and its American apologists. The NED is the American version of the old Third International: the obedient instrument of US foreign policy. To question its right to intervene anywhere is to align oneself with the forces of darkness.

Horton’s full-throated defense of the “Cairo 19,” whom he portrays as the defenders of “democracy” and secularism in Egypt, drops the context in which the NED and the US government are operating in the region. He forgets or doesn’t care to remember an awful lot.

In response to the 9/11 attacks, the US embarked on a military and political campaign to “transform” the “swamp” of the Muslim world, starting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and ending in Iran. On the occasion of the NED’s twentieth anniversary, President George W. Bush proclaimed the US was launching a “global democratic revolution” – and there was no doubt its main target was the Middle East. Gen. Wesley Clark related in an interview with Amy Goodman how, ten days after 9/11, a top General revealed to him how the decision to invade Iraq was made bereft of any link to al-Qaeda. Coming back to his informant a few weeks later, Clark said:

“’Are we still going to war with Iraq?’ And the General said ‘Oh, its worse than that.’ He reached over on his desk and picked up a piece of paper. He said, ‘I just got this … from upstairs from the Secretary of Defense’s office today. This is a memo that describes how we are going to take out 7 countries in 5 years. Starting with Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon. Then Libya, Somalia and Sudan. Then finishing off Iran.’”

It’s taken them more than five years, but clearly they’ve made considerable progress so far: Iraq is in the bag, so is Libya, and Sudan has been successfully split in two. As forSomalia, it’s the latest “front” in our endless “war on terrorism,” and we’re gearing up for the Big One: Iran. Once Tehran falls, can Lebanon be far behind?

Egypt figures prominently in all this: it is “the prize,” as neocon theoretician and former LaRouchie Laurent Murawiec put it in an infamous presentation to the Defense Policy Board, in which he and his fellow neocons pushed not only the invasion of Iraq but also a US takeover of the Saudi oil fields and – eventually — “regime change” in Egypt. As Murawiec put it in his remarks to the assembled policymakers, including Richard Perle, Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt – “the fulcrum of the Arab world” — had become “a Malthusian basket case” due to the dictator’s mismanagement:

“The result is an explosive mix. Traditional Moslems and modernist Arabs have been marginalized, hounded out of the public scene, while the virulent press endlessly incites hatred and violence against Israel and the U.S. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers of 9/11 were Saudis, the remainder were Egyptians.

“… Why not let Mubarak crack down on the Islamists once we have terminated their power elsewhere, and benightedly allow him to stay in power without policies being changed—isn’t he our friend after all? That would be a sure recipe for disaster. The pivot of the Arab world is the most important one to transform in depth. Iraq may be described as the tactical pivot, the point of entry; Saudi Arabia as the strategic pivot; but Egypt, with its mass, its history, its prestige and its potential, is where the future of the Arab world will be decided. Egypt, then, in the new Middle Eastern environment created by our war, can start being reshaped.

“From our standpoint, though, Egypt has to come up at a later stage of the strategic course presented here: it cannot and should not be tackled prior to the fall of Saddam, the cracking of Syria and Hezbollah, and the abasement of the Saudis. It will become possible to tackle the essential issue—that of a useless, dysfunctional tyranny—once the above have been successfully carried out.”

Given the course of our rampage across much of the Middle East to date, is it any wonder Egyptians are suspicious that their turn has come? To add insult to injury, we’re now threatening to withhold the substantial amount we send over there in “foreign aid,” including military assistance. The Egyptians have stuck to their guns, however, and insist they will go through with the prosecution, perhaps because, as thisNew York Times piece on the controversy opined: “But for Washington, revoking the aid would risk severing the tie that for three decades has bound the United States, Egypt and Israel in an uneasy alliance that is the cornerstone of the American-backed regional order.”
​

Continued ....​

 

[RLENT]

Continued:

That “cornerstone” is now cracked beyond repair, and the US is frantically trying to cement it together: that the NED’s Egyptian operation is being wielded in pursuit of that goal is undeniable. Whether these same US-funded “activists” would be utilized to effect regime-change is a question the Egyptians have a right to ask.

Horton makes his appeal to the protesters of Tahrir Square, and yet those same protesters, as much as many are for democracy, secularism, and modernity, are also fiercely nationalistic – and no friends of our “cornerstone” foreign policy in the region.

