Reporting the Revolutions: Obama backs the CIA’s Torturer

(8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This is a Live Blog and will be updated as the news is available. You can follow the latest reports from AL Jazeera English and Al-Masry Al-Youm: English Edition

The Guardian has a link to Twitter from their reporters in Egypt that refreshes automatically every minute.

Al Jazeera has a Live Blog for Feb 6

As you can see we now have the live feed from Al Jazeera English.

It has been reported in all the news media, President Barack Obama is supporting Vice President Omar Suleiman, the man that helped plan and oversee the CIA/US rendition/torture program in Egypt, to lead the transition government after Mubarak steps down. This should be not only unacceptable for the Egyptian people but for Americans, as well. As Jane Mayer points out in her article in the New Yorker, “since 1993 Suleiman has headed the feared Egyptian general intelligence service. In that capacity, he was the C.I.A.’s point man in Egypt for renditions, the covert program in which the C.I.A. snatched terror suspects from around the world and returned them to Egypt and elsewhere for interrogation, often under brutal circumstances.” That Suleiman has said he would not be a candidate in September is not an valid excuse for letting this man anywhere near a transitional government. As a former CIA officer, Michael Scheuer, who helped set up the practice of rendition, said, assurances that were made by Suleiman on behalf of the Egyptian government that they would not torture, “weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit.” Yet, Obama is willing to trust this criminal.

Mubarak continues to dig in and the US keeps sending confusing messages on their stand. While trying to walk a fine line of encouraging Mubarak to leave, what is being heard by many is that are still willing to support him remaining in office. The US foreign policy has been without a clear direction in this region for two years and this crisis makes it clear it still is confused.

Some of the opposition groups, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, have met with Vice President Suleiman but important faces were not invited. It was an obvious move by the Mubarak regime to divide the anti-government groups. Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, who was the most glaring omission, spoke out today on Meet the Press, slamming the process:

The Nobel Peace laureate said weekend talks with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman were managed by the same people who had ruled the country for 30 years and lack credibility. He said the negotiations were not a step toward the change protesters have demanded in 12 days of demonstrations calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

“The process is opaque. Nobody knows who is talking to whom at this stage,” ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Some concessions did come out of the meeting. It was agreed that the government would release “political”, there would be no further interference with the press, cell phone service and the internet. Banks and schools are slowly re-opening. The protesters will, however, continue until Mubarak leaves office. Many have said that it is not necessary he leave the country, as ElBaradei has said, he is an Egyptian and deserves to live in Egypt.