On Wednesday, I warned that the fascist regime of Bashar al-Assad planned to confront any protesters who showed up in Damascus on Friday. That was enough. Remembering how his father gassed an entire city in 1982, on Friday - and on Saturday too - the protesters stayed home.
A weeklong online campaign failed to galvanize the kinds of mass protests that have rocked Tunisia and Egypt in recent weeks. In fact, no one showed up Friday and Saturday for what were to be "days of rage" against the Syrian president's iron-fisted rule.
By Saturday afternoon, the number of plainclothes security agents stationed protectively in key areas of the old city of the capital, Damascus, had begun to dwindle.
"The only rage in Syria yesterday was the rage of nature," wrote Syrian journalist Ziad Haidar, in reference to a cold spell and heavy rain lashing the country.
But it was more than just the weather that kept Syrians at home. A host of factors - including intimidation by security agents and President Bashar Assad's popular anti-Israel policies - kept Syria quiet this weekend.
"Syria has its own set of peculiarities that make it quite different from Egypt and Tunisia," said Mazen Darwish, a journalist who headed the independent Syrian Media Center until it was closed down in 2009.
A major difference is that Assad - unlike leaders in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan - is not allied with the United States, so he is spared the accusation that he caters to American demands.
Interview with Osmaa Mahfouz, organizer of Egypt demonstrations
Here's an interview with Osmaa Mahfouz, the organizer of the Egyptian demonstrations. It's amazing that this petite woman is on the verge of bringing down a dictator who has been in power for thirty years. Notice - no mention of Israel. And I doubt she is from the Muslim Brotherhood either.
The Jerusalem Post talks to Egyptian demonstrators about Israel and discovers that more than thirty years after Camp David, they still hate us.
"After Camp David, all the Arab world sees that we are no longer a leader. Camp David made us a slave”
Like many at Tahir square on Tuesday night, 26-year-old Mohammed Salama of Cairo spoke of an eagerness for Egypt to shelve its nearly three decade old peace agreement with Israel, but insisted he does not want the country to go to war with Israel. In his hands he held a sign reading in Arabic “Netanyahu is worried about Mubarak”, which he said he wrote because “this is my country and my leader, I don’t want him to care about Israel, only about my country.”
Salama spoke moments after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave a nationwide speech vowing to hold new elections in six months in which he would not run. Like all of those spoken to by The Jerusalem Post after the speech, Salama said he didn’t feel the speech represented a victory for the movement, only a new ploy by Mubarak to stall and stay in power. Salama and all others spoken to by the Post vowed that they would stay in the square as long as it takes until Mubarak leaves and that the revolution is far from over.
Salama’s friend, Hazan Ahmed, 29, said the years of peace with Israel are tinged with the sting of humiliation, and that Egyptians still feel they’re country is not completely free of the Israeli occupation of the Sinai which ended under Camp David.
“The Egyptian army can’t enter Sinai, we feel that it is still Israel. There are Israeli people there all the time, but when we go, we have to stop at checkpoints and we get turned back. We don’t feel that Sinai is Egyptian.”
Ahmed said he didn’t want Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel completely demolished, but for it to undergo a serious change.
“It should be remodeled. With Mubarak leaving, we know that whoever comes next will remodel the agreement.”
When asked about the fact that Israel and Egypt have not gone to war since the agreement was signed, Ahmed, an unemployed medical school graduate said “yes, we have peace, but we have no dignity.”
Cairene Mohammed Gadi, a 33-year-old sales manager, walked around Tahrir square Tuesday holding a placard of Mubarak with a star of David drawn on his forehead. When asked about the sign, he said he wrote it because “we don’t want to take our orders from Israel anymore. We will keep the peace, but we won’t let Israel or any other country tell us what to do anymore. We don’t need to take orders from the world.”
Abdel Aziz, 27, from Mubarak’s hometown of Kfar El-Meselha, held a sign Tuesday saying “Bollocks to you Mubarak, it’s all over”. When asked about Israel, Aziz said “this is not about Israel, this is about our country first, we don’t care about other countries. This is not why we are doing this.”
