Petition for Egypt. Urge @BarackObama Admin to drop insistence that Mubarak lead transition.

[Catherina]

Edit to request: Don't forget to rec this. It's being unrec'd mercilessly

Perserverando RT @justfp: Urge @BarackObama Admin to drop insistence that #Mubarak lead transition in #Egypt http://bit.ly/i0BPJv #jan25
less than 20 seconds ago via web

US: Drop Insistence That Mubarak Lead Democracy Transition



The U.S. is still insisting that a transition to democracy in Egypt should be led by the Mubarak government, while the opposition in Egypt sees the departure of the present government as necessary for a democratic transition.

Urge the Obama Administration to drop its insistence that a transition to democracy in Egypt should be led by the Mubarak government by writing to the President and your members of Congress.

If you are not a resident of the US, click here to just email President Obama.

In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are.
Please enter your zip/postal code:


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5686

Hillary Clinton, YESTERDAY

"We do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back," she said. "What we’re trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power, starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the new prime minister, will begin a process of reaching out, of creating a dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people."

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=636042B0-C220-425D-9485-96FE4D3E221D

[Turborama]

1. K& Rec'd to 0

Shame.

[Catherina]

2. On overtime now. Thanks n/t

[Angry Dragon]

3. How can a corrupt person change overnight??

Strip him and his family of their stolen monies and let him move to ________ fill in the blank

[Catherina]

4. Agreed! Place your bets now! Dubai, Saudi Arabia, London, Paris n/t

[Angry Dragon]

5. Dubai would be my guess.......... seems many are going there

[Catherina]

6. Mine too. n/t

[sabrina 1]

7. Rec'd also ~ to 0

What is astounding is how isolated the U.S. in terms of the rest of the world. The world backs the people of Egypt, except for far right elements who feel safer with a dictator who can keep their liberal thinking neighbors under control.

The U.S. should stop trying to rule the world. I think the world can get along quite well, in fact as we've seen thoroughly exposed now, far better without U.S. interference. We can start backing democracies for a change and then show them the respect that any sovereign nation deserves. But they are NOT our countries to run. I don't know how we got that idea in the first place.

Hillary does need to stop talking Mubarak as if he is relevant anymore. He has been FIRED.

[Catherina]

9. Hillary amuses me. She said that the US would like to see a democratic and non-corrupt leader

She said that the US would like to see a democratic and non-corrupt leader in Egypt. Someone like Papa Doc Duvalier.

[EFerrari]

8. Just this morning, PJ Crowley tweeted that Egypt "must be open"

WHILE the State Department is urging a transition to the leadership of their accomplice in a secret rendition and torture program.

Good one, PJ.

[Catherina]

11. The hypocrisy, or disconnect if you want to be kind, is astounding. Thanks n/t

[sabrina 1]

26. I saw that ~

He posted this also, which may have had an effect as they have released the AJ reporters.

@PJCrowley
Philip J. Crowley
We are concerned by the shutdown of #Al-Jazeera in #Egypt and arrest of its correspondents. Egypt must be open and the reporters released.

[RegieRocker]

10. Gladly done

[Catherina]

12. Thanks. That was the easiest petition I've ever seen n/t

[EFerrari]

13. Invisible rec. n/t

[Catherina]

15. Thanks! Cute term, I like it n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. how many folks do we have around here that are that scared of the devil we don't know

and prefer the one we have?

rhetorical, I know.

[Catherina]

16. +1 rhetorical indeed. Shame on anyone who sides with oppressors! n/t

[blindpig]

17. I think that's what my old man called 'talking to a wall'.

The President has responsibilities and must work this thing so that the outcome is most favorable to those to whom he is responsible.

Unfortunately that's not you, me or the Egyptian people.

[Catherina]

18. Very well said. But Ithink their particular jig is up in the emerging Pan-Arab world.

Lebanese in Egypt

Lebanese ambassador in Egypt assured the Lebanese media that the Lebanese there are safe and sound. He even added that a group of Lebanese arrived to Egypt just the other day to attend a book exhibit. Yeah. I am sure that group of Lebanese went to Egypt for a book exhibit. I believe that.

Posted by As'ad at 6:47 PM

[blindpig]

20. If it ain't up then the music is going very wrong....

but I like it.

[Catherina]

21. I'm slow from lack of sleep (too excited to sleep). Can you explain

I feel clueless.

[blindpig]

23. You should rest.

I was thinking On Lache Rien, or whatever Egyptian equivalent.

Not what they want to hear, not the 'Stability Waltz'.

