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09 February 2011 By Stephen
Lendman Perhaps George Bernard Shaw was
thinking of Obama's administration when he said,
"Democracy is a form of government that substitutes
election by the incompetent many for the appointment
of the corrupt few." Obama upholds the tradition and
then some, doing more harm globally in two years than
most of history's tinpot despots in decades, yet most
of it gets little attention. Imagine what's planned
ahead. Already, his legacy includes: -- breaking every key promise he
made across the board; -- looting the nation's wealth,
wrecking the economy, and consigning growing millions
to impoverishment without jobs, homes, savings,
social services, or futures; -- enacting greater Wall Street
empowerment, disguised as financial reform; -- expanding unbridled militarism
through continued foreign wars, occupations, and
stepped up aggression on new fronts with the largest
defense budget in history - greater than the rest of
the world combined at a time America has no enemies; -- partnering with Israel's
regional reign of terror, occupation, and imperial
designs; -- presiding over a bogus
democracy under a homeland police state apparatus; -- continuing the worst of the
Bush administration's lawlessness and torture
policies; -- targeting whistleblowers,
dissenters, Muslims, and environmental and animal
rights activists called terrorists; -- illegally spying on Americans
as aggressively as George Bush; -- sacrificing Net Neutrality for
greater corporate control and profits; -- destroying decades of hard won
labor rights; -- eroding Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid and other New Deal and Great
Society social gains; -- trying to control the media
more aggressively than Nixon, according to veteran
White House correspondent Helen Thomas; -- refusing help for
budget-stricken states like California, Illinois,
Michigan and New York; forcing them to impose
austerity by gutting welfare programs, education,
health care for the poor, and other vital services at
a time they're most needed; -- proliferating commodified
education nationally, ending government responsibility
for it, and making it another business profit center; -- enacting healthcare reform
that taxes more, provides less, places profits above
human need, and makes a dysfunctional system worse; -- passing agribusiness
empowerment at the expense of small farmers and
consumers, disguised as food safety modernization; -- instituting coup d'etat regime
change in Honduras against its democratically elected
president; -- plundering Haiti, ignoring its
needs, rigging its elections, and refusing to let
Jean-Bertrand Aristide return; -- supporting some of the world's
most ruthless, corrupt tyrants; and -- planning American-style regime
change in Egypt, its vice president of torture in
charge; continuing old policies surrounded by
Washington-controlled new faces, denying Egyptian
masses freedoms they're willing to die for. Since taking office, Obama
fronted for wealth, power, and imperial poison
globally, including hardline homeland control. No
wonder James Petras called him: "the greatest con-man in recent
history," comparing him to "Melville's Confidence Man.
He catches your eye while he picks your pocket. He
gives thanks as he packs you off to fight wars in the
Middle East on behalf of a foreign country. He
solemnly mouths vacuous pieties while he empties your
Social Security funds to bail out the arch financiers
who swindled your pension investments. He appoints and
praises the architects of collapsed pyramid schemes to
high office while promising" better times ahead. He also called him "America's
first Jewish president," Israel's man, delivering
unconditional support for policies harming America. He
"crossed the River Jordan," backing its "colonial
power in a strategic region of the" world, no matter
how threatening "to world peace (and) US democratic
values...." Even New York Times writers
Helene Cooper and Mark Landler noticed in their
February 4 article headlined, "US Trying to Balance
Israel's Needs in the Face of Egyptian Reform,"
saying: Besides whatever emerges in
Egypt, its street protests "are rocking an even more
fundamental relationship for the United States - its
(unconditional) 60-year alliance with Israel." Former
"peace negotiator" Daniel Levy worries about: "apres Mubarak, le deluge,"
saying that's "the core of what is the American
interest in this. It's Israel" uber alles. "It's not
worry about whether the Egyptians are going to close
down the Suez Canal, or even the narrower terror
issue." White House spokesman, Tommy
Vietor, assured Israeli officials that "our commitment
to Israel's security is unshakeable," no matter the
risk to our own. Imagine, however, the irony of
Israel, Washington, and Western powers voicing concern
about emerging democracy in Egypt, revealing their
commitment to prevent it. Imagine the courage of millions
of Egyptians facing off against commonplace regime
torture, disappearances, assassinations and other
abuses to assure absolute autocratic control. US State Department Report
Exposes Egypt's Human Rights Abuses Under Mubarak On March 11, 2010, the US State
Department documented them in its "2009 Human Rights
Report: Egypt," accessed through the following link: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/nea/136067.htm Abuses covered included: -- "arbitrary or unlawful
deprivation of life; -- disappearance(s); -- torture, and other cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; -- (horrific) prison and
detention center conditions; -- arbitrary arrest(s) and
detention(s); -- (the corrupt, brutal) police
and security apparatus; -- (lawless) arrest procedures
and treatment while in detention; -- denial of fair public trial(s); -- (lawless) trial procedures; -- (numerous) political prisoners
and detainees; -- (corrupt courts denying) civil
judicial procedures and remedies; -- (restricted) freedom of speech
and press; -- (lack of) Internet freedom; -- (restricted) academic freedom
and cultural events; -- (impeded) freedom of
assembly; -- (obstructed) freedom of
association; -- (compromised exercise of)
freedom of religion; -- societal abuses and
discrimination; -- (few) protectio(s for)
refugees (and asylum seekers); -- (denied) political rights,
(including) the right of citizens to change their
government; -- (undemocratic) elections and
political participation; -- official corruption and (lack
of) government transparency; -- governmental attitude
regarding international and (NGO) investigation(s) of
alleged violations of human rights; -- discrimination, societal
abuses, and trafficking in persons; -- (no legal protections for)
persons with disabilities; -- societal abuses,
discrimination, and acts of violence based on sexual
orientation and gender identity; (and) -- other societal violence or
discrimination," including highly restricted worker
rights. In its "Situation of Human Rights
in Egypt 2009" report, the Egyptian Organization for
Human Rights (EOHR) covered the same ground as the
State Department, documenting specific numbers of
violations by type. Nonetheless, despite three
decades of Mubarak's autocratic brutality, Reuters (on
January 29, 2011) cited the Congressional Research
Service saying Washington "has given Egypt an average
of $2 billion annually since 1979," making it
America's "second largest recipient of US aid after
Israel." Egypt's military gets most of it,
largely for internal control for a nation with no
foreign threat. A recently WikiLeaks released 2009 US
embassy cable said: "President Mubarak and military
leaders view our military assistance program as the
cornerstone of our mil-mil relationship and consider
the USD 1.3 billion in annual FMF as 'untouchable
compensation' for making and maintaining peace with
Israel. The tangible benefits to our mil-mil
relationship are clear: Egypt remains at peace with
Israel, and the US military enjoys priority access to
the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace." The funding is also recycled to
US defense contractors, supplying military goods and
services. Moreover, in 2009, Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said military aid to Egypt comes "without
conditions. And that is our sustained position." On February 4, London Guardian writer Phillip Inman headlined, "Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts," adding: Mubarak stashed his wealth in UK and Swiss banks as well as US, UK, and Red Sea coast property. "According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, (he) has properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires." Durham University's Professor Christopher Davidson said he, his wife and sons accumulated massive wealth through business partnerships with foreign investors and companies, dating back to when he was in the military and in a position to benefit from corporate corruption, giving back more than he got. He's also invested in Egyptian real estate, including choice Sharm el-Sheikh properties. Like other global despots and corporate bosses, he amassed his fortune the old-fashioned way. He stole it, stashing most discretely offshore. Egypt Under Mubarak: Key Washington Offshore Rendition/Torture Destination On February 4, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen headlined, "Obama's gambit: Holding Egypt for Holder," saying: Torture/renditions date from the Clinton administration. "In fact, Clinton's Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder, now Obama's Attorney General, was the first Department of Justice official to write a legal brief authorizing the rendition of alleged terrorists from third countries by the CIA to Egypt for purposes of interrogation and torture." Moreover, Egypt specializes in disappearances after torture and interrogations are completed. For his part, "Holder has long been a coddler of torturous regimes," including Egypt's. Its methods include "hanging prisoners by all four limbs and placing electric nodules on their genitals, nipples and feet. The CIA paid Egypt handsomely to carry out the torture program," its own specialty since the 1950s. In the 1990s, Holder and then White House chief of staff Leon Panetta signed off on CIA renditions to Egypt. As head of the agency under Obama, Panetta publicly endorsed it globally, despite administration pledges to end torture. Notably, Omar Suleiman, now Egypt's vice president and man Washington wants to lead an interim government, ran Egypt's torture program for the CIA as General Intelligence Directorate (EGID) head. He also maintains close ties with Mossad on issues relating to Palestine and Syria, as well being allied with other Arab intelligence service chiefs serving imperial Washington. Obama's waffling on Mubarak "is intended to buy time for the CIA to appropriate the Egyptian government's torture and rendition files that date back to Holder's original authorization...." Moreover, Secretary of State Clinton wants her husband protected, and Panetta has the same aim. "The CIA has embarked on a policy of suppressing the Egyptian revolution until all potentially (incriminating) documents and computer files" are moved to Washington. Its working "behind the scenes in Egypt advising the security forces and army" to buy time and secure plausible deniability of complicity with the worst of Mubarak's crimes, backed, of course, by generous US aid. A Final Comment Throughout Egypt, millions courageously keep protesting for democratic freedoms, including free and open elections for candidates they choose. In contrast, old order Egyptians, imperial Washington, other Western powers, and Israel are determined to prevent it. On February 6, Al Jazeera headlined, "Egypt impasse continues," saying: "Banks and businesses are re-opening, but the pro-democracy protesters are still out there," their demands so far unmet. They face long odds against determined pressure to deny them. Moreover, even with partial success, holding it will be precarious at best. Dark forces never quit. They have ferocious power, and aren't shy about using it. As a result, democratic freedoms never come easily. Often, armed insurrections are needed, but also well organized mass actions. In America, it took decades of struggle to end slavery. Women needed a century of activism to be enfranchised. Sustained freedom marches won civil rights, and only after many years of organizing, taking to the streets, going on strike, holding boycotts, battling police and National Guard forces, and paying with their blood and lives did workers win real rights. All of it came bottom up, none top down, and in all cases effective leadership was essential. So far, Egyptians are courageously committed. Whether it's enough to prevail is very much up for grabs against Egyptian and imperial might. Yet global rallies visibly show support, including on February 5, an international mobilization day in solidarity with Egyptian, Tunisian and others in the region wanting freedom. A Facebook statement says: "History speaks once. Now is our time. Now is our moment. We must take to the streets and stand in solidarity" with millions "across the Arab world and in the centers of power." If not for Western imperial aid, "these dictatorships would have fallen long ago." Courageous protestors are determined to succeed now. Maybe, just maybe, their time has come. And imagine that spirit spreading globally, including throughout developed countries. They're more rhetorical than real democracies, especially in America where millions yearn, but don't rally for real change.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. |
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