Ahmad Ragab, 42, spoke more vehemently towards Israel saying “look, all Egyptian people hate Israel, only Sadat wanted Camp David. We know that Israel will be mad about what is happening here, and we know that Netanyahu can’t sleep now. We know that with the change here, there won’t be peace with Israel. There won’t be a war, but I don’t think there will be an Israeli embassy in Egypt any more, we will have only the most minimal relations.”
Ragab, who studied Chinese and works in Egypt-China business relations, said “we know the revolution will change this and that’s that, we see every day what Israel is doing with the Palestinians.”
At the same time, like all others asked by the Jerusalem Post after Mubarak’s speech about the revolution’s meaning for Israel-Egypt relations, Ragab said the issue was not at all at the heart of the January 25th upheaval.
After more than 30 years, we want peace, and they want 'honor.' What could go wrong?
Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has given President Hosni Mubarak until Friday to leave the country or the latter will be a 'dead man walking' (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
ElBaradei, who won the Nobel Peace prize while heading the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency despite his defense of Iran’s nuclear development, accused Mubarak of trying to deceive the country by not resigning immediately. ElBaradei has said that he is not necessarily interested in replacing Mubarak.
Although the president said he will not run for re-election, he did not mention the name of his son Gamal, who has been groomed to be his successor. Gamal and his family reportedly fled the country last week when it was clear that the protest movement was becoming a threat to his father’s regime.
Working against Mubarak is President Obama’s decision to instruct U.S. ambassador to Egypt Margret Scobey to speak with ElBaradei. The move was "part of our public outreach to convey support for an orderly transition in Egypt," according to U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.
President Obama earlier said in reaction to Mubarak’s speech that an “orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.”
He also sent former ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner, a personal friend of Mubarak, to Cairo to report back on the situation.
Hmmm. I wonder if ElBaradei believes that the army will back him.
In an earlier post, I reported on Saturday's planned demonstrations in Syria. Unfortunately for the demonstrators, the Syrians do not plan on taking the demonstrations lying down.
Elaph sources in Syria have revealed that President Bashar al-Assad has been holding intensive meetings with the chiefs of internal security to take precautionary measures in preventing any protests , similar to those that are taking place in Egypt . They reportedly discussed the withdrawal of military units from the borders with Iraq to Damascus where the demonstrations are planned for February 5 in front of the Syrian parliament.
The security measures include intensified monitoring of the Kurds and Islamists, who are the main sectors that are opposed to the regime
The opposition will be reportedly demanding constitutional changes , cleanup of prisons ending the corruption and addressing unemployment and poverty problems.
And they're not even demanding the Golan Heights.... What could go wrong?
Tom Friedman: Now's the time for Israel to give the 'Palestinians' whatever they want
Of course. The new Egyptian government is likely to hate us and may abrogate what's left of our treaty with them. Jordanian King Abdullah may yet be on his way out, and whoever takes his place is likely to hate us and may abrogate what's left of our treaty with them. And Tom Friedman's solution? Give the 'Palestinians' whatever they want so that they will be our friends (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
But Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel is in danger of becoming the Mubarak of the peace process. Israel has never had more leverage vis-à-vis the Palestinians and never had more responsible Palestinian partners. But Netanyahu has found every excuse for not putting a peace plan on the table. The Americans know it. And thanks to the nasty job that Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV just did in releasing out of context all the Palestinian concessions — to embarrass the Palestinian leadership — it’s now obvious to all how far the Palestinians have come.
No, I do not know if this Palestinian leadership has the fortitude to close a deal. But I do know this: Israel has an overwhelming interest in going the extra mile to test them.
Why? With the leaders of both Egypt and Jordan scrambling to shuffle their governments in an effort to stay ahead of the street, two things can be said for sure: Whatever happens in the only two Arab states that have peace treaties with Israel, the moderate secularists who had a monopoly of power will be weaker and the previously confined Muslim Brotherhood will be stronger. How much remains to be seen.
