Morsi Says He Will Work for Release of Sheik Jailed in U.S.

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

CAIRO — President-elect Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood pre-empted the military’s choreographed swearing-in ceremony by taking an oath of office a day early on Friday, in a televised speech to tens of thousands of supporters in Tahrir Square.


But a promise Mr. Morsi made as part of his speech may provoke Washington: to work for the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian-born militant Islamist convicted after the 1993 World Trade Center attack of plotting to bomb several New York City landmarks.

Mr. Morsi referred briefly to Mr. Abdel Rahman in an almost offhand aside in the context of a vow to free Egyptian civilians imprisoned here after military trials under the rule of the generals. “I see signs for Omar Abdel Rahman and detainees’ pictures,” he said. “It is my duty and I will make all efforts to have them free, including Omar Abdel Rahman.”


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/world/middleeast/morsi-promises-to-work-for-release-of-omar-abdel-rahman.html?hp

[geek tragedy]

1. Yeah, good luck with that. The Sheik will die in his cell, Insha'Allah nt

[fujiyama]

2. Hey Marsi

Fuck You!

[MADem]

3. Oh jeeeeez.

Well, he just guaranteed that his hands will get no where NEAR those 1.4 million dollars worth of military aid checks. Those things will be signed over to General So-and-so and Admiral SuchNSuch.

The guy has to realize that the days are long gone when you could play it one way to the home crowd, and another way on the international stage.

A Brotherhood spokesman said later that Mr. Morsi intended to ask federal officials in the United States to have Mr. Abdel Rahman extradited to Egypt on humanitarian grounds. He was not seeking to have Mr. Abdel Rahman’s convictions overturned or calling him a political prisoner.

An Obama administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, shrugged it all off as empty talk, saying, “There is zero chance this happens.”

I also think Mr. Morsi ought to consider the purchase of some quality ballistic clothing. There's a company in Columbia SA that makes wonderful stuff--it looks for all the world like high quality menswear (they are starting to make women's clothing as well), but it will stop a bullet pretty decisively. If Reagan had been wearing the stuff he would have gone home from the hospital after his bruises were examined, instead of having to recuperate for some time. If the new president keeps doing this kind of routine, someone will take him up on his dare--look at what happened to Sadat, after all:

“I am here today with you, with the Egyptian people,” he said. Later, pulling open his sport coat, he said: “I have nothing to protect me from any bullets. I fear God almighty and then I work for you.” The moment was in vivid contrast to Mr. Mubarak’s heavily guarded public speeches.

You can criticize Mubarak for a lot, but I don't blame him for the bodyguards--he was ON that dais when his good friend, his Air Force Academy chum, his "Free Officers" fellow stalwart, his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was killed. Eleven others were killed as well that ghastly day--it was a massacre--and dozens wounded--including Mubarak....so dissing him for being careful is kind of a cheap shot. It's not like assassination is off the table just because he says so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/world/middleeast/morsi-promises-to-work-for-release-of-omar-abdel-rahman.html?_r=1&hp

[riderinthestorm]

4. Oh well THAT'S going to reassure the world that he's not just another Islamist

groupie...

Jeez, what a way to make one's grand appearance on the international stage.

[may3rd]

6. oh, C'mon... give 'em an inch will ya ?

He probably said that to appease a voter block. He won't use that as a carrot to keep the peace deal in tact....

[DCBob]

5. RW media will be all over this if not already..

"Obama's fault!" or "This is just what Obama-the-Muslim wanted."

[may3rd]

7. other sources remain upbeat about ' for whom the freedom bell tolls'

On Friday, Morsi defied the ruling generals by reading a symbolic oath of office in Tahrir Square, where Egypt's revolution was born.

....
Post-revolution Egyptians to US: Stay out

At one point, Morsi opened his jacket to show the crowd he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, then declared he "fears no one but God."


http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/30/12495556-islamist-mohammed-morsi-sworn-in-as-egypt-president?lite

well then,
we will see how long the gloves stay on,
over the covered fists