UN Rights Chief: Egyptian Army Making Things Worse

The Egyptian military’s crackdown on demonstrators is further destabilizing the country ahead of its landmark election scheduled for next week, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. 

In a statement today, the UN rights chief called on Egypt’s military leaders to stop operations against demonstrators and conduct an impartial investigation into the violence that has left at least 30 people dead and injured thousands more over the past five days.

“The actions of the military and security forces, instead of improving security and helping Egypt’s difficult transition to democracy, have once again simply served to inflame the situation, resulting in huge numbers of people taking to the streets to demand their rights. The more they see fellow protestors being carted away in ambulances, the more determined and energized they become.” Pillay said in the statement. 

Pillay says Egyptian protesters have good reason to be angry at the country’s military leaders, who have been slow, and in many cases failed, to implement reform measures they had promised. 

“The lifting of the state of emergency, the implementation of an effective monitoring system during the elections, the full eradication of torture and ill-treatment, the adoption of a comprehensive approach to transitional justice and a comprehensive reform of the security sectors, are among the key future steps identified by the fact-finding mission I dispatched back in April,” she said.

Rights group Amnesty International released a report yesterday detailing actions taken by Egypt’s military leaders, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, since taking over from deposed President Hosni Mubarak’s government in February.

In its report, “Broken Promises: Egypt’s Military Rulers Erode Human Rights”, Amnesty says SCAF has maintained many of the Mubarak regime’s policies and ignored promises to lift the country’s 30 year old emergency law, instead expanding its reach to cover even more potential offenses.

Amnesty International also says the Supreme Council of Armed Forces has continued using arbitrary arrests and torture as a means of intimidating its critics, even hiring groups of “thugs” to attack protesters.

“The Egyptian military cannot keep using security as an excuse to keep to the same old practices that we saw under President Mubarak,” Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa  Philip Luther Director said in a statement posted on the group’s website. “If there is to be an effective transition to the new Egypt that protesters have been demanding, the SCAF must release their grip on freedom of expression, association and assembly, lift the state of emergency and stop trying civilians in military courts.”

Arab Spring Showed France Error of Its Ways

France’s minister of Foreign Affairs says his government’s past support for authoritarian regimes and dictatorships in the Middle East was misguided and short sighted, but is now determined to provide the region “a helping hand” to develop its democratic initiatives.

“The Arab Springs showed us that [the regional stability] was just an illusion” Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Juppe told a press conference at the Council on Foreign Relations this morning in New York. “The protests are a great chance to institute democracy and the rule of law as well as peace and stability”

Juppe said the international community has “a moral and political duty” to help Egypt, Tunisia and Libya in their transitions and argued only free elections could ensure national legitimacy and against the radicalization of political discourse.

The French Minster of Foreign Affairs also outlined the Deauville initiative, a G8 plan to support new democratic governments. He says the $38 billion initiative will help carry out transitions and reforms for the creation of new democratic entities in the Middle East.

“This is your revolution. We stand alongside you” Mr. Juppé said, repeating the message he delivered during a visit to Tunis last week. 

Israel Clears Out Embassy In Jordan Fearing Repeat Of Egypt

By Kenneth R. Bazinet

The Israeli government is taking no chances of a repeat of the weekend ransacking of its embassy in Cairo, pulling back its ambassador and most staff from its diplomatic mission in Jordan ahead a planned million-man march in support of the United Nations recognizing proposed Palestinian statehood.

Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo and his staff left its complex in Amman in a convoy overnight. The diplomats hope to return Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Nevo and his staff routinely return to Israel for the sabbath.

The anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt and Jordan is particularly troubling because they are the only Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel.

President Obama had to intervene diplomatically on behalf of Israel to save the lives of trapped security personal in the Israeli embassy in Cairo. 

Now the U.S. embassy in Jordan is also under increased protection by Jordanian police after Wikileaks diplomatic cables suggested a secret plan to turn Jordan into a homeland for