As such, it is virtually certain that the next Egyptian government will not have the patience or room that Mubarak did to maneuver with Israel. Same with the new Jordanian cabinet. Make no mistake: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing to do with sparking the demonstrations in Egypt and Jordan, but Israeli-Palestinian relations will be impacted by the events in both countries.
If Israel does not make a concerted effort to strike a deal with the Palestinians, the next Egyptian government will “have to distance itself from Israel because it will not have the stake in maintaining the close relationship that Mubarak had,” said Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian pollster. With the big political changes in the region, “if Israel remains paranoid and messianic and greedy it will lose all its Arab friends.”
To put it bluntly, if Israelis tell themselves that Egypt’s unrest proves why Israel cannot make peace with the Palestinian Authority, then they will be talking themselves into becoming an apartheid state — they will be talking themselves into permanently absorbing the West Bank and thereby laying the seeds for an Arab majority ruled by a Jewish minority between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
As usual, Friedman has it all wrong.
If we make 'peace' with the 'Palestinian leadership' and they are thrown out as is now happening to Mubarak, there will be no Sinai Peninsula to act as a buffer between us.
Egypt and Jordan may well attack us, but if they do, it won't be because they want to create a 'Palestinian state' or because they cannot stand the 'injustice' being perpetrated on the 'Palestinians.' It will be because they wish to terminate the existence of the Jewish state (God forbid) just like the 'Palestinians' wish to do.
And there is no demographic time bomb and there will not be a majority of 'Palestinians' 'from the River to the Sea' in your lifetime or mine, Tom, so long as we don't give all those 'Palestinians' in 'refugee camps' in Jordan and Syria and Lebanon and Iraq a 'right' to 'return' to Israel. The 'Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics' is about as reliable as anything else in the Arab world - that is to say not at all.
In Cairo, pro and anti-Mubarak forces are clashing in the streets as President Mubarak tries to maintain his hold on office for the time being in the name of an 'orderly transition' of power (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
Hours after a call from Egypt’s powerful military for the president’s opponents to “restore normal life,” thousands of men, some carrying fresh flags and newly printed signs supporting Mr. Mubarak, surged into Tahrir Square.
Some waved off reporters and yelled, “No photos.”
They were outnumbered by Mr. Mubarak’s opponents, who have spent nine days in the square insisting on his ouster. Clashes erupted close to the Egyptian Museum housing a huge trove of priceless antiquities.
The two sides traded volleys of rocks and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. Many were led or carried away with bleeding head wounds. Antigovernment protesters organized themselves into groups, smashing chunks of concrete into smaller projectiles to be hurled at their adversaries. The violence was the most serious since the antigovernment protesters laid claim to Tahrir, or Liberation, Square days ago as they pursued what seemed to be a largely peaceful campaign for Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.
Hours before the violence erupted in the square, antigovernment protesters had been chanting: “We are not going to go; we are not going to go.”
In counterpoint, demonstrators supporting Mr. Mubarak chorused back: “He’s not going to go; he’s not going to go.”
At one point, plumes of smoke, apparently from tear gas, rose above the rival crowds surging back and forth as the two sides fought for the upper hand.
“Where’s the Egyptian army?” antigovernment demonstrators chanted.
“They are trying to create chaos,” said Mohamed Ahmed, 30. “This is what Mubarak wants.”
The army took no immediate action as the skirmishes intensified, leaving the competing demonstrators to press toward one another. But troops with bayonets fixed to their AK-47 assault rifles fanned out near the museum as antigovernment protesters sought to build makeshift barricades to keep their foes at bay. And eventually, several tanks maneuvered into position between the two clashing crowds, and soldiers tried to calm both.
Some antigovernment protesters used the shelter of the tanks to launch rocks, and others said they believed their foes were agents of the authorities. At one point, they began calling for the soldiers to fire into the air to disperse their opponents.
