Thread: Egypt Is Descending Into Civil War, But Don’t Expect Obama Cancel His Golf Vacation

Egypt Is Descending Into Civil War, But Don’t Expect Obama To Cancel His Golf Vacation

By Michael Snyder, on August 15th, 2013

The largest Islamic nation in the Middle East is on the verge of descending into civil war, the Syrian civil war is starting to spill over into Lebanon, and the worst violence in five years has just hit Iraq, but Barack Obama is way too busy to be bothered with any of that. Right now, Obama is enjoying one of the true loves of his life - golf.

According to the Washington Post, Obama has "played 18 holes of golf every day but one this week", and without a doubt he appears to really be enjoying his time up in Martha's Vineyard. I hear that it is absolutely beautiful up there this time of the year. And apparently he needs the rest. After all, prior to this vacation he has only had time to play 133 rounds of golf since becoming president. Between snubbing world leaders and getting the U.S. economy going again, it must be really tough for Obama to find enough time to sharpen his game.

Of course I am being facetious. It is absolutely ridiculous how much time Obama takes off, and Congress is even worse. Congress is taking a five week vacation right now. Most Americans don't get that much vacation in an entire year.

Meanwhile, as our leaders enjoy their rest, the Middle East is coming apart at the seams.

In Egypt, authorities say that 638 people are now confirmed dead and another 3,994 people were wounded in the nightmarish violence that erupted in Cairo this week. Hundreds of bodies remain uncounted by the authorities, and it appears very likely that Egypt is rapidly heading down the path to full-blown civil war...

Angry supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi staged protests and burned buildings Thursday as President Obama condemned the violence on both sides and canceled next month's joint military operations.

The unrest came a day after at least 638 people were killed in violence nationwide, including 43 police officers, the Health Ministry said. Most of the deaths occurred when security forces smashed two pro-Morsi sit-in camps in the capital. In the Nasr City district, 288 people were killed.

The Health Ministry said 3,994 people were injured.

After the police moved on the camps, street battles broke out across Egypt. Government buildings and police stations were attacked, roads were blocked, and Christian churches were torched, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said.

Sadly, some of the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have chosen to express their fury with the government by setting Christian homes, businesses and churches on fire. According to one report, 18 churches have been torched so far...

Now, with the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members by the Egyptian army, Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians. In the past few days, there has been a spate of attacks on Christian businesses, homes, and churches. As of Wednesday morning, according to local witnesses, at least 18 churches had been destroyed, and fires and riots were continuing to spread in Christian areas, the witnesses said.

This is absolutely despicable, and it is turning out to be one of the worst disasters for Coptic Christians ever recorded. Over the past few days, Twitter has been absolutely flooded with reports about what has been happening to Christians in Egypt...

Using the hashtag #EgyChurch, Egyptian users of Twitter and other social networks broadcast messages like “Can't keep up with the number of churches, Christian businesses, and affiliates being attacked by 'peaceful' Muslim Brotherhood,” “It's clear the Copts are having their churches burnt,” and “This is quickly becoming the worst sectarian catastrophe we've seen in our lifetimes.”

Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq continues to escalate. The following is how Reuters described what happened in Baghdad on Thursday...

Car bomb attacks killed at least 34 people in Baghdad on Thursday but the Interior Ministry said it would not allow al Qaeda, which it blames for a surge in sectarian violence, to turn Iraq into another Syria.

More than 100 people were wounded in at least eight blasts, one of which was near the "Green Zone" diplomatic complex, part of a wave of bloodshed that has taken the monthly death toll in Iraq to the highest levels in five years.

"Iraq's streets have become a battleground for sectarian people who are motivated by hatred and religious edicts and daring to kill innocent people," the Interior Ministry said in an unusually frank statement.
"It is our destiny to win this battle which is aimed at destroying the country and turning it into another Syria," the ministry said.

And the absolutely brutal civil war in Syria is now spilling over into Lebanon. On Thursday, a Shiite stronghold in Beirut was hit by the worst car bomb attack that Lebanon has witnessed in decades...

A powerful car bomb tore through a bustling south Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of Hezbollah on Thursday, killing at least 18 and trapping dozens of others in an inferno of burning cars and buildings in the bloodiest attack yet on Lebanese civilians linked to Syria’s civil war.

The blast is the second in just over a month to hit one of the Shiite militant group’s bastions of support, and the deadliest in decades. It raises the specter of a sharply divided Lebanon being pulled further into the conflict next door, which is being fought on increasingly sectarian lines pitting Sunnis against Shiites.

And of course we shouldn't forget about the war in Yemen either. Sadly, as Ron Paul recently noted, most Americans don't even realize what is going on in Yemen...

Most Americans are probably unaware that over the past two weeks the US has launched at least eight drone attacks in Yemen, in which dozens have been killed. It is the largest US escalation of attacks on Yemen in more than a decade. The US claims that everyone killed was a “suspected militant,” but Yemeni citizens have for a long time been outraged over the number of civilians killed in such strikes. The media has reported that of all those killed in these recent US strikes, only one of the dead was on the terrorist “most wanted” list.