Again and again, US policymakers and commentators have underestimated – and misunderstood – the powerful wave of protest that has toppled regimes from Tunisia to Yemen. It isn’t an ideological drive for “democracy,” as such, or one motivated by the economic downturn, although these factors are surely present: what the “Arab Spring” represents is an upsurge of radical nationalism, similar to the pan-Arabism unleashed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Egyptian revolution of 1952. In each and every instance, the target of the crowds in the streets has been a regime sporting the West’s imprimatur. Even Gadhafi had finally made his peace with those he once denounced as “imperialists,” and gained a degree of legitimacy in Western circles.

​

The Arab world has essentially been under occupation by the West since the fall of the Ottomans in the aftermath of World War I. The “anti-colonial” revolutions of the 1950s and 1960s ended in the consolidation of sclerotic regimes that oppressed their own people and – as the cold war petered out – wound up in the Western orbit. Indeed, as Mubarak and Gadhafi prepared their sons to succeed them, these regimes became indistinguishable from the monarchies traditionally backed by Washington and London.

US attempts to hijack and manipulate this nationalist tidal wave, beside being futile, are likely to result in a serious case of “blowback” – unintended and highly unfortunate consequences that will reduce our influence and in the region and provoke an anti-American backlash. We are, in short, playing with fire – and no one should be surprised that, in Egypt and elsewhere, we are being burned.

By the way, before we elevate Sam Lahood, son of US Labor Secretary and former GOP congressman Ray Lahood, to the status of a martyr for “democracy” and “liberalism,” let’s note that his former gig was serving as a censor for the US Occupation Authority in Iraq. Putting him and his fellow “democracy-promoters” on trial is the Egyptians’ way of ensuring he never takes up similar duties in Egypt.​

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Original: The ‘Cairo 19′ Got What They Deserve

Well, if these 19 individuals were foreigners that had come into my country and were seeking to subvert it, I sure know how I'd like to see it handled:

..... line them up against a wall .....

Bullets are cheap enough .....

 

[witness23]

That article will ring hollow in here for most RLENT. Unfortunately.

 

[greg334]

Neither Reagan nor Carter had anything to do with this situation.

Actually they do, need to learn the history of our involvement a bit more. It is these two administrations where the understanding was formed to allow outside groups to operate in Egypt, tying it with the "humanitarian" aid we give them.

IF Obama's problem is with those who think he should be doing something about this, I say his problem is NOT to do a thing and find a way to cut aid to Egypt.

 

[witness23]

Actually they do, need to learn the history of our involvement a bit more. It is these two administrations where the understanding was formed to allow outside groups to operate in Egypt, tying it with the "humanitarian" aid we give them.

IF Obama's problem is with those who think he should be doing something about this, I say his problem is NOT to do a thing and find a way to cut aid to Egypt.

Yep.........

 

[layoutshooter]

They knew what they were getting into. Obama just continues the stupidity. What an IDIOT he is. Yeah, I know, they all did it. True, but Obama is there now, HIS FAULT! In a way it's kinda cool that it is La Hood's son there. Sorta like poetic justice. Too bad it's not an Obama family member, but then, none of them would ever be sent to do the dirty work. People from the 'elite' families never are.

 

[witness23]

They knew what they were getting into.

Who is "they"?

Obama just continues the stupidity.

What stupidity? Can you be more specific?

What an IDIOT he is. Yeah, I know, they all did it.

Did what? And what exactly is the President doing that all the "others" before him have done?

True, but Obama is there now, HIS FAULT!

What exactly is his fault?

In a way it's kinda cool that it is La Hood's son there. Sorta like poetic justice.

So you agree with Ron Paul and we should stop "meddling" in other countries affairs? Because if we weren't "meddling" in Egypts affairs right now, we wouldn't be talking about Americans being apprehended there.

 

[Pilgrim]

Actually they do, need to learn the history of our involvement a bit more. It is these two administrations where the understanding was formed to allow outside groups to operate in Egypt, tying it with the "humanitarian" aid we give them.

You've missed the point which is that they are being detained in the first place, effectively being held hostage in our own embassy. This would not have happened under Reagan, and it's doubtful that Bush would have tolerated it either. This display of weakness by Obama will have serious consequences if he allows it to drag on as Carter did with Iran.