Speaking to an Arabic man in my community he is saying with passion "everyone understands the only reason Mubarak is there is because of US support!" Secretary of State Clinton has yet to say that Mubarak's intransigence will bear any "consequences," diplomatic-speak which means your $1.3 billion in US military aid is in jeopardy.
Members of Congress with oversight responsibility over where US assistance goes are sitting on their hands as if this has nothing to do with them. They are a deliberative body, not a rubber stamp. Where are the hints that the next round of US military aid to Mubarak will now be "examined closely" (diplomatic-speak for 'why aren't we cutting that bastard off without a dime?')
I keep reading "Egypt..close U.S. ally..." Flash: He's not MY ally, so speak for yourself. I stand with the Egyptian people...
Right now the most visible reminder of our policies toward Egypt are the tear gas canisters you can turn over and see where it says "Made in USA."
ElBaradei told CNN on Tuesday:
"I was stunned to hear Secretary Clinton saying that the Egyptian government is 'stable,' and I asked myself at what price stability. Is it on the basis of 29 years of martial law? ... Is it on the basis of rigged elections? That's not stability. That's living on borrowed time. Stability is when you have a government that is elected on a free and fair basis. And we have seen how elections have been rigged in Egypt, we have seen how people have been tortured. And when you see today over 100,000 young people, getting desperate, going to the street, asking for their basic freedoms, I expected to hear from Secretary Clinton ... democracy, human rights, freedom."
An clearly exasperated college-age caller on the Diane Rehms Show (NPR) last week notes the administration's tone-deafness to what is happening now in the world. The young man says: "I mean, Joe Biden said Mubarak is not a dictator? Where has he been?"
My Arabic friend as we watch Al Jareeza in his coffee shop is fuming that the man Mubarak has named as "Deputy" is a head of intelligence, a slap in the face. This is a guy who really, really, doesn't get it. Talk on protest Facebooks that Mubarak is insane:
We are all Khaled Said:
Oh My God: this guys is crazy. Mubarak just decided to order the Egyptian government to resign and that's it!!!!
and;
He is deliberately destroying Egypt. Someone needs to step in NOW.
That tear gas turns out to be manufactured by Combined Systems International, of Jamestown, Pennsylvania, part of that $1.3 billion a year in military financing. "The way I see it the U.S. administration supports dictators," said one protester.
Aly Eltayeb, 26, who has participated in the protests since Tuesday told ABC:
"The way tear gas works is by spreading panic. Your eyes tear up a lot so you can't see, and you feel like your suffocating. You can actually breathe but you feel like you are suffocating so you try to run, but when you run you inhale more."
Speaking to The Guardian UK in Cairo, before the planned protests today, ElBaradei stepped up his calls for Western leaders to explicitly condemn Mubarak:
"The international community must understand we are being denied every human right day by day," he said. "Egypt today is one big prison. If the international community does not speak out it will have a lot of implications. We are fighting for universal values here. If the west is not going to speak out now, then when?"
Protesters made the discovery of the U.S. tear canisters at the same time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. officials called for peaceful solutions and restraint by the Egyptian government.
Democratic Members of Senate Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, which must approve appropriations to Mubarak government, "No More US Money for Mubarak, Mubarak OUT, period, end of story! Support the Egyptian people!" Even if Murak doesn't get it, make sure our own representatives do. And stop saying he's my ally. He's not.
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