This significant escalation of US attacks on Yemen coincides with Yemeni President Hadi’s meeting with President Obama in Washington earlier this month. Hadi was installed into power with the help of the US government after a 2011 coup against its long-time ruler, President Saleh. It is in his interest to have the US behind him, as his popularity is very low in Yemen and he faces the constant threat of another coup.

Unfortunately, this is probably only just the beginning.

The violence in the Middle East is probably going to get much worse, and at some point I expect a major regional war to erupt in the years ahead.

But instead of going back to the White House and at least giving the appearance of being on top of things, Obama plans to continue his golf vacation.

This is so negligent that even the Washington Post is ripping him to shreds...

In a sense, then, Obama might as well play golf. He’s dropped the ball on Egypt and the entire region, leaving the United States with few options and the Egyptian people to a bloody future in the short run and a repressive authoritarian junta in the longer run. This is a policy failure of the highest order.

But this is just par for the course for Obama.

As we learned this week, this is the guy that was actually playing cards during the bin Laden raid...

Despite the picture the White House released showing President Obama intently watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, his former “body man” says the president spent most of the raid playing a card game.

“Most people were like down in the Situation Room and [the president] was like, ‘I’m not going to be down there, I can’t watch this entire thing.’

So he, myself, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, Marvin [Nicholson], we must have played 15 games of spades,” former Obama aide Reggie Love said at an event in Los Angeles sponsored by The Artists & Athletes Alliance in July.

Love, who played college basketball and football at Duke University, left the White House in 2011 to attend business school.

You can see video of Obama's former "body man", Reggie Love, making these remarks right here.

When it comes to foreign policy, Obama seems to be totally clueless.

So what would happen someday if a major foreign policy crisis erupted that actually seriously threatened our national security?

Would Obama be up to the task?

Let's hope that we don't have to find out.



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August 15th, 2013 | Tags: Barack Obama, Egypt, Golf, Golf Vacation, Golfing, Iraq, Martha's Vineyard, Michael T. Snyder, Obama, The U.S. Economy, Vacation | Category: Commentary

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WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

Egypt's army crosses the Rubicon

Pat Buchanan: Perhaps lowering our profile and shutting up would be best approach

Patrick J. Buchanan
Published: 3 hours ago

“Sire, clear the square with gunfire or abdicate.”

That was the message one of his generals gave the young czar Nicholas I in December of 1825, as thousands of civilians and soldiers massed in Senate Square to challenge his claim to the throne.

Nicholas gave the order, the cannons fired, and he and his heirs ruled Russia for another century, until Nicholas II was overthrown and murdered by Bolsheviks.

Such was the moment Egypt’s army faced on Wednesday, with thousands of backers of the Muslim Brotherhood encamped in Cairo, challenging its rule. The slaughter that ensued, 500 dead the first day and thousands wounded, means there is no going back.

The die is cast. The Egyptian army has crossed the Rubicon.

Egypt’s generals cannot now hold elections that a coalition of the Brotherhood and Salafis might win. Were that to happen, many of them could wind up like the shah’s generals, on trays in the morgue.

So where does Egypt and where do we go from here?

While we Americans are babbling about a new politics of “inclusiveness,” even some of the Twitter-Facebook liberals of Tahrir Square are coming to see Egypt as it is. Us or them.

And the one issue on which Egypt’s Muslim militants and Egypt’s militarists seem to agree is that the Americans cannot be trusted.

Two years ago, the United States celebrated an Arab Spring that began with the overthrow in Tunis and Cairo of dictators who had been our loyal allies. We then became the champions of free elections in Egypt, as we had been the champions of free elections in Palestine, until Hamas swept the board in Gaza.

Order Pat Buchanan’s brilliant and prescient books at WND’s Superstore.

When half of Egypt voted for the Brotherhood and a fourth for the more militant Salafis, we accepted the results and pledged to work with President Mohamed Morsi.

But Morsi failed as badly as Hosni Mubarak. So, when millions massed in Cairo’s streets to demand Morsi’s overthrow, we signaled our approval for a military coup.

Then, when Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power, imprisoned Morsi, jailed Brotherhood leaders and installed a puppet government, we refused to call it a coup.

Secretary of State John Kerry provided the comic relief by assuring us that the Egyptian army was “restoring democracy.”

For two years, America has been loyal to no one and consistent in nothing. Thus, Egypt’s soldiers decided to do what they had to do to save their country. And if new elections are likely to produce a regime that threatens their Egypt, they will dump the democratic procedures rather than lose Egypt to the Brotherhood.

They will comply with our wishes to the extent that they do not imperil what the Egyptian army regards as vital. Gen. Sisi either did not believe we would cut off his military aid, or was willing to take that risk when he gave the order to fire on the protesters.

He read the Americans right. What do we do now?

As our interests dictate maintaining the peace between Egypt and Israel, keeping Egypt as an ally against Islamic terrorism and protecting Christians, we cannot sever ties to the army that runs the country. In these goals, Egypt’s military, no matter the brutality with which it behaved on Wednesday against the Brotherhood, is an ally.

But if we were to retain any credibility as the champion of peaceful protest, we had to signal that what was done by Egypt’s security forces was done without our approval. President Obama did that by canceling the military exercises with the Egyptian army in Sinai.

Yet Egypt has problems we cannot solve. It is divided between secularists and fundamentalists, whose visions are irreconcilable. It is divided between a middle class and millions of poor for whom neither Mubarak nor Morsi was able to create any measure of prosperity.

Without constant infusions of aid, Egypt, a country whence the tourists and investors alike have fled, cannot create a robust economy until radicalism and extremism are in the past.

Egypt today cannot sustain itself. But America’s role as primary foreign aid provider is coming to an end. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Gulf states are today sending many times the aid we are sending to Cairo.

Let them take the lead. The fate of Arab peoples is far more tied up in what happens along the Nile than is the fate of America.

While we do not know what will succeed in the Middle East, we do know what has failed. Nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq has left us bleeding and near bankrupt. Our flipping and flopping in Egypt’s turmoil has alienated all sides. Our wars have accomplished what?

Perhaps lowering our profile and shutting up would serve us better. This part of the world will be decades sorting out its future in light of the political, religious, ethnic and ideological forces unleashed by the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamism.

A phrase from the America of a century ago, when Mexico was in turmoil, comes to mind. Why not a period of watchful waiting?


http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/egypts-ar...s-the-rubicon/

Libyan Intel document bolstered by events in Egypt?

Posted by Bill Bissell, Admin II on August 16, 2013 at 12:10am in Patriot Action Alerts

Reprinted with full permission of Shoebat Foundation

It would appear that the Libyan Intelligence document we referenced in our original report about an Egyptian connection to Benghazi, may have gotten another dose of credibility.

According to a reputable Arabic source, an official with Egypt’s interior ministry has revealed that two individuals named in that Libyan Intelligence document have been arrested at Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque in Nasr City, a neighborhood in Cairo.

Via Asharq Al-Awsat:

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Egyptian interior ministry yesterday said “a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested following the security forces’ operation to clear pro-Mursi protesters from two squares in Cairo and Giza.”

Sources in the interior ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, did not reveal the names of those arrested but told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the names will be revealed as soon as the interrogation by Egyptian prosecution begins.”

Unconfirmed media reports yesterday said preacher and Brotherhood leader Safwat Higazi was arrested as he attempted to escape in disguise in a private car from Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square. Another Salafist preacher, Mohamed Hassan, was arrested while trying to set up a new protest with dozens of pro-Mursi protesters in the Mostafa Mahmoud Square in Giza. {emphasis ours}

Now, let’s take a look at a partial translation of the 9/15/12 document from the Libyan Interior ministry:

The most distinguished names that were obtained from the confessions by members of the cell, is the person, the President of Egypt, Muhammad Mursi, Safwat Hijazy and Saudi businessman Mansour Bin Kadasa, the owner of Al-Nas TV station, Muhammad Hassan, previous candidate Hazim Salah Abu-Ismael, Egyptian attorney named Mamdouh Ismael, Egyptian cleric Atef Abdul Rashid, and other personalities.

http://api.ning.com/files/cXBH7X7ikK...igence_Doc.jpg

Libyan Intel document: Were terrorists involved in Benghazi
arrested in Egypt?

So, anonymous sources with the Egyptian interior ministry have confirmed arrests but not the identities of those arrested. If these unconfirmed reports about the arrests of Higazi and Hassan are correct, it would signify the arrests of two more individuals identified by the six Egyptians referred to in the Libyan Intelligence document dated 9/15/12 as being involved in the Benghazi attacks. According to that document, those six Egyptians identified Hijazi and Hassan as being involved (along with Mursi).

As if that weren’t enough to bolster the document, consider the details of a broadcast by reputable Egyptian television host Ahmed Moussa. During a broadcast last month, Moussa alleged that Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ “assassin” was holed up in the Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque with – among others – Safwat Hijazi.

On another note, take a look at the last paragraph from the Asharq Al-Awsat report:

In another development, security measures were strengthened yesterday around the Turra Prison after Brotherhood supporters tried to storm it. They were thought to be trying to free some of their leaders believed to be held at the prison, including Khairat El-Shater, first deputy of the general guide, and leader of the FJP Sa’ad El-Katatni, as well as Rashad El-Bayoumi, another leading member of the Brotherhood’s leadership.

This paragraph caught our attention for two primary reasons. One, a report that al-Shater’s son Saad claimed that his father’s safety is more important to Americans than is the safety of Mursi. Two, in the same report by Ahmed Moussa, the television host’s claims seemed to indicate that Khairat Al-Shater may be the more solid link between Egypt and Benghazi.
Shoebat

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Tags: Benghazi, Egypt, Intel, Libyan, Shoebat, document, pro-Mursi, protesters

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Deadly Chaos Grips Egypt News -- 8-14-13



The Muslim Brotherhood is the gateway drug to Islamic Terrorism" says Erick Stakelbeck (Author of "The Brotherhood") to FNC's Martha MacCallum as he describes the reasons behind all the violence that is currently exploding throughout Egypt, thanks to the endless protesting efforts initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood

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