Al Jazeera: Diplomatic cables say Israel favors Suleiman

Suleiman is a Mubarak clone and sadly the US seems to want to hoist him on the Egyptian people. I pity the people in the square if he is president, the international media attention moves on and he continues his torturing ways.
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Suleiman: The CIA's man in Cairo

Suleiman, a friend to the US and reported torturer, has long been touted as a presidential successor.
Lisa Hajjar Last Modified: 07 Feb 2011 14:10 GMT
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On January 29, Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s top spy chief, was anointed vice president by tottering dictator, Hosni Mubarak. By appointing Suleiman, part of a shake-up of the cabinet in an attempt to appease the masses of protesters and retain his own grip on the presidency, Mubarak has once again shown his knack for devilish shrewdness. Suleiman has long been favoured by the US government for his ardent anti-Islamism, his willingness to talk and act tough on Iran - and he has long been the CIA’s main man in Cairo.

Mubarak knew that Suleiman would command an instant lobby of supporters at Langley and among 'Iran nexters' in Washington - not to mention among other authoritarian mukhabarat-dependent regimes in the region. Suleiman is a favourite of Israel too; he held the Israel dossier and directed Egypt’s efforts to crush Hamas by demolishing the tunnels that have functioned as a smuggling conduit for both weapons and foodstuffs into Gaza.

According to a WikiLeak(ed) US diplomatic cable, titled 'Presidential Succession in Egypt', dated May 14, 2007:

"Egyptian intelligence chief and Mubarak consigliere, in past years Soliman was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post. In the past two years, Soliman has stepped out of the shadows, and allowed himself to be photographed, and his meetings with foreign leaders reported. Many of our contacts believe that Soliman, because of his military background, would at least have to figure in any succession scenario."

From 1993 until Saturday, Suleiman was chief of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. He remained largely in the shadows until 2001, when he started taking over powerful dossiers in the foreign ministry; he has since become a public figure, as the WikiLeak document attests. In 2009, he was touted by the London Telegraph and Foreign Policy as the most powerful spook in the region, topping even the head of Mossad.

In the mid-1990s, Suleiman worked closely with the Clinton administration in devising and implementing its rendition program; back then, rendition involved kidnapping suspected terrorists and transferring them to a third country for trial. In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer describes how the rendition program began

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/201127114827382865.html

 

I wouldn't call him a clone.

He is extremely corrupt and at least as bad as Mubarak, but he is twice as smart and really has built his career by being effective.

While I'd call every other person under Mubarak a clone, Suleiman is different in that the region and the US/European governments know him and have worked with him and he does a "good" job.

Thankfully Egyptians don't rely on the media. They're fully aware of the kind of person Suleiman is, and they've already spoken out against him leading the transition.

The only way he would lead the transition is if Mubarak takes his sweet ass time to leave, then when he's gone the cheers are so loud that Suleiman takes over the next few months with little fuss, essentially putting in place chess pieces for his non-Egyptian friends.

It's sickening really. I'm just sick to my stomach. 1 person is denying the will of 60-80 million people. Can you imagine it? Imagine if you did this same thing to a group of 100 people.

It's truly insane how the regime hasn't left knowing that there is no future for them. To me, this indicates that they are sure there will be a future for them, and I wonder how it is they are acting with such certainty. In any such conflict, far more people in the regime switch sides when tensions get this high.

 

Suleiman: Egypt ‘Not Ready for Democracy’
Hand-Picked Mubarak Successor's Comments Vindicate Opposition Claims
by Jason Ditz, February 08, 2011
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It has been pretty clear from comments over the past few days that the Obama Administration is keen on Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s newly appointed Vice President and long-standing spymaster, as a successor for dictator Hosni Mubarak. WikiLeaks cables have suggested he has long been Israel’s favorite successor candidate as well.
But while his decades near the head of Egypt’s torture-happy regime doesn’t seem to phase them, his public comments may make it harder to publicly back him as loudly as they might like. That is because Suleiman is openly insisting that Egypt simply isn’t “ready for democracy.”

Which is really one of those things a savvy dictator is supposed to keep to himself, and the US, master of downplaying shameful behavior in its allies, termed the comment “unhelpful.” Though it seemed many may have designs on Suleiman as the new dictator-in-chief of Egypt’s pro-US regime, it seems this would be difficult to pull off without Suleiman insisting that he is “pro-democracy” in some nominal way and at least giving lip-service to some future reforms.http://news.antiwar.com/2011/02/08/suleiman-egypt-not-ready-for-democracy/

 

Of course Israel favors Suleiman if Mubarak is forced out finally. On NPR this morning they had an interesting conversation with several middle east experts about how other US "allies" in the region (Saudi Arabia, in particular) firmly back Mubarak. King Abdullah referred to the protesters as "infiltrators". Ironically, they blame the US for abandoning Mubarak, even as his people blame the US for not helping in his ouster.

Regardless, the obvious conclusion is that neither the Middle East dictators or the USA are concerned about the plight of the people in the region or democratic progress. Both sides (and Israel) would prefer to maintain the status quo.