A short while ago, Israel Radio played a recording of gunfire on the streets of Cairo, and apparently a number of people have been shot. Several journalists report that they have been beaten, including Israel Radio's Gideon Kutz, and CNN's Anderson Cooper.
Speaking of CNN, here's some video they did in Cairo. Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Hot Air).
Four Israeli journalists were arrested in Cairo - apparently on Tuesday night - for violating the curfew order.
Mark Levin interviews Caroline Glick on Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood
On Tuesday night, Mark Levin interviewed Caroline Glick to talk about what's going on in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood and much more. It's a dynamite interview.
Let's go to the videotape.
Levin discusses his own views on the Muslim Brotherhood here.
More in common with Ahmadinejad than with democracy
Mohamed ElBaradei has a lot more in common with Iran than with Western notions of democracy, says Anne Bayefsky in this article on Fox News' website.
Year-after-year for a decade, ElBaradei used his position at the IAEA to stall for time on behalf of Iran. In September 2005 ElBaradei helped push the issue off the Security Council table and bragged: "I am encouraged that the issue has not been referred to the Security Council, precisely to give time for diplomacy and negotiation." Typical of his foot-dragging was his February 2006 report: "Although the Agency has not seen any diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, the Agency is not at this point in time in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran. The process of drawing such a conclusion ... is a time consuming process."
In January 2007, in the midst of growing calls for sanctions against Iran, ElBaradei suggested a "time-out." In September 2007, with stiffer sanctions on the horizon, ElBaradei again called for a "time-out." In January 2008 the IAEA reported: "ElBaradei has repeatedly noted that ... the IAEA has not seen any diversion of material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices."
As soon as ElBaradei was finally replaced as IAEA head early last year, his successor Yukiya Amano attempted to distance himself from the obvious cover-up. He issued a report in which the IAEA, for the first time, said things like - on the basis of "extensive" and "credible" information the IAEA now has "concerns about the possible existence in Iran of ... current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," and "concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program.''
If El Baradei were ever to become President of Egypt, not only would he have helped Iran acquire nuclear weapons, he would undoubtedly turn around and lead the charge for an Egyptian nuclear weapon. Nobel Prize notwithstanding, his calling card is to cast nuclear proliferation as some kind of equal rights game between developed and developing countries.
Read the whole thing. With ElBaradei teaming up with the Muslim Brotherhood, what could go wrong?
For those who haven't figured it out yet, yesterday was a day where I spent very little time on the blog. I'm doing a little catchup today.
Al-Reuters has a roundup of some of the reaction in Israel to what's seen here as President Obama's abandonment of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Some of the comments are quite scathing (Hat Tip: Joe L).
One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was entitled "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam." It accused Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks.
Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East?"
"The politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations ... is painfully naive."
...
"The question is, do we think Obama is reliable or not," said an Israeli official, who declined to be named.
"Right now it doesn't look so. That is a question resonating across the region not just in Israel."
Writing in Haaretz, Ari Shavit said Obama had betrayed "a moderate Egyptian president who remained loyal to the United States, promoted stability and encouraged moderation."
To win popular Arab opinion, Obama was risking America's status as a superpower and reliable ally.
"Throughout Asia, Africa and South America, leaders are now looking at what is going on between Washington and Cairo. Everyone grasps the message: "America's word is worthless ... America has lost it."
Mohamed ElBaradei: Muslim Brotherhood not extremist, like Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews
Putative Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei tells ABC's Christiane Amanpour that the Muslim Brotherhood is 'not extremist' and is no different than Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews.
The interview starts around the 2:00 mark, and the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood runs from about 4:35 to 5:00.
'Contrary to the Western media hype, ElBaradei is nothing'
Here's a fascinating (anonymous) insider's account of what's gone on in Egypt over the past week. I urge you to read the whole thing. You'll be surprised at how little Israel is mentioned.
