According to Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian ambassador to the US, Hosni Mubarak has now transferred all powers to his recently appointed Vice-President Omar Suleiman.
Despite a barrage of speculation that Mubarak was going to step down overnight — including comments from head of the CIA, which makes one wonder the current power America has over the Egyptian President — the President is staying put.
Egyptian bloggers and protesters on the streets in Egypt reacted with fury and pledged their determination to continue the movement.
Suleiman, the feared head of Egypt’s intelligence services, is a long-time friend of America and Israel.
But an Australian citizen, former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib, has an intimate knowledge of Suleiman; he met him personally while Habib was illegally rendered to Egypt in 2001 and tortured.
Crikey spoke exclusively to Habib last night in Sydney and he reiterated his belief that the Australian government’s recent deal with him vindicated his allegations of serious mistreatment against Canberra, Washington and Cairo.
In his book, My Story, Habib outlines the ways in which Suleiman threatened him in an Egyptian torture prison — key extracts here: — and today Habib is calling for the arrest and trial of Suleiman himself. Habib told me the following:
“People in Egypt know who Omar Suleiman is. They’re protesting against Mubarak and Suleiman. I’m not in Egypt but I’m sending a message to the world that Suleiman is an agent for the CIA, Mossad or anybody who is paying money.
“I knew about Suleiman before I was rendered to Egypt, every Egyptian did, but I had never seen him before. To talk about September 11 and kidnapping is that rendition had been happening for years [before 9/11].
“Australia, America and Britain are now supporting Suleiman even though the Australian government now admits they were mistaken and they did wrong [by backing my rendition in 2001]. Australia now has to ask for this man [Suleiman] to be arrested and in jail. He’s a criminal.
“I have a statement from somebody in the agency in Egypt, the Mukabarat [secret police], I’ve been in contact with him and some lawyer in Egypt and some lawyer overseas, and he’s given evidence about what happened inside the building with Omar Suleiman. I have this statement and this makes me settle the case with the Australian government. I have more evidence.
“I want to put my case in an international court to put Suleiman and Mubarak and the Americans who were involved in my rendition [on trial]. I know every single person involved in my rendition; the Australian ambassador in Islamabad, the CIA, Suleiman and some Pakistanis. I’ve got evidence and witnesses.
“Rendition still happens now. I can’t tell you much about the details because people inside Egypt give information but if I give news about cases people may be in serious trouble. One hour ago I heard about people being kidnapped from America and Britain and Kuwait [and rendered to Egypt].
“If America supports Suleiman again then Obama is a criminal and he’ll have big hatred from the Egyptian people. I’m telling the world to open their eyes about Suleiman.
“Only deal I have with the Australian government I’m not going to say how much I’ve been paid for the crimes been done to me, that’s all, but anything else I’m free to talk. I asked the Australian government to help me take Suleiman and the Australians to court to be charged.”
The Obama administration remains divided over the best way to manage the Egyptian uprisings but New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, who has been in Cairo with the protesters, writes that America had a choice to side with the demonstrators or back the regime. Washington’s choice was clear. Canberra has simply followed America’s position.
*Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution
This post isnt about Habib. This is the third story on a similar vein this week and I’ve posted elsewhere expressing my disgust.
But some things are really starting to get on my t–its.
1. When did the US ever say it had “power over” Mubarak, Egypt, Iran or anything of the sort? Clearly if the US had power over these states we would all be already living in happy, jolly, democratic world, wouldn’t we? You all keep making out that because Mubarak didn’t bend over that the US has failed in some way. He’s the President of nation state. If you came in and told me to get out I’d tell you to p-ss off too.
2. This backing the regime b-s. You can determine in your wisdom that the US is backing the regime over the protesters. If thats your view then thats your view. But when you simply say they are backing the regime without even alluding to the very consistent US line of supporting the ‘orderly and genuine transition to democracy’ – then you are only tell half the story. Your half, as it were. And when you say they are backing the regime on the one hand but that they clearly have no power to remove him, well there you are just being hypocritical.
3. Do we want the US to be the big bad policeman, or not? I seem to recall last time the US unilaterally decided that they wanted to end a regime, Iraq, the rest of the world, not to mention a mighty proportion of its own population, turned against them. So you either want them to do the job or you don’t.
@MLF ‘Clearly if the US had power over these states we would all be already living in happy, jolly, democratic world, wouldn’t we? ‘ – No. Despite all its talk of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’, the US has a long tradition of propping up dictators and – where they don’t already exist – helping them into power against the democratic wishes of the people. That includes getting rid of the democratic leaders they don’t want. Patrice Lumumba, Allende for example.
And if you want to mention Iraq, well Saddam Hussein was supported by the USA eg in his war against Iran. Then when it suited the USA’s purposes to do so, they turned against him.
For an interesting current assessment, see ‘What other dictators does the U.S. support?’ at Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/02/american_allies_dictators
@Moira. Many thanks for the reply and of course you are correct.
Maybe I should have said: ‘Clearly, if the US had power over these states we would all be already living in a world that is perfectly constructed for the US and its interests..’.
It may not be evident from my various posts on Friday (made after reading in my opinion too many unbalanced ‘reports’ and opinion on US/Egypt), but I am not one to hold the US up as a beacon of all that is good and right with the world. I have however been getting increasingly irked by armchair foreign policy and security experts who see every action of the US and/or ‘The West’ as morally reprehensible, all the while failing to acknowledge the very freedoms and securities these actions entitle them to. Nothing should be excused, everything should be challenged, and we should strive to make our governments (and lets not forget ourselves) accountable, honest and true. But this is the real world and the real world, like much of human nature, is ugly. An ugly world demands ugly decisions be made – and what I question is the constant derision of those who sit safely and content knowing that others are making those decisions for them.