[Catherina]

25. I played that, Keny Arkana's La Rage, and Alabina's Habibi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqQZ8FM-YH0

Can't sleep. Too excited following this. I set up three computers for the special occasion!

Suspense is killing me

I can't wait one hour longer. This long pan-Arab nightmare has to come to an end. I know Mubarak is finished but I want it over NOW.
Posted by As'ad at 7:27 AM

Write the obituary already!

Going to listen to On Lache Rien now. I'm glad you liked it.

Solidarity!

[sabrina 1]

29. As Elbardadei and Jimmy Carter said

'there is not going back now'. Egypt is changed forever.

The reluctance of the Western Powers to accept the will of the people, after all the 'words' claiming that they do, discredits them even more than they were already.

This is about a sovereign country whose people have spoken. That should be the end of it, really.

[Catherina]

31. Agreed. Past the point of no return. The reactions of the other despots

is highly entertaining

Saudi propagandist explains why Saudi Arabia is spared

"“Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries are going to be spared because they are not democratic regimes,” said Jamal Khashoggi, the general manager of Al Waleed 24 News Channel. People in those countries “don’t feel cheated because there are no elections,” he said."
Posted by As'ad at 7:03 AM

Sons of Arab leaders

I can imagine all Arab leaders telling their sons to study hard: that the future is so uncertain.
Posted by As'ad at 5:42 AM

House of Saud

House of Saud are increasingly intensifying their propaganda on behalf of Mubarak. They have earned a long time enmity of the Egyptian (and Arab) peoples. There are already Facebook pages dedicated against Al-Arabiyya TV (the station of King Fahd's brother-in-law). Now they are reporting about the "need for security". It is all about security. Nothing else. News of crimes and theft dominate their coverage.
Posted by As'ad at 5:29 AM


Saudi media

This is an editorial in Prince Salman's mouthpiece, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, by its editor-in-chief. It says: the freedoms in Egypt "exceeds those of all other republics of ours, including Lebanon."
Posted by As'ad at 5:26 AM


Lebanese in Egypt

Lebanese ambassador in Egypt assured the Lebanese media that the Lebanese there are safe and sound. He even added that a group of Lebanese arrived to Egypt just the other day to attend a book exhibit. Yeah. I am sure that group of Lebanese went to Egypt for a book exhibit. I believe that.
Posted by As'ad at 6:47 PM

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

[justiceischeap]

19. Kick for Catherina. (eom)

[Catherina]

22. Thank you! I'm amused by attempts to bury stuff. Must be freedom worshippers n/t

[jonnyblitz]

34. not freedom worshippers, obama worshippers.

even the mediocre have their intense fans.

[Catherina]

37. Very childish. Too amusing. n/t

[Joanne98]

24. Done

[Catherina]

27. For all the good it will do but thanks. I changed the message

and expressed my anger at the hypocrisy telling them this admin isn't fooling anyone, especially not in Egypt.

[Catherina]

28. delete dupe

[dipsydoodle]

30. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Donnachaidh]

32. k&r 10000!!! n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. Done. K&R and Thanks, Catherina.

[Catherina]

38. Anything to stop this charade. n/t

[villager]

35. so what new petrified/too-timid party line here has people unreccing this?

:shrug:

[Catherina]

36. Jars with the current attempt to rewite the script currently being pushed

that Obama led this revolution. I kid you not, he coordinated the whole thing!

[sabrina 1]

41. Between the Wikileaks cables on Egypt and the reluctance

of the U.S. to dump this dictator, our government is not looking too great these days around the world. The private admissions in the cables that Mubarak's role was NOT to facilitate a peace agreement in the ME, but to delay it, destroys the claim that he 'was our best friend and ally in the ME peace process'.

He traded on that reputation, which is all it was apparently, to keep the U.S. supporting him. It paid well.

[Catherina]

43. I still need to read those.

My bookmarked to read later list is growing longer by the day.

It's been an amazing start to what I hope will be an amazing year.

Do you have a link to the cable's themselves handy?

The US embassy cables
WikiLeaks cables show close US relationship with Egyptian president
US embassy cable predicted Hosni Mubarak, if still alive in 2011, would run again for presidency 'and, inevitably, win'

Luke Harding
guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 January 2011 15.17 GMT

Secret US embassy cables sent from Cairo in the past two years reveal that the Obama administration wanted to maintain a close political and military relationship with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who is now facing a popular uprising.

...

