WASHINGTON — President Obama offered Egypt “whatever assistance is necessary and asked for to pursue a credible transition to a democracy,” and said the events of the past few days have made clear that nothing but genuine democracy would satisfy its people.
“Egypt will never be the same” after the street revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Obama said. Praising Egypt’s military for its behavior during the crisis, he urged the military council taking over the country to “ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.”
“That means protecting the rights of Egypt’s citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free,” he said. “Above all, this transition must bring all of Egypt’s voices to the table, for the spirit of peaceful protest and perseverance that the Egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at the back of this change.”
Standing in the foyer of the White House, where just a week before he had started to press Mr. Mubarak for reforms without calling for his resignation, Mr. Obama described the Egyptian uprising as a model of nonviolence and moral force “that bent the arc of history.” He compared it to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the uprising in Indonesia that brought democracy to another Muslim country.
The president promised to continue American support for Egypt — which gets $1.3 billion in military aid each year, and a comparatively small amount, $250 million of economic aid — but suggested that American support would depend in part on the speed and enthusiasm with which reform took place. He called for an immediate lifting of the emergency laws that allowed Mr. Mubarak to silence his opponents.
But as Mr. Obama spoke, White House officials were racing to assess the impact of 18 days that changed the politics of the Middle East and upended American strategy. Officials wondered, in background conversations, whether Iran, Syria or Pakistan could be next, even as they tried to soothe angry allies, led by Saudi Arabia, who argued that the United States had abandoned a long-time ally.
Mr. Obama barely mentioned Mr. Mubarak, focusing his praise on the young people and on a military who “would not fire bullets” into the crowds that gathered in Tahrir Square. He struck a decidedly optimistic tone about Egypt’s future, repeating lines from his own presidential campaign in 2008, saying that Egyptians could now create a government that “represented their hopes and not their fears.
Suleiman the torturer
Under the Bush administration, in the context of “the global war on terror”, US renditions became “extraordinary”, meaning the objective of kidnapping and extra-legal transfer was no longer to bring a suspect to trial – but rather for interrogation to seek actionable intelligence.
The extraordinary rendition program landed some people in CIA black sites – and others were turned over for torture-by-proxy to other regimes. Egypt figured large as a torture destination of choice, as did Suleiman as Egypt’s torturer-in-chief. At least one person extraordinarily rendered by the CIA to Egypt — Egyptian-born Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib — was reportedly tortured by Suleiman himself.
In October 2001, Habib was seized from a bus by Pakistani security forces. While detained in Pakistan, at the behest of American agents, he was suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly. He was then turned over to the CIA, and in the process of transporting him to Egypt he endured the usual treatment: his clothes were cut off, a suppository was stuffed in his anus, he was put into a diaper – and ‘wrapped up like a spring roll’.
In Egypt, as Habib recounts in his memoir, My Story: The Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn’t, he was repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, immersed in water up to his nostrils and beaten. His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman.
Frustrated that Habib was not providing useful information or confessing to involvement in terrorism, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick. In April 2002, after five months in Egypt, Habib was rendered to American custody at Bagram prison in Afghanistan – and then transported to Guantanamo.
On January 11, 2005, the day before he was scheduled to be charged, Dana Priest of the Washington Post published an exposé about Habib’s torture. The US government immediately announced that he would not be charged and would be repatriated to Australia.
Live stream of breaking news in Egypt, HERE
Australian official saw Egyptians torture Habib
Natalie O’Brien, Sunday Age
February 13, 2011
EVIDENCE from an Egyptian intelligence officer that names an Australian official who witnessed the torture of Mamdouh Habib in Guantanamo Bay has been revealed as the trigger for a massive government payout to the Sydney man, and a high-level investigation.
The 840-word statement, released exclusively to The Sunday Age, was shown to government solicitors three days before they paid Mr Habib an undisclosed amount to drop his lawsuit claiming Australia was complicit in his CIA-engineered kidnap in 2001, rendition to Egypt and subsequent torture.
In the statement, which is yet to be tested in any court, the intelligence officer said Egyptian guards routinely filmed terror suspects in their jails. He says there is footage and photos of Mr Habib and an Arabic speaking Australian called George (surname withheld) who witnessed his degradation.
”He has rounded face aged 35-40 and bald his height is about 170 fat without moustache with beard, hazel eyes big nose, fat neck. George was present during the medical check on Habib who was handcuffed and tied feet. His eyes were closed and he was unable to see.
”He [Habib] was naked of any cloths [sic] even his underwear. He was hysterical, almost crazy, drugged. The hand down of him and his belongings and the medical check was before the Australian official (George). Habib constantly was fighting with the guards and wanted to escape outside.
”During Habib’s presence some of the Australian officials attended many times …
”The same official who attended the first time, George, used to come with them and Habib was tortured a lot and all the time as the foreign intelligence wanted quick and fast information.”
The statement from the intelligence officer was taken by Mr Habib’s Egyptian lawyer, Hisham Mahmoud Ramadan, who yesterday told Mr Habib the overthrow of the Muburak regime would make it easier to get more information about his torture. With the overthrow, more light is likely to be cast on the role Egypt has played in the torturing of terror suspects for Western nations.
Omar Suleiman, who was anointed Egypt’s Vice-President earlier this week, has been identified by Mr Habib as being present at his torture and interrogation sessions.
Mr Habib was arrested in Pakistan in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, secretly taken to Egypt where he was tortured for seven months and then transferred to Guantanamo Bay where he was held until January 2005. He was released without being charged with an offence. He immediately began legal action against the government claiming it was complicit in his rendition and torture.
Senior government ministers, including then foreign minister Alexander Downer and then attorney-general Philip Ruddock repeatedly denied any knowledge of the rendition, as did ASIO boss Dennis Richardson and Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty.
Mr Habib sued and after a six-year battle, the government has agreed to pay out in exchange for Mr Habib dropping his case. The amount of the compensation payout is subject to a confidentiality agreement.
A similar case in Canada ended with Canadian-Syrian engineer Maher Arar being given an apology and $10 million from the Canadian government after he was subjected to extraordinary rendition.
…
When shown a photograph of George by The Sunday Age, Mr Habib recognised him and said he had seen him several times in the Egyptian jail.
