Tagged: Mubarak
Egypt army gets $46 million training center, courtesy of Uncle Sam
Its an old photo, but aren’t they just adorable?
A summary from Bloomberg Businessweek:
SAIC gets $46M deal for Egyptian military center
Science Applications International Corp. won a $46 million, 3-year contract to build a training center for Egypt’s military, the company said Tuesday.
Work will be done mostly in Orlando, Fla., and San Diego.
The company had built two other training centers for the Egyptian armed forces. The third center is designed to handle large training exercises.
The shares rose 3 cents to close at $12.97
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Meanwhile, Egyptian media is unable to even discuss the issue, let alone publish or broadcast this information. Why? Because our rulers, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) strictly prohibits it. Its the unwritten code. SCAF warns all publications or television channels against discussing army matters, especially the military’s finances which are shrouded in mystery. SCAF is the new red line and they are here to stay.
Welcome to your new dictatorship. SCAF is here to stay, whether literally, or behind the scenes. They aren’t going anywhere. You didn’t really think the ruling military council who stifles free press, bans issuing of licenses for new, free satellite channels, imprisons 12,000 civilians and tries them in military courts, and fines activists for voicing their views will really allow fair elections and relinquish power to someone “chosen” by the people?
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Direct link for statement of the company that was awarded the deal: http://investors.saic.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=193857&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1604042
Viva La Revolution
Be warned, some language is explicit.
The video above shows the Head of Security in the province of Damnhour, Egypt talking to his team of police officers, basically pumping them up so they can continue to “crush” civilians if they are out of line. They see civilians as subordinates, as thorns that they have to crush, not citizens they must protect. In a democratic, civilized society, this kind of talk can’t even be targeted towards criminals or murderers.
This is what has been happening for 30 years and this is what sparked the revolution in Egypt in the first place. Egyptian civilians and workers simply cannot continue to be treated without dignity. They cannot continue to be stabbed in the back by their should-be protectors. And, they definitely can not remain silent as all of this continues and their revolution gets crushed after hundreds of Egyptians died, thousands suffered, and were tormented.
Again, as long as the old regime, people like Prime Minister Shafik, & the man in this video are still in power, our revolution did not succeed. The problem is that this video is not a single incident. This is how most police officers and officials think and act. This is the mentality that cost us 356+ Egyptian lives. It’s the same mentality that has opressed us for decades. It’s the same mindset that crippled freedom of speech, reform, and unity in Egypt.
After this video spread, officials responded by saying this man was “moved” to another province to another position. What good will that do?! It’s not like they moved him to another country, he’s still poisoning Egyptian society. This won’t work anymore.
عاشت الثورة المصرية
Mubarak, Shafik, & Sharm…
Mubarak socializing with tourists in Sharm el Sheikh. photo from flickr.com
When Mubarak told his Vice President Omar Suleiman to announce to the Egyptian people that he was relinquishing, or voluntarily “letting go” of power, Mubarak and his family supposedly headed to reside in their palace in resort city of Sharm el Sheikh.
After all the violence his administration subjected us to and the deaths of our fellow Egyptians (before and after Jan 25), we all felt a relief that day on February 11, 2011 when Mubarak finally decided to step out of the picture. However, today, concerns are different. The revolution still has demands which were not met, but let’s just focus here on one of the main concerns of the revolution: Removing Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who was appointed by Mubarak himself. All of these factors, along with Mubarak’s presence in Sharm are valid threats to the revolution. Here’s some simple reasons why:
Shafik is a close friend to the ex-president, in fact they’ve been buddies since Shafik was a fighter pilot under Mubarak in Egypt’s 1973 Yom Kippur war. Having him in power as our prime minister is a conflict of interest. The fact that he was appointed by the ex-president also makes him illegitimate in the people’s eyes. Not to mention, appointing friends and family should not be the case. This is not a mafia, or a country club. This is a nation where people need to finally have the chance to elect their officials.
Therefore, Mubarak & his family will not be prosecuted as long as Ahmed Shafik and his cabinet are in power. To further understand why, we can see look to the case of Libya for example, Louis Moreno Ocampo, prosecutor from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, clearly stated that ICC cannot investigate Muammar Qaddafi for any crimes unless Libya files a case and demands justice. The same goes for Egypt. As long as our general prosecutor and our cabinet (the people who have power allow the ICC to investigate) remain the same from Mubarak’s regime, then we have accomplished nothing.
As long as Shafik & the rest of the cabinet is still in place, this will never happen. As long as Mubarak is living under the sovereignty of Egypt, he is untouchable. It’s because he knows very well what he’s doing. He knows that if he leaves, it will not only be a slap in the face for him, but he will be investigated and prosecuted at the International Criminal Court because he will no longer be protected in Egypt by his lifelong friends and cronies. It’s not that he wants to “die on Egyptian soil” as he put it or because Egypt is his beloved. If Egypt was indeed his beloved, as president he wouldn’t have invested in property all over the world and instead, he would’ve invested more in his beautiful country and its people that he neglected for 30 years. Or maybe that’s just too patriotic, but that’s just my humble opinion.
Many are still wondering why we can’t just leave Shafik as prime minister and let Mubarak stay in Sharm and ask for his assetts to be frozen until prosecutors can investigate. The answer is, nobody should be above the law. Mubarak and his cronies taught the police and the regime that they are above the citizens. Mubarak ordered the torturing of political prisoners. He knew that his administration was corrupt, in fact, he chose them! His administration and his ruling party also ordered prisoners and thugs to escape, loot, rape, kill and do whatever they want.
The fact that the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and the nation allowed all of this to happen is a catastrophe. It is his responsibility to ensure the safety of his people. And, there is not such thing as “well maybe he didn’t know.” Because, frankly, that would be an even bigger problem and it would make him even more guilty.
To find out details about who Ahmed Shafik really is, view this link, which is in Arabic.
In order for the revolution to be completed successfully, justice must be served and the current government must be changed.
To understand more on why Mubarak’s presence in Egypt serves as a threat to the revolution, you can watch Dr. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal give his insight on the issue:
Dictator Syndrome!
I don’t have much to say on this topic. I’ll keep it short and sweet and let you decide for yourself.
Protesters in Egypt
When Hosni Mubarak finally decided to step down, he told his vice president, aka henchman, Omar Suleiman to announce to the Egyptian people that he was “letting go” of his position as president. Mind you he didn’t even have the nerve or courage to let us know himself, but whatever. Anyway, shortly after, reports came out stating that the ousted-dictator had fallen into a coma. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure if this news was true, but since his health had been deteriorating for a while, I did not doubt it.
Before Egyptians said "Game Over," Tunisians did same thing
Today, it was announced that Mr. Ben Ali, the Tunisian dictator who was ousted weeks before Mubarak, also fell into a coma and that his condition is not stable. Now, I’m not an expert, but come on Ben Ali, couldn’t you be a bit more original? Why’d you have to go and blow both your covers by making it so obvious? Both dictators were supposed to face charges for crimes against humanity. Both dictators also stole funds that their countries are demanding to be returned.
Now, this is just my personal opinion, which might not be worth much, but it seems too coincidental that both dictators are now suffering the same faith. Oh, never mind. Why not? They were both ousted and suffered the same exact faiths so far.
But no, seriously… can’t speak for our Tunisian neighbors, but as an Egyptian, I demand justice.