Another cable, from March 2009, shows the US's astonishingly intimate military relationship with Egypt. Washington provides Cairo $1.3bn annually in foreign military finance (FMF) to purchase US weapons and defence equipment, and the cable said. "President Mubarak and military leaders view our military assistance programme as the cornerstone of our mil-mil relationship and consider the $1.3bn in annual FMF as 'untouchable compensation' for making and maintaining peace with Israel.

"The tangible benefits to our mil-mil relationship are clear: Egypt remains at peace with Israel, and the US military enjoys priority access to the Suez canal and Egyptian airspace."

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/wikileaks-cairo-cables-egypt-president

[sabrina 1]

48. I think they are at the Guardian's site.

Some have been published because they are relevant to current events.

Here, eg, is a meeting with Mubarak's son Gamal and Joe Lieberman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/193343

It's interesting how little coverage these cables are getting here.

Same thing with the Palestine Papers which have revealed some explosive material regarding the PA and its complete betrayal of the Palestinian people.

You would think these historic revelations would be headlines here!

We are so censored!

[egressingsparrowdrop]

39. Unrecced...I don't agree with this at all...

Look at the mission statement of that website:

"Just Foreign Policy is an independent and non-partisan membership organization dedicated to reforming U.S. foreign policy by mobilizing and organizing the broad majority of Americans who want a foreign policy based on diplomacy, law and cooperation."

Based upon that, I think the US government is taking the wiser position in asking the Mubarek government to transition to democracy.
This alternative request from the US, that Mubarek leave now, would not be an appropriate move. It would not be cooperative or diplomatic, as the website claims to be in favour of.

[Catherina]

40. I'm glad it's not the US government's call. We've seen what kind of democratic leaders

they write checks to. Thanks for your honesty and explanation. I respect that you see it differently.

[egressingsparrowdrop]

44. The Obama administration IS calling for democracy. That's a pretty solid position...

...and Obama has spoken many words of support for the protesters.

If the US was to demand, or even indicate a preference, that Mubarek leave now I don't think that would help the situation. It could worsen it.

If Mubarek declared elections will happen do you think people would be happy with that? Then they would know, under fair elections, he will be gone.

[Catherina]

45. Lol. Too bad the Egyptians aren't falling for that.

Neocons meeting in the White House. Hillary's statement in the OP and countless threads right here at DU. Please read up so the future doesn't shock you.

[egressingsparrowdrop]

47. There's nothing for them to "fall for." Hillary's statement is quite clear...

it signaled support for the people and what they want...maybe you need to "read up." Perhaps the bolding confused you.

I think nobody thinks Mubarek will remain, and people here who suggest the US administration is wanting to work the situation so Mubarek will stay are mired in conspiracy fantasy. You can't argue with the people when they rise up, and Hillary/Obama/et al realize that.

What makes you think the Egyptian people are looking to the US for their make or break support? Or that the US can/will control the outcome of this?

You imply both with your words "Egyptians aren't falling for that" and "read up so the future doesn't shock you."

[Catherina]

49. You admitted your goal is to waste people's time so on ignore you go. Bye n/t

[egressingsparrowdrop]

52. yeah, ok. whatever

child

[sabrina 1]

50. Maybe you need to read the Egypt cables.

There you will find out how much the U.S. wanted to remain in Mubarak's good graces. How they were advised, and followed the advice, to tone down publicly asking the Mubarak regime to stop torturing and brutalizing its population because, the cables say, he was a bit sensitive about being told how to deal with his own people.

Sorry, but had the people not risen up themselves, this administration would never have changed our policies towards that brutal regime. Any doubt of that was erased by reading the cables.

Sunlight, it puts things in perspective. Now that the people have spoken, they have messed up U.S. policy towards Egypt and that explains the hesitancy of the administration to come right out and support the people. You can always tell when people are prevaricating.

This should have been an easy decision. The Dictator or the People. For a Democracy there was one clear choice.

You need to read those cables and see how well informed the U.S. was about the brutality being inflicted on the Egyptian people. Against lawyers trying to represent clients, against any kind of dissent. Even against doormen to buildings that were robbed. The doormen would be taken away and tortured.

THEY KNEW ALL THIS! And now they are like kids stealing candy, they're trying to find a way to squirm out of their criminal support for a man they should have been ashamed to ever associate with.

[Catherina]

51. +1. You're a rock star Sabrina n/t

[egressingsparrowdrop]

53. I hear this administration supporting the people.

That is indisputable.

[sabrina 1]

54. You are not an Egyptian. They don't just get to hear the words,

for the past two years they have experienced who this administration has supported.

