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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (9097)	4/7/2003 11:43:28 AM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21614

In case any still believe the Bush lies about bringing "democracy" to Iraq here is what is going on in Egypt -- America's number 1 Arab ally. POLICE-STATE EGYPT REPRESSES, INTIMIDATES, THREATENS MORE THAN EVER MID-EAST REALITIES - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 7 April 2003: Throughout Egypt the Secret Police as well as the black Uniformed Police are everywhere. The police-state imposed on Egypt by Hosni Mubarak and a small group of military officials and business tycoons just grows and grows in power and severity -- always with the guiding hand and assistance of the American CIA. Some of Mubarak's public utterances -- like that last week that the U.S. war on Iraq will create a hundred Osama Bin-Ladens -- are purposefully designed to mask the police-state realities of his dictatorial grip on power in what once was the heartland of Arab culture and civilization. Mubarak and cronies have imposed on Egypt, still operating under the 'emergency' laws put into effect more than 20 years ago at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination, a miserably corrupt and lawless regime. But because Egypt has allowed itself to stay in the grip of the Americans and has not broken its peace treaty with Israel despite tremendous provocations, this regime is pretty much left to its own ways by both the US government and the Western media. It's quite laughable really that while the Americans are so loudly now preaching 'democracy' for Iraq they are training, financing, and keeping in power quite tyrannical dictatorships in the key Arab countries of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as despicable regimes in other key American protectorates including Hashemite Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, and Qatar. This BBC News article only touches the surface of what is really happening under media radar in Egypt today. Rampant torture, contemptible lawlessness, and brutal repression have permeated all aspects of Egyptian life and society. For instance severe repression at the countries universities has been turned up still higher as public passions have grown. Peaceful protestors against the American invasion of Iraq, not to mention the ongoing Israeli repression of the Palestinians, have been taken away or 'disappeared' near-Gestapo-style. Student leaders are constantly threatened with expulsion and arrest; and those from other Arab countries face unceremonious deportation. Heavily armed police are everywhere; with secret plainclothes police and informers thought to be everywhere else. People at all levels of society are afraid to speak openly or write critically fearing for their jobs and family not to mention the 'knock at the door' (which in Egypt is far worse actually than this metaphor implies) that could come at anytime. But even so, under today's extremely tense situation in the region, with emotions and passions whipped up more than ever since the 1967 and 1973 wars, this protest development is now taking place in the US-supported police-state of Egypt: ANTI-WAR GROUP CRITICSES MUBARAK [BBC News - 7 April] A group of activists in Egypt has called for President Hosni Mubarak to face criminal charges over his government's crackdown on protests against the war in Iraq. The Hisham Mubarak Legal Centre lodged a formal request with Egypt's prosecutor general for its claims to be investigated. The group accuses Mr Mubarak and Interior Minister Habib el-Adly of preventing a legally approved anti-war rally and detaining dozens of people without proper authority. Correspondents say such public criticism of the president - who keeps tight control on all political activity under special emergency laws - is almost unheard of and it shows fierce public opposition in Egypt to the US-led war in Iraq. In a statement, the Hisham Mubarak Legal Centre said 37 citizens including human rights and political activists signed the request to the prosecutor general. The group said the claims included government officials stopping a court-sanctioned anti-war protest, detaining 50 people without any legal basis and arresting journalists. However, the group's leader, Ahmed Seif el-Islam, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that Mr Mubarak and Mr Adly were unlikely to face any charges. President Mubarak exercises ultimate control in Egypt under the emergency laws passed in 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Government officials said the use of force during anti-war rallies - especially fierce during the conflict's opening days - was necessary to prevent the protests from spiralling out of control.