What bothers me about it is that it is an ideal situation for the Muslim Brotherhood to step into the chaos and take over.
Will Egypt go from one dictatorship to another? What could go wrong?
Under pressure from the Obama administration, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced that he will not stand for re-election in September.
There were few signs that Mubarak’s concession would quell the Egyptian insurrection. “I will die on the soil of Egypt,” he vowed in his announcement — greeted by screams of “leave, leave” and “get out” by protesters. “I will say with all honesty … that I was not intent on standing for the next election because I have spent enough time in serving Egypt and I am now careful to conclude my work for Egypt by presenting Egypt to the next government in a constitutional way.’
In another sign of Washington’s carefully calibrated exit strategy, the United States also said Tuesday that it had reached out to Mohammed ElBaradei the former International Atomic Energy Agency chief who has emerged as the leader of Egypt’s currently united opposition political movement.
“As part of our public outreach to convey support for orderly transition in Egypt, Amb. [Margaret] Scobey spoke today with Mohammed ElBaradei,” State Department PJ Crowley said in a tweet Tuesday.
The acknowledgement of opposition contact came a day after the administration dispatched Wisner to Cairo as its envoy, and as the Egyptian unrest appeared to be at a pivotal tipping point, with a few glimmers of optimism that with the army agreeing not to fire on protesters and the Egyptian opposition uniting behind a single leader, the Egyptian street revolt might shift towards the post-Mubarak era without enormous bloodshed.
The Egyptian people aren't buying it. And there have been shots fired on Tuesday night in Alexandria. Mubarak's announcement is too little too late for many Egyptians. The Obama administration is stuck playing catch-up.
Fear is the main answer: fear that Mubarak will be followed by the Muslim Brotherhood immediately or after a few months or years. This fear is reasonable, for none of us can possibly know what the future holds for Egypt. The cold peace that Mubarak supported with Israel is certainly far better than war.
But Mubarak has ruled Egypt for 30 years and has failed totally to crush the Brotherhood. In fact as he leaves the stage it is united and powerful, while the moderate and centrist forces are in disarray. Why? Hosni Mubarak, who has for all those years crushed the moderate opposition. He prevented the formation of moderate (including moderate Islamic) parties, jailed moderate opponents (like Ayman Nour), and allowed the Brotherhood to thrive underground. The Israelis apparently do not see the irony that they are mourning the departure of the man who created the very situation they now fear.
Mubarak is 82 and would soon have left the stage anyway. His insistence on staying, his theft of last November’s elections, and his flirting with the idea of setting his son upon the throne have led Egypt to its present crisis. Now he has said that he won’t run in Egypt’s scheduled presidential elections in September. Too late. Had he done that even a month ago Egypt would have been spared this uprising and a smooth transition would have been possible. Now the crowds demand that he leave instantly, and the idea that this man will preside over the transition to free elections will strike them as grotesque—which it is.
It’s a sad ending to Mubarak’s long career. It could have been avoided. But the Israeli reaction of wishing he would stay on—thirty-five years? forty?—shows a deep misunderstanding of the situation in Egypt.
Israel should keep quiet about this. The more we support Mubarak, the more we turn his people against him and the more we drive them into the waiting arms of the Muslim Brotherhood. But the US - as it did in Lebanon - needs to come out and say that although the Egyptian people can do whatever they please, if the Muslim Brotherhood gains control or plays a significant role in the next Egyptian government, they can kiss their American aid goodbye.
Video: Meeting among Mike Huckabee, Jon Voight and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
Here's video of Monday's meeting among former Arkansas Governor (and likely Republican Presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee, actor Jon Voight and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Let's go to the videotape.
In case you're wondering, the tall guy in the royal blue tie that you keep seeing in the background is Ron Dermer, Netanyahu's bureau chief.
Mississippi governor and possible Presidential candidate Haley Barbour arrives here on Saturday for a 4-day visit.