The Embassy Cables, as I said above, leave no doubt that this administration was willing to mute its requests for human rights in order to keep their relationship with the dictator. It is there, in their own words. And the people of Egypt suffered as a result of that support. For that reason the approval rating of this administration in Egypt is lower than even Bush's. How about we deal with facts. The proof is there, so wasting time denying it is a useless exercise.

What is needed now if for someone to take a stand on the right side of this historical moment. Like Egypt, I don't think our government will do the right thing by these people, they never have. So, it's up to the American people to show their support for democracy and for an end to policies of supporting dictators all over the world.

[egressingsparrowdrop]

57. Not denying the cables or their contents or your analysis...

...I've just been saying that Clinton and Obama are indicating that it's time for the people to decide their future there.

That's not good enough for some. They want the Obama administration to tell Mubarek to go. I somehow doubt that would help, and given the history that you have been referring to may actually hurt.

I actually think it's misguided and hypocritical for people who've resented US interference in the world, overt and covert, to be asking it to now step in and issue some type of comment from the mount. The US government has done and said enough. Time for them to shut up and let Egyptians deal with it.

[Le Taz Hot]

61. It's not the U.S. government's right to

determine Egypt's governance. Self-determination doesn't only apply to U.S. citizens, or it shouldn't. It's why we're hated in so many parts of the world, especially the ME and SA. "A foreign policy based on diplomacy, law and cooperation" sounds perfect.

[stephHart]

67. the people may veto whatever TPTB might do

of course we want the current Egyptian admin to change the decorations, otherwise, all our "diplomatic" money would go to waste.

[xchrom]

42. Recommend

[Catherina]

46. From Egypt. Obama regarded as a great hypocrite. Leave us alone.

Interview with Hossam el-Hamalawy
Professor Mark LeVine interviews journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy on the situation in Egypt.

...

WHAT ABOUT the role of the U.S. in this conflict. How do people on the street view its positions?

MUBARAK IS the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid after Israel. He's known to be America's thug in the region, one of the tools of American foreign policy and implementing its agenda of security for Israel and the smooth flow of oil, while keeping Palestinians in line.

So it's no secret that this dictatorship has enjoyed the backing of U.S. administrations since day one, even during Bush's phony pro-democracy rhetoric. So one should not be surprised by Hillary Clinton's ludicrous statements that were more or less defending the Mubarak regime, since one of the pillars of U.S. foreign policy was to keep regimes stable at expense of freedom and civil liberties.

We don't expect anything from Obama, whom we regard as a great hypocrite. But we hope and expect the American people--trade unions, professors' associations, student unions, activist groups--to come out in support of us.

...

The reality is that any really clean government that comes to power in the region will come into open conflict with the U.S. because it will call for radical redistribution of wealth and ending support for Israel or other dictatorships. So we don't expect any help from America--just to leave us alone.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/201112792728200271.html

The whole interview is great

[Radical Activist]

55. Obama is leaving Egypt alone.

And a number of the usual haters at DU seem to be upset about that. When people figure out whether they want Obama to leave Egypt alone or actively promote the revolution let me know. Those are two contradictory demands. The hypocrites are right here in this thread because its easy to see how quickly they change their values in order to bash Obama.

[Desertrose]

58. Kicked, recc'd & signed (oops, was supposed to be to reply to OP)

Thanks for all your hard work, Catherina.

(...and everyone else's on these Egypt threads. :hug: )

[Catherina]

59. Thanks for signing that. I really liked the way they set it up for ease

:hug:

[Radical Activist]

56. Could you post evidence that the US is insisting "Mubarak Lead Democracy Transition"

Because your links don't show that. It takes a lot of spin and speculation to reach that conclusion from the interview you link. And unfortunately, too many bloggers who attack Obama have shown themselves to be dishonest exaggerators. I can't just take someones word for it.

[Le Taz Hot]

60. Done, K & R.

Let's try and keep this kicked.

[Enthusiast]

62. K&R Done! nt

[HCE SuiGeneris]

63. Looks like the people have spoken..

May they find harmony, peace and benevolent rule.

[Turborama]

64. KICK!

:kick:

[Catherina]

65. Thank you to all who spoke. n/t

[malletgirl02]

66. Done nt.

[readmoreoften]

68. Too late to Rec but Kicked. Wow, McCain is ahead of Obama on this. How gross.

Obama just uses populist rhetoric to get votes. Obama Candidacy: Best. Marketing. Campaign. In. History.

[Catherina]

69. Kick, it may not be too late n/t