Posted on 02/02/2011 7:31:01 AM PST by SE Mom
URGENT: Gunfire heard in Cairo's Tahrir Square as supporters of President Mubarak and anti-government demonstrators clash hours after the embattled leader defiantly said he would serve out his term in office.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“The Muslim Brotherhood fighters were on the side of the anti-Mubarak rioters/supporters ... the MB types were with the anti-Mubarak crowd.”
This may or may not be true. There have been reports/rumors that MB has been on both sides, trying to foment chaos and violence. Another report was that mosques were calling on people to join the pro-Mubarak crowd. Whether these reports are true, the one thing that is fairly clear is that this is not as clear cut as everyone seems to want it to be. This is a confused, chaotic situation — one which benefits the MB.
As far as the camel riders are concerned, there were twitters indicating that they were tourist workers from the pyramids upset at the collapse of their livelihood. Or they could have been secret police. Or MB. Or Martians, for that matter, given how little we really know about what is happening.
“weet from Christiane Amanpour Just spent 20 minutes interviewing President Mubarak at the palace. Details to come. Oh my that ought to be a interesting one.”
Ask, and ye shall receive —
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668110/posts
Mubarak: ‘If I Resign Today There Will Be Chaos’
ABC News ^ | Feb. 3, 2011 | CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR
Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 12:47:42 PM by Free ThinkerNY
I’ve just left the presidential palace in Cairo where I met for about 30 minutes with president Mubarak. He told me that he is troubled by the violence we have seen in Tahrir Square over the last few days but that his government is not responsible for it. Instead, he blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned political party here in Egypt.
He said he’s fed up with being president and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos.
I asked President Mubarak about the violence that his supporters launched against the anti-government protestors in Liberation Square.
He told me, “I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668113/posts
ABC News Reporter Brian Hartman Threatened With Beheading
Drudge ABC News ^ | 2/3/11 | Mark Mooney
Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 12:52:03 PM by Jolla
A group of angry Egyptian men carjacked an ABC News crew and threatened to behead them today in the latest and most menacing attack on foreign reporters trying to cover the anti-government uprising.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Some ‘interesting’ historical context —
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668115/posts
Steny Hoyer meets in Cairo with Muslim Brotherhood leader (Flashback)
World Tribune ^ | 4/12/2007 | World Tribune
Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 12:53:48 PM by Qbert
CAIRO The United States has been quietly holding a dialogue with the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
On April 5, U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met a Brotherhood leader twice. One meeting was at Egypt’s parliament, where the Brotherhood controls about 20 percent of the 454 seats, and the other was at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Francis Ricciardone.
Western diplomats and Brotherhood sources said American officials have been meeting members of the Islamic opposition in Alexandria and Cairo. They said the meetings, which focused on the positions of the Brotherhood and the future of Egypt, have usually taken place at the U.S. embassy, consulate or in the home of the American ambassador, Middle East Newsline reported.
“The Brotherhood plays a major role in Egypt’s political landscape and cannot be ignored,” a Western diplomat said. “On the other hand, these talks have to be handled delicately so as not to anger the government.”
“It’s our diplomatic practice around the world to meet with parliamentarians, be they members of political parties or independents,” U.S. embassy spokesman John Berry said.
[On Monday, officials said an Egyptian security court extended its remand of five Brotherhood leaders. One of the detainees was identified as Hassan Malik, regarded as a key financier of the Islamic opposition movement.]
The diplomats said U.S. officials and representatives have exploited a range of opportunities to meet Brotherhood members. They cited U.S. embassy receptions for members of the Egyptian parliament as well as with the political opposition.
Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan said Hoyer met the chairman of the Brotherhood caucus in parliament, Mohammed Saad Katatni. Hassan said Hoyer and Katatni discussed the Brotherhood vision of Egypt and the Middle East as well as the opposition movement in the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldtribune.com ...
Thank you for this link.
One of the ‘Good Guys’....
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668119/posts
Fox News Greg Palkot And Crew Severely Beaten, Hospitalized In Cairo
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-greg-palkot-and-crew-severely-beaten-hospitalized-in-cairo/ ^
Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 12:57:55 PM by kcvl
The attacks on journalists covering the protests in Egypt have escalated, with reports Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot and his photographer Olaf Wiig have been severely beaten in an attack in Cairo. Fox News anchor John Roberts described the attack today, saying Palkot and Wiig were left with fairly grave injuries but have now been released from the hospital.