This trip will include briefings and meetings with senior leaders in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It will also include touring important sites in the country. In addition, given the Governor's strong interest in energy issues, there will be visits to several sites such as the Noble Energy offshore gas rig and the Better Place electric car facility outside Tel Aviv. The trip will conclude with Governor Barbour making a major address at the prestigious Herzliya Conference on February 9.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "We are especially pleased that Governor and Mrs. Barbour will visit Israel at this incredibly important time. The Middle East faces many challenges, from the instability in Lebanon and Egypt and the threat of a nuclear Iran to the continuing danger posed by Hamas in Gaza. As Iran and its proxies attempt to expand their reach in the region, it is vitally important that American and Israeli officials build and nurture a strong partnership in the fight against terrorism.
"This visit will give Governor Barbour the opportunity to learn more about the difficulties facing Israel, about the current thinking of Israel's political, military, and economic leaders, and about the Jewish state's exciting advancements in the development of new technologies."
In an earlier post, I reported on Saturday's planned demonstrations in Syria. At the end, I remarked that Assad may just gas them all. When I said that, I wasn't aware of this little tidbit from Ben Birnbaum.
Despite Syria's police-state atmosphere, the Internet simmered with reports of a nationwide “day of rage” on Saturday, which would roughly coincide with the 29th anniversary of the Hama Massacre, in which Syrian forces killed thousands of civilians while quelling a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood.
I'd bet it's the exact date on the Muslim (lunar) calendar). Hmmm.
Jordan's king has fired his country's cabinet and has asked an ex-Prime Minister to form a new government and launch 'reforms' in response to protests in his little 'Palestinian' fiefdom (Hat Tip: Shy Guy). Sound familiar? It should....
The dismissal follows several large protests across Jordan_ inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt — calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai, who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.
A Royal Palace statement said Abdullah accepted Rifai's resignation tendered earlier Tuesday.
The king named Marouf al-Bakhit as his prime minister-designate, instructing him to "undertake quick and tangible steps for real political reforms, which reflect our vision for comprehensive modernization and development in Jordan," the palace statement said.
Al-Bakhit previously served as Jordan's premier from 2005-2007.
The king also stressed that economic reform was a "necessity to provide a better life for our people, but we won't be able to attain that without real political reforms, which must increase popular participation in the decision-making."
He asked al-Bakhit for a "comprehensive assessment ... to correct the mistakes of the past." He did not elaborate. The statement said Abdullah also demanded an "immediate revision" of laws governing politics and public freedoms.
You can bet that one thing 'his majesty' won't do is allow the country's 70% 'Palestinian' population to vote him out of office. But consider this: Remember how I wrote about Egypt's Pew poll numbers earlier this week? There's only one country in the poll whose support for the terror organizations is higher than Egypt's.
US knew British ministers advised Libya on 'compassionate release' for Lockerbie bomber
A Wikileaks cable discloses that a British government minister advised Libya on how to obtain the 'compassionate release' of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and that the United States was aware of that advice.
A Foreign Office minister sent Libyan officials detailed legal advice on how to use Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s cancer diagnosis to ensure he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.
The Duke of York is also said to have played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the terrorist’s release.
The Libyans closely followed the advice which led to the controversial release of Megrahi – who was convicted of the murder of 270 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 – within months of the Foreign Office’s secret intervention.
The disclosure seriously undermines British Government claims that is was not complicit in the release of al-Megrahi, and that the decision to free the convicted terrorist was taken by the Scottish Executive alone.
It will also lead to renewed pressure from senior American politicians on David Cameron to release all internal documents detailing Britain’s role in the scandal. Last summer, the Prime Minister pledged to release the relevant information – but the publication has yet to occur sparking fears that a cover-up may have been ordered.
...
In October 2008 – as negotiations on the prisoner transfer agreement were ongoing –Megrahi was diagnosed as suffering from cancer.
It can now be disclosed that within a week of the diagnosis, Bill Rammell, a junior Foreign Office minister, had written to his Libyan counterpart advising him on how this could be used as the grounds of securing al-Megrahi’s compassionate release from prison.
