Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising

[riverwalker]

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
By Tim Ross, Matthew Moore and Steven Swinford 9:23PM GMT 28 Jan 2011



The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html

[elias49]

1. Whoa! Curiouser and curiouser! nt

[BOG PERSON]

2. US gov't

overthrows client regimes for the hell of it? whatever :eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

3. not unheard of. witness saddam hussein.

but i predict this thread will go nowhere.

fact is, we have no idea what's going on behind the scenes.

however, us has been putting some pressure on mubarak for a while.

maybe us didn't like the idea of his son taking over.

maybe it needs the "hope" instilled by a change of gov't to keep a lid on the me.

[Hannah Bell]

5. going nowhere: contra the mainstream narrative

the more i watch the msm coverage the more i think there's something to it

[BOG PERSON]

9. nah

the US government doesn't send the egyptian opposition $1.2 billion every year

[BOG PERSON]

10. n/m

[Hannah Bell]

13. they send the military that. i didn't say anything about sending it to the opposition.

The United States has provided Egypt with an annual average of over $2 billion in economic and
military foreign assistance since 1979.

P.L. 111-8, the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act,
provides $200 million in Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance and $1.3 billion in Foreign
Military Financing (FMF) assistance to Egypt.

For the first time, Congress stipulated that FMF
grants to Egypt may be used for “border security programs and activities in the Sinai,” a reference
to anti-smuggling initiatives on the Egypt-Gaza border. The ESF grants to Egypt were less than
half of the FY2008 level with $20 million earmarked for democracy programs and $35 million
for education programs, including scholarships for Egyptian students with high financial need.
Egypt received an additional $50 million in ESF assistance from P.L. 111-32, the FY2009
Supplemental Appropriations Act. S. 1434, the Senate version of the Department of State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2010 (which awaits floor action), includes
a provision that would fund a U.S.-Egypt endowment.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33003.pdf

[BOG PERSON]

15. no you did not

the question is why would they invest so much money in mubarak's regime and in supporting the cronyist/patronage networks that depend on him, just to throw him to the wolves now? and for the sole reason that it is an election year?

[Hannah Bell]

16. because they asked him politely to leave, & he won't?

many possible reasons.

fact is, we the little people can only speculate.

or take the word of the proven liars that run our gov'ts.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Oh, this is from WikiLeaks cables....Interesting! Here's link to the cable:

HERE

PB

[Cirque du So-What]

6. Taking this with a grain of salt

This is the Torygraph, after all. Not as bad as FAUX, but still representing the interests of those who would rather pay lip service to a dictator than see a people's uprising succeed.

[Hannah Bell]

7. it's also wikileaks.

the more i watch the tv coverage, the more i think there's something to it.

[renegade000]

8. here's the link

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/12/08CAIRO2572.html

[BOG PERSON]

11. it's one activist

that's all it takes to incite chaos in an entire country? come on. next they'll be claiming that that mohammed bouzazi guy in tunisia was an american agent.

[Hannah Bell]

14. fail

[Turborama]

19. "unrealistic plan" "no feasible plans" "highly unrealistic goal"

Also:

"Most opposition parties and
independent NGOs work toward achieving tangible, incremental
reform within the current political context, even if they may
be pessimistic about their chances of success. XXXXXXXXXXXX's
wholesale rejection of such an approach places him outside
this mainstream of opposition politicians and activists.
"

Doesn't sound like "America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising" in the slightest.

They're just repeating what some activist had told them.

[BOG PERSON]

20. agreed

just because the US is aware of a nebulous opposition does not make the US responsible for it

[snagglepuss]

12. .

[inna]

17. torygraph? meh.

[goforit]

18. All in the name of Democracy???....Not. Something else

but what reason for US to trigger another regime change.
Oil?
Power?
Jewels?
Drugs?
Pyramids?