The Freedom Watch

Egypt court orders Hosni Mubarak freed

"An Egyptian court has ordered the release on bail of former President Hosni Mubarak in a corruption case. Analysts say Mr Mubarak's release - if it happens - would be seen by many as a sign the military is rolling back the changes that flowed from the 2011 uprising. European Union foreign ministers on Wednesday held urgent talks to determine a response to the clampdown. Arms are provided by individual countries rather than the EU as a whole, mostly by Germany, France and Spain. The UK has already suspended some of its military help." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt court orders Hosni Mubarak freed

Lawmaker: Lindsey Graham ‘a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood’

"According to The State, state Sen. Lee Bright (R) slammed Graham for fulfilling Obama’s request to visit the country alongside Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), saying that instead of listening to constituents’ concerns during the congressional recess, Graham 'has instead chosen to take his time to be a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood.' Bright, one of three Republican challengers for Graham, told the Associated Press that his trip to Egypt with McCain would fuel the country’s recent instability. 'They are outsiders, trying to come in and tell them how to operate internal affairs in their country,' Bright said to the AP." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLawmaker: Lindsey Graham ‘a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood’

Obama’s Half-Brother Linked To Muslim Brotherhood

"Malik Obama’s oversight of the Muslim Brotherhood’s international investments is one reason for the Obama administration’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to an Egyptian report citing the vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Tehani al-Gebali. In a news report on Egyptian television of a Gebali speech, translated by researcher Walid Shoebat, a former Palestinian Liberation Organization operative, Gebali said she would like 'to inform the American people that their president’s brother Obama is one of the architects of the major investments of the Muslim Brotherhood.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s Half-Brother Linked To Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Brotherhood faces ban as Egypt rulers pile on pressure

"Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood risks political elimination, with the new army-backed government threatening to ban the Islamist organization after launching a fierce crackdown on its supporters that has killed hundreds. Struggling to stamp its authority on Egypt following the ousting last month of President Mohamed Mursi, the country's new rulers have upped the rhetoric, saying the Arab world's most populous nation is at war with terrorism. The crackdown has, however, drawn messages of support from key Arab allies like Saudi Arabia, which have long feared the spread of Brotherhood ideology to the Gulf monarchies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMuslim Brotherhood faces ban as Egypt rulers pile on pressure

Brother Of Al-Qaeda Chief Al-Zawahiri Reportedly Detained In Egypt

"Egyptian authorities have arrested the brother of al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri, a security official said Saturday. He said Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, the city across the Nile from Cairo. Mohammed al-Zawahri's group espouses a hard-line ideology but was not clandestine prior to Egypt's July 3 coup. He was allied with ousted President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, whose supporters are now taking to the streets to protest the killings of its supporters in a security crackdown last week. The official declined to give further details. He spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to talk to the press." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBrother Of Al-Qaeda Chief Al-Zawahiri Reportedly Detained In Egypt

The Muslim Holy War Against The ‘Great Satan’

"Western imperialism and its terrorist puppet regimes in this vast region over two centuries have produced an immense, exploding cauldron of rage against the puppets and the imperialists. The people have returned to their Muslim roots to give them hope and strength to endure the terrible wars they must fight for decades to rid their ancient homelands of these imperialists. The U.S. is sinking into an immense cauldron of Holy War against a billion Muslims and is fighting them with mercenary troops who for the most part believe in nothing but their pay-checks and retirement perks. It may even take a century of terrible war, but the outcome seems obvious." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Muslim Holy War Against The ‘Great Satan’

The army pulled the trigger, but the West loaded the gun

"To focus on the actions of the security forces alone, on what they did with their trigger fingers yesterday, is to miss the bigger picture; it is to overlook the question of where the military regime got the moral authority to clamp down on its critics so violently in the name of preserving its undemocratic grip on power. It got it from the West, including from so-called Western liberals and human-rights activists. The moral ammunition for yesterday’s massacres was provided by the very politicians and campaigners now crying crocodile tears over the sight of hundreds of dead Egyptians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe army pulled the trigger, but the West loaded the gun

CFR’s Leslie Gelb on Egypt: Hold Your Nose and Back the Junta!

"Long-time foreign policy insider Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, believes democracy is when the guys he likes win. Free elections that produce 'enemies' of the US or Israel are by definition not democratic and the winners should be overthrown by the US and its allies. Gelb is back this weekend, penning a piece as Egypt drowns in blood in the aftermath of the military massacre of supporters of the deposed president Morsi. He warns us against getting bogged down in 'moral posturing about democracy in Egypt' and urges that we 'hold our nose and back Egypt’s military.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR’s Leslie Gelb on Egypt: Hold Your Nose and Back the Junta!

Eric Margolis: Storm On The Nile

"So far, army and security police have scored brilliant battlefield victories against unarmed men, women and children, killing and wounding thousands who were demanding a return to democratic government. The latest Cairo protests by supporters of the elected Morsi government have been scattered by gunfire and huge armored bulldozers resembling the giant vehicles used by Israel to smash Palestinian barricades and protesters. All Egyptians opposing the Sisi dictatorship are now officially, 'terrorists.' Egypt’s generals and hard right Mubarakist supporters have ditched any pretense of civilian government and now rely on the bayonet and tank. The men with the guns make the rules." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: Storm On The Nile

The Egyptian Debacle

"Of all the promise of the Arab Spring [..] perhaps the greatest was the idea that the region could escape the paralyzing political trap that offered Western-backed dictatorship or radical Islamism as its only alternatives. These repressive Arab societies — so illustrative of Western hypocrisy in their power structures, so deadening to the hopes of the young, so shot through with nepotism and cronyism, so distant from a glimpsed modernity — resembled factories for militant Islam rather than bulwarks against it. When the only place to gather is the mosque, when 'secular' equals Western-backed dictatorship and when 'elections' amount to a rigged farce, the consolation of the Islamist cause grows." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Egyptian Debacle