Who moved my cheese?

 

Always remember the Bush-Cheney meme "They hate us for our freedom".

Looks to me like they envy it and are pissed off cause we don't want them to have much.

 

More about Obama's/America's/Israel's guy to replace Mubarak. So shameful. from mondoweiss.net a good site to keep up with Israel maintained by progressive Jews.
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reviewed Habib’s book, My Story, in 2008 for the Sydney Morning Herald and it tells a powerful story. The extracts below are all the references to Suleiman:

pp.112-115

The guard quickly told me that the very big boss was coming to talk to me, and that I must be well behaved and co-operate. Everyone was nervous. I have since found out that the boss was Omar Suleiman, head of all Egyptian security. He was known for personally supervising the interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects and sending reports to the CIA. In the beginning, he was often present during my interrogations. He must have thought that he had a big fish when I was sent to him by the Americans and Australians.

I was sitting in a chair, hooded, with my hands handcuffed behind my back. He came up to me. His voice was deep and rough. He spoke to me in Egyptian and English. He said, “Listen, you don’t know who I am, but I am the one who has your life in his hands. Every single person in this building has his life in my hands. I just make the decision.”

I said, “I hope your decision is that you make me die straight away.”

“No, I don’t want you to die now. I want you to die slowly.” He went on, “I can’t stay with you; my time is too valuable to stay here. You only have me to save you. I’m your saviour. You have to tell me everything, if you want to be saved. What do you say?”

“I have nothing to tell you.”

“You think I can’t destroy you just like that?” He clapped his hands together.

“I don’t know”. I was feeling confused. Everything was unreal.

“If God came down and tried to take you by the hand, I would not let him. You are under my control. Let me show you something that will convince you.”

The guard then guided me out of the room and through an area where I could see, from below the blindfold, the trunks of palm trees. We then went through another door back inside, and descended some steps. We entered a room. They sat me down.

“Now you are going to tell me that you planned a terrorist attack”, Suleiman persisted.

“I haven’t planned any attacks.”

“I give you my word that you will be a rich man if you tell me you have been planning attacks. Don’t you trust me?” he asked.

“I don’t trust anyone”, I replied.

Immediately he slapped me hard across the face and knocked off the blindfold; I clearly saw his face.

“That’s it. That’s it. I don’t want to see this man again until he co-operates and tells me he’s been planning a terrorist attack! he yelled at the others in the room, then stormed out.

The guard came up to me, upset that I hadn’t co-operated.

I said to him, “You have to let me go soon; it’s nearly 48 hours.”

He looked at me, surprised, and asked, “How long do you think you’ve been here?”

“A day”, I replied.

“Man, you’ve been here for more than a week.”

They then took me to another room, where they tortured me relentlessly, stripping me naked and applying electric shocks everywhere on my body. The next thing I remember was seeing the general again. He came into the room with a man from Turkistan; he was a big man but was stooped over, because his hands were chained to the shackles of his feet, preventing him from standing upright.

“This guy is no use to us anymore. This is what is going to happen to you. We’ve had him for one hour, and this is what happens.”

Suddenly, a guy they called Hamish, which means snake, came at the poor man from behind and gave him a terrible karate kick that sent him crashing across the room. A guard went over to shake him, but he didn’t respond. Turning to the general, the guard said, “Basha, I think he’s dead.”

“Throw him away then. Let the dogs have him.”

They dragged the dead man out.

“What do you think of that?” asked the general, staring into my face.

“At least he can rest now”, I replied.

Then they brought another man in. This man, I think, was from Europe – his exclamations of pain didn’t sound like those of someone from the Middle East. He was in a terrible state. The guard came in with a machine and started to wire up the guy to it. They told the poor man that they were going to give him a full electric shock, measuring ten on the scale. Before they even turned the machine on, the man started to gasp and then slumped in the chair. I think he died of a heart attack.

The general said that there was one more person I had to see. “This person will make you see that we can keep you here for as long as we want, all of your life, if we choose.”

There was a window in the room, covered by a curtain. The general drew back a curtain, and I saw the top half of a very sick, thin man. He was sitting on a chair on the other side of the glass, facing me.

“You know this guy?” the general asked.

“No”, I replied.

“That’s strange – he’s your friend from Australia.”

I looked again, and was horrified to see that it was Mohammed Abbas, a man I had known in Australia who had worked for Telstra [Australian telecommunications company]. He had travelled to Egypt in 1999, and had never been seen again.

“He is going to be your neighbour for the rest of your life.”

It was then that I knew I was in Egypt, without a doubt. They then took Abbas away and closed the curtain.

p.118

After the first interrogation with Suleiman, I believed the Egyptians weren’t interested in where I had been; they only wanted me to confess to being a terrorist and having plotted terrorist attacks so they could sell the information to the United States and Australia. I decided then that I wouldn’t answer questions or explain anything; but, as a consequence, I was badly tortured in Egypt

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/austr...-of-the-usisraeli-favorite-omar-suleiman.html