Palkot, whos been in the center of the protests in Cairo for days, became cornered by pro-government forces, according to Roberts:
They were forced to leave their position when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at it, a large fire erupted. They were forced to flee. They ran out and ran right into the pro Mubarak crowd and were severely beaten and had to be taken to the hospital, spent the night in the hospital. The extent of their injuries was fairly grave, however, they have been released from the hospital.
have been reports/rumors that MB has been on both sides, trying to foment chaos and violence
Those, who practice deception best, always have the upper hand once the battle is begun... an atmosphere is created where the fog creates unseen activities ... mho
These reporters have been warned now with this threat.
Looks the Democrat Party has been conducting a long term outreach to the Ikhwan.
Remembering to be careful about what you ask for is an old adage that our elites and this White House are about to find out.
Who do they think is streetfighting with the ProMubarak forces? The Twittering Class? Pshaw.
The Ikhwan is being bloodied, and they will use their street cred. They and the Commies are the ones with the guts to actually fight. Then as in Iran, the Jihadis turn on the Commies.
The young, secular, technocratic types are about to find out how repressive the Ikhwan will be.
And our Adminstration is actively aiding and abetting them.
I think this has been very much of a youth-led movement, a secular movement. But, you know, there are other elements within Egyptian society. It has become an increasingly conservative and religious society over years. The Muslim Brotherhood is one of the better-organized and more institutionalized organizations in the country that actually is very involved in the delivery of services, social services on the ground, so it touches a lot of peoples’ lives. And I think while there are very moderate elements within the Brotherhood today, there are some that are not so moderate. And the more that there is violence and chaos, the more that moderate voices get pushed to the side.
http://www.cfr.org/africa/ramifications-egypts-political-upheaval/p23993
In other words, our government has been in cahoots with the Ikhwani for longer than we thought?
“Those, who practice deception best, always have the upper hand once the battle is begun... an atmosphere is created where the fog creates unseen activities ... mho”
And we all know who practices deception best. As well as we also know who is most likely to fall for that deception.
“This may or may not be true. There have been reports/rumors that MB has been on both sides.”
If anything, I would think it was anti-MB crowd infiltrating both sides. My reason: When MB didn’t back down after O’s speech, hostile anti-gov’t protesters decided that they needed to step it up in order to make their demands more clear with chaos (not to mention making MB look bad). Thus, getting the attention of world govt’s to pressure MB to step down to calm things down.
I’m sure there are bad MB supporters out there, but there is a lot of blame to go around.
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Cash-starved Egyptians turn on each other
AP/YahooNews ^ | 2/3/11 | TAREK EL-TABLAWY
Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 1:06:28 PM by Kartographer
For more than a week, Zaki Abdel-Aziz had been out of work and nearly out of money, joining millions of Egyptians living more on hope than cash as the capital plunged into chaos and the economy ground to a virtual halt.
His wife and three children were hungry, tired and tense. There was just over $17 (100 pounds) in their apartment, and no way to borrow more. Then a chilling call came Tuesday night.
“The guy asked me, ‘Zaki, you haven’t worked for a week, right? You don’t have money?’” Abdel-Aziz, 45, recalled. “He said, ‘Come out tomorrow and you’ll get 100 pounds and a bag of food. All you have to do is join us against those traitors in Tahrir.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668122/posts
” Cash-starved Egyptians turn on each other “
Interesting question from downthread —
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2668122/posts?page=5#5
To: Kartographer
Some Egyptian guy in NYC called into Savage yesterday and said his family members in Egypt reported that money was being handed out to the demonstrators in the square. Where was that $ coming from? Iran?
5 posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 1:11:53 PM by JPG (Work for conservative change like your country depended on it.)
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Wow Mubarak bitchslaps Obama.....
Mubarak to President Obama “you don’t understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now.” Via ABC
and this is the bottom line in my book. actually it is not a line rather a question. Can one be in the fog, and not know and sometimes, if comfortable, not care? The truth of life?
Live feed from Al Jizz has been down for a half hour or so, and the last picture was a very distant shot of the Square over a rooftop.
HOpefully they bugged out after taking it, as it would not take too long to triangulate back to the camera’s location.
Any remaining journalists had better know their escape and avoidance tactics really well if they are going to remain at large - or alive.
They occasionally show some “recent” short clips repeatedly - perhaps they are getting smart and shooting from a discrete location, then beaming it up to a satellite from another location, and then relocating again.
The Iranian Protestors (God rest their souls) did a pretty good job getting covert video out over a tight electronic blockade. Perhaps our journalists could take a lesson from them. The Natives can pull it off a lot better than outsiders, and should be used a lot more IMHO.
Does anyone know of any live video feed getting out of the riot zone?
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