Rob Dixon, a senior Foreign Office official, met with the American Ambassador to brief him on the letter. An official American memo on the meeting states: “FCO Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell sent Libyan Deputy FM Abdulati al-Obeidi a letter, which was cleared both by HMG and by the Scottish Executive, on October 17 outlining the procedure for obtaining compassionate release.
“It cites Section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act of 1993 as the basis for release of prisoners, on license, on compassionate grounds. Although the Scottish Crown informed the families of the Pan Am 103 victims in an email October 21 that the time frame for compassionate release is normally three months from time of death, Dixon stressed to us that the three month time frame is not codified in the law.”
Mr Dixon went on to disclose to the Americans that Jack Straw, the then Justice Secretary, had also spoken to Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister about the case which had led Government officials to believe that the terrorist would be released.
The minute of the meeting with the Americans records: “Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told Jack Straw that he will make the final decision in this case. Salmond told Straw that he would make the decision based on humanitarian grounds, not foreign policy grounds; Dixon told us HMG has interpreted this to mean that Salmond is inclined to grant the request.”
Following the meeting, the American Ambassador reported back to his superiors in Washington said that the release of al-Megrahi could “occur sooner rather than later” and that Whitehall officials were handling sensitive negotiations with the Libyans on the issue.
Later documents also disclose that the Qatari government, one of the richest in the world, also became involved in the effort to secure al-Megrahi’s release. The Americans thought that the Qataris may have offered financial incentives to the Scottish Government. The Libyans are also recorded to have offered a “parade of treats” to the Scottish government.
A senior Qatari minister visited Scotland to discuss the case.
Obama encouraging Muslim Brotherhood to be part of post-Mubarak government
For those who missed my earlier post on the connection between the Muslim Brotherhood and Nazism, and between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, please go back and read it before you read this post.
Ostensibly knowing everything I wrote in that post, the Obama administration is encouraging making the Muslim Brotherhood a part of the post-Mubarak government in Egypt (Hat Tip: Gates of Vienna, who has lots more comments here).
The Obama administration said Monday for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.
The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such "nonsecular" groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis enveloping Egypt for the past week.
If those conditions sound familiar, they should. They parallel the conditions for acceptance of Hamas as a legitimate actor in the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict (acceptance of Israel's right to exist, acceptance of past agreements, renunciation of violence). And they represent a radical departure from the United States' statement two weeks ago that it would cut off all assistance to Lebanon if a new government was formed by a Hezbullah-led block.
Furthermore, even if the Brotherhood accepted these conditions, why should they be believed? Hasn't the Obama administration heard of taqiyya?
What the US should be doing is saying, "while we have no control over what the Egyptian people decide, we will not continue to financially assist a government which abrogates any of its treaty obligations with Israel, or which includes any Islamist or other repressive party." That would square with what the US has done (and should be doing) in Lebanon (with Hezbullah) and in Gaza (with Hamas).
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said a reformed government "has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be (a) stable and reliable partner."
If anything, the opposite is true. If a 'reformed government' includes certain non-secular actors - like the Brotherhood - there is virtually no chance that it will ever be a stable and reliable partner for anything.
The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and best-organized Egyptian opposition group, with an estimated 600,000 members, many of them educated, middle-class men. It has disavowed terrorism and violence, but its inclusion in any government would likely be deeply controversial among U.S. allies, especially in Israel, because it advocates tearing up Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish state.
So now we are expected to believe that there is a difference between the Brotherhood's 'political' and 'military' 'wings,' as some would have us believe about Hezbullah? Maybe we can rename Hamas' Izzedein al-Qassam as the Brotherhood's 'military wing'?
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
On Wednesday, I warned that the fascist regime of Bashar al-Assad planned to confront any protesters who showed up in Damascus on Friday. That was enough. Remembering how his father gassed an entire city in 1982, on Friday - and on Saturday too - the protesters stayed home. 
