New Egyptian VP Ran Mubarak's Security Team, Oversaw Torture

[jakeXT]

Omar Suleiman Offered To Chop Off Man's Arm For CIA, Says Author


The intelligence chief tapped by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as his vice president and potential successor aided the U.S. with its rendition program, intelligence experts told ABC News, and oversaw the torture of an Al Qaeda suspect whose information helped justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

..

Ron Suskind, author of the book The One Percent Doctrine, called Suleiman the "hit man" for the Mubarak regime. He told ABC News that when the CIA asked Suleiman for a DNA sample from a relative of Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Suleiman offered the man's whole arm instead.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/egypt-crisis-omar-suleiman-cia-rendition/story?id=12812445

well, you can't say he isn't cooperating

[snagglepuss]

1. It is utterly obscene that he is being given the reins. How the hell is the

Admin going to defend a creep who actually participated in torture? They can't say Sulieman didn't know what was going on because his personal involvement is public knowledge.

[EFerrari]

2. They don't have to defend it if nobody knows about it.n/t

[snagglepuss]

3. But people do know about. I believe it was the Guardian that ran an article about

Sulieman the other day detailing his personal participation in interrogations.

[EFerrari]

4. I found an article where The Guardian mentions it from yesterday.

But not very many people in America read The Guardian.

Maybe I've been so focused on the protests that I'm not up to speed but I haven't seen this get the weight it deserves except in this ABC article.

[jakeXT]

5. I first saw it on commondreams criticizing Al Jazeera

In response to the mass protests of recent days, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has appointed his first Vice President in his over 30 years rule, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. When Suleiman was first announced, Aljazeera commentators were describing him as a "distinguished" and "respected " man. It turns out, however, that he is distinguished for, among other things, his central role in Egyptian torture and in the US rendition to torture program. Further, he is "respected" by US officials for his cooperation with their torture plans, among other initiatives.


http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/30-2

[EFerrari]

6. It's been there and at similar outlets but not in the corporate media.

That's why we need to protect the intertubes. :)

[jakeXT]

10. I guess Amanpour didn't ask him directly

In his first interview since becoming Egypt's newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman agreed to sit down with me at the Presidential Palace today. I did so just after speaking with President Mubarak.

Until today, Sulieman had not agreed to do any interviews. Today, he went on Egyptian state television and then sat down with for an exclusive interview with me - the first interview he has agreed to do with foreign media. In his first interview since becoming Egypt's newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman agreed to sit down with me at the Presidential Palace today. I did so just after speaking with President Mubarak.

Until today, Sulieman had not agreed to do any interviews. Today, he went on Egyptian state television and then sat down with for an exclusive interview with me - the first interview he has agreed to do with foreign media.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/egypt-abc-news-christiane-amanpour-exclusive-interview-vice/story?id=12836594

[JDPriestly]

9. I first heard this on Ian Master's program on KPFK

which I highly recommend. Best news program on radio along with Thom Hartmann. Masters has even more information and more in-depth interviews than Hartmann.

[renegade000]

7. i doubt they're going to try to polish that turd.

The administration is in a tight spot. On the one hand, they know that the right thing to do is to help out the Egyptian people in their desires to oust Mubarak and establish a democratic society. On the other hand, they're faced with the huge problem of actually getting Mubarak to step down and cede power. It's not like simply denouncing him in public and voicing unequivocal support for the protesters is going to make Mubarak vanish. His been in power for decades; he's got the weapons (that we helped supply) and his power structure. Even if we cut the aid, if he chooses to hold out, I'm sure he'll last a while (with nothing left to lose either, so his repression will be a bloodbath), kind of like this bastard:



(oh, i'm referring to the bastard on the right, btw :P)

In light of this, I view this deal not as some lame attempt to play a shell-game with the Egyptian people, but rather a compromise with Mubarak's regime in an attempt to prevent them from going into full-on massacre mode. Sure, given the hypothetical pick of any outcome, this is still a pretty rotten one. But, I can certainly understand the desire of the administration to prevent this from being a repeat of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, or some disaster of that magnitude.

[JDPriestly]

8. Obama needs to say no more military aid if Suleiman takes power.

[JDPriestly]

11. I must add that I now heard on the radio that Suleiman was charged

with keeping the Muslim extremists at bay. If a fledgling democracy is to have a chance ALL extremists must be kept at bay just a bit. So, maybe that is why he is being supported. The economic progress of the country will not immediately improve just because elections are held.

And until there is economic progress and a fairer distribution of wealth in Egypt (and in many other places such as the US), we will have difficulty with extremists.