R. James Woolsey spells out Doom & Gloom for Egypt

We will probably see a follow up soon...by Paul Wolfowitz.
I believe that John Bolton, Cheney, and probably Rummy have already put their 2 cents in.

To be fair, james Woolsey is also the president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense contractor, and a member of the PNAC. So, here is another opinion, also by an ex CIA man…


RAY McGOVERN

McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, whose duties included preparing the President’s Daily Brief and chairing National Intelligence Estimates. He is on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He said today: “Relatively little attention has been paid to the major factor in play with respect to the crisis in Egypt. That factor involves the stakes for Israel, which stands to lose what has become an ally in Egypt, and might have to revert to worrying about security in additional border areas and in Gaza, not to mention elsewhere in the Arab world.

“Egypt can be expected to do all it can to keep Suleiman or another official from the old regime in power. And, for that to happen, strong U.S. support will be indispensable. Israeli pressure on Washington probably accounts largely for the vagaries in Washington’s recent statements and positions. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak just met with Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates in Washington to coordinate the Israeli-U.S. response. If the Obama administration continues to keep itself joined at the hip with Israel, both countries stand eventually to lose out in Egypt and in other Arab countries — and lose big time.”

Source...Common Dreams

US Defense Dept.urges restraint as Egyptian military officials return from Pentagon

U.S. tests its influence with Egypt's military

By ELISABETH BUMILLER The New York Times

Herald Tribune


Published: Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 10:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON - The officer corps of Egypt's powerful military has been educated at defense colleges in the United States for 30 years. The Egyptian armed forces have about 1,000 American M1A1 Abrams tanks, which the United States allows to be built on Egyptian soil. Egypt permits the American military to stage major operations from its bases, and has always guaranteed the Americans passage through the Suez Canal.

The relationship between the Egyptian and American militaries is, in fact, so close that it was no surprise Friday to find two dozen senior Egyptian military officials at the Pentagon, halfway through an annual week of meetings, lunches and dinners with their American counterparts.

By the afternoon, the Egyptians had cut short the talks to return to Cairo, but not before a U.S. Defense Department official urged them to exercise "restraint," the Pentagon said.

It remained unclear Saturday, as the Egyptian Army was deployed on the streets of Cairo for the first time in decades, to what degree the military would remain loyal to the embattled president, Hosni Mubarak.

The crisis has left the Obama administration to try to navigate a peaceful outcome and remain close to an important ally, and the military relationship could be crucial in that effort. One fear is the possibility that, despite the army's seemingly passive stance Saturday, the Egyptian armed forces would begin firing on the protesters -- an action that would probably be seen as leading to an end to the army's legitimacy.

"If they shoot on the crowd, they could win tomorrow, and then there will be a revolt that will sweep them away," said Bruce O. Riedel, an expert on the Middle East and Asia at the Brookings Institution, who predicts that in any event, Mubarak will step down.

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Time to bring out the riot police for Glen Beck & Freedomworks

This, like, sorry excuse for a human being has an ego bigger than the national deficit. His plans for a teabagger happening by the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC , IMO, should be dealt with in the same way, as the Demonstrators in Saint Paul Minnisota were, by the Bu$h administration. We haven't forgot the cordoned off areas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets used to disrupt any and all dissent against the policies that brought us to war. We haven't forgotton losing our freedom to, what was called, Homeland Security. We had eight years of unprecedented police and military control that prevented demonstrators from being anywhere near what they were demonstrating against and intimidation by police in full riot gear, that often resulted in arrest or injury.

Beck has allied his movement with Dick's Army, Freedom Works, and they are openly planning on bussing people in for the event. People who have no idea of what a demonstration is really about. Teabaggers have no clue about the police state that has been in place during the eight years of the Bu$h regime, and would be totally amazed when confronted by the corporate military complex who Glen Beck really represents.

Essentially, in Bu$hspeak, the enemy would be emboldened by such disrespect for the commander in chief and the demonstrators would have to be cordoned off a couple of blocks away from our national monuments. Needless to mention, Black Water helicopters, Humvee's, and water cannons would have to be in place to cover any eventualities...G%