*Mubarak : US used and dumped a “friend”: Lesson for all aspiring friends!*
* * Hosni Mubarak the Pharoah of Egypt that reigned for over 3 decades is now said to be clinically dead. There is hardly a handful who would even say a word of praise for a man who was once openly declared to be “an ally and friend of the US”. Unfortunately, none of the world’s worst “dictators” had the wisdom to understand what it costs to be termed a “friend” but what they all decided to do was to use the “friendship” tag to loot their own nation and deny their people the rights and liberties they deserved. The US and West cared little of human rights or democracy when they shook hands with these dictators because the deals they struck had nothing to do with the people of these countries and everything to do with delivering to the West their strategic wish lists….so in many ways all these “friendly” dictators deserve their fate and let it be a lesson to all others aspiring to become a “friend” of the US/West. In choosing its favored “dictators” all that the West looks for in terms of criteria is that these locals are “easy” for the West to deal with. This implies that these dictators are ever ready to give whatever the West desires and in turn the West promises to turn a blind eye to any horrors that these dictators may involve themselves in. What sealed the fate of Mubarak’s predecessor was to ensure Mubarak’s rise to fame. Anwar Sadat was assassinated for his reluctance over the peace treaty and Mubarak became leader of Egypt and poodle of the West ready to be the facililtator for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, he gave US free use of Egypt for its military exercises, he was a foe of the Islamic terrorist organizations and he did everything that the West wanted him to do. Mubarak quickly implemented emergency laws and expanded police powers. As the darling of the West, with the tag called “ally”, Mubarak was handsomely rewarded and every “undemocratic” act of Mubarak was assured to be ignored. Such was the compromise of the deals struck with all “friends” of the US/West. The rise of Islamic fundamentalists is nothing to be surprised over for in many ways the roots of their existence can be followed to the very sources that propagate the need to rid the world of fundamentalism and militancy. We should not be too surprised how many of these fundamental Islamic groups are flourishing and who is perhaps arming them. To understand this all one needs to do is to watch the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan and why Taliban helps the US remain rooted in Afghanistan! Back in Egypt, Mubarak with the millions given by US was arresting, crushing movements, engineering constitutional amendments guaranteeing the ruling party election victories, subsidizing on essential commodities and was doing everything he shouldn’t do to his own people. Mubarak was re-elected 3 times, one-man referendums giving him 90% approval rating, so what created the Tahiri Square revolt by his own people? Mubarak ensured laws were in place to legalize corruption aided by equally corrupt legal experts and Govt officials helped a wholesale loot of Egypt’s national assets – the national assets are said to exceed $2.8trillion dollars (American Enterprise Institute). Can Mubarak and his regime deny that men of integrity, competency and honesty were purged systematically and they were replaced with their cronies? With time like most dictators he was an Egyptian in Western clothing and living and thinking like the West. Despite claims that his elections were rigged, despite accusations of mass fraud and embezzlement Mubarak remained a staunch “friend” of the West. It behoves to ask why the West chose to be blind to Mubarak’s actions over 30 odd years and why suddenly the West remembered “democracy” and “human rights” for Egyptians in 2011-2012? It was on 25th January 2011 that the people of Egypt demanded the ouster of Mubarak and after 3 weeks of protests Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011. It does raise eyebrows how much of these protests were genuine! >From there onwards we know how Mubarak was arrested along with his 2 sons and stood trial on charges of corruption and shooting of protestors. As was expected Mubarak denied all charges levied against him and even refused to address the court and was sentenced to life in Torah prison on 2 June 2012. We may never know what went on in the minds of either Saddam, Gaddafi or Mubarak but one thing is for certain they would never have though their lives would come to what it had. Nor would any of their family members have thought their world’s would crash as they have. *Mubarak’s Assets* It should come as no surprise that all US sponsored dictators are looked after well for the allegiance they promise. Thus, while the stories are many the personal wealth of Hosni Mubarak ranges from $40billion to $70billion. Is it then a surprise why leaders succumb to the West when they are lavished with luxuries and their coffers are filled promising them a life of luxury? It certainly explains why inspite of being asked to step down Mubarak preferred to cling to power? Saddam, Gaddafi or Mubarak would ever have thought of life in exile after decades of reigning as Kings of the soil. When a favored dictator falls out of the scope of being called a “friend” what is to be expected is calls for inquiries and investigations against corruption, criminal activity, looting of state treasures, embezzlement….all things that were perhaps ignored or shelved to be brought out at better times. Thus, embassies will be busy issuing letters, investigating bank transfers, foreign banks will be contacted and assets will undoubtedly get frozen. Do dictators and aspiring dictators not know the drill? So can they ever enjoy the riches they have amassed illegally by selling off their nation and their people and becoming detested amongst the masses? Who really wants to be turned from a hero into a zero if it means that none of the riches amassed can ever be really enjoyed? Yet all dictators end up making this same mistake over and over again. In every way such dictators of foreign Governments deserve every bit of mental agony once ousted for not opening their eyes to learn from the lessons suffered by similar dictators fallen out of favor. Did Egypt not lose its sovereignty as a result of signing the Camp David agreement? In agreeing to the Camp Dave Peace Treaty with Israel, Egypt was gifted with billions of dollars in US aid. When much of this aid invariably ends up in personal accounts of political leaders would any politician in Egypt give up such a lucrative allegiance? Is this not why the West turned a blind eye to Mubarak’s “undemocratic” reign over 3 decades and only after Mubarak was an impediment for US agenda that the West took out all the “well-documented records of torture and brutal methods of repression” during Mubarak’s reign These are all lessons for nations having similar practices where despite public sector making massive losses the executives end up hoarding millions, in Sri Lanka’s case the COPE report highlights this sad state of affairs clearly. Mubarak’s fate was further sealed when his own family joined in the looting. Mubarak’s wife is known openly as the Marie Antoinette of France. It was her coterie of favored people that ended up heading most of the state institutes pilfering the Egyptian state. Testimony of the Egyptian Director of Archives claims that she received $2billion for the sale of just ONE stolen antiquities. While Mubarak’s fortune is said to be in the range of $40 to $70billion, his British-wife Suzanne’s fortune is said to be $5billion whilst his son Gamal is said to have a personal fortune of $17billion. No sooner Mubarak stepped down his wealth hidden in Swiss bank accounts were frozen. The US however has not frozen any accounts though Mubarak was given $2billion that went to his personal account with assets in US real estate as well. The practice of funneling foreign aid to “keep peace in the Middle East” ending in personal accounts of dictators is nothing new and nothing that only Mubarak is guilty of and nothing that the US or western officials, humanitarian organizations or others were unaware of as well. Everyone knew the exact nature of how “foreign dictators” on the “friend” list of Western governments were looked after. It is only when that relationship goes sour one can see the exact nature of the givers. * * *Mubarak’s Memoirs* Egypts Rose al-Youssef daily published the first part of Mubarak’s memoirs covering 30 years of rule starting off from his poor childhood where his father was a government employee unable to financially support his children. He had joined the Air Force Academy in 1949 and wore the military uniform since he couldn’t afford to buy clothes. In his memoirs Mubarak claims that late President Anwar Sadat ridiculed him for his stupidity but had appointed him his deputy. The memoirs also reveal his marriage to Suzanne daughter of a British mother and who demanded a life of luxury and looked down on his family especially his mother. The memoirs also reveal that Mubarak paid a monthly salary of $25,000 for the presidency budget to former Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and only his Chief of Presidential Staff knew about it. As of his relationships with US Presidents, Mubarak cites the best was with Ronald Reagan. In his last 5 years of his presidency while he retreated it was his wife and sons who were running Egypt to ruin and this may have spurred US to take action. His son Gamal with a group of businessmen friends were taking control of Egypt and turning it into a family-run oligarchy. Suzanne had come to believe that Egypt was destined to have one of Mubaraks’ son to lead the country and that was non-negotiable. Mubarak is said to have admonished his wife saying that she and his sons had ruined him. Though Suzanne Mubarak has not been charged for corrupt practices she has signed a British book deal for 10million pounds for her memoirs to be completed by September 2012 to be titled “Egypts First Lady, 30 years on the Throne”. The lists of dictators that the US sponsored and called a “friend” are many and at a time when Sri Lanka is being forced to relook at its foreign policy it behoves us to wonder what carrots are been dangled and for what type of compromises this translates to. It appears all political leaders around the world given that they are human are often prey to those that tap upon their desire to remain in power. The love of power and glory is something us laymen do not understand but it is no doubt a very strong denominator as they begin to get too comfortable in the seat of power and soon fall prey to those who desire to tag on to them as their favorite advisors..consultants ..etc. We are well aware of what President Premadasa did not do to ensure he remained eternally in power. Likewise all leaders have ended up victims of soothsayers tempted into carrying out bizarre rituals and practices simply on the promise that they would remain in power and we know the fate of what eventually happened to President Premadasa. Nevertheless, soothsayers have ended up making our leaders victims of the supernatural and steering them into a direction that has only added to the cost born by the masses. The parallels, the lessons are many and only to those who can perceive the Truth will realize and understand the true nature of governance. * * *Shenali Waduge* -- තෙරුවන් සරණයි ! -- If You Unable to read SINHALA, GET SINHALA From, http://www.siyabas.lk/sinhala_how_to_install.html ================================== E-MailSriLanka E-Mail Group ================================== http://groups.google.com/group/emailsrilanka මෙම පණිවිඩය ඔබට ලැබෙන්නේ ඔබගේ ඊමේල් ලිපිනය ඊමේල් ශ්රීලංකා හි සාමාජිකත්වය ලබා ඇති නිසාය. ඊමේල් ශ්රීලංකා සමුහයෙන් ඉවත් වීම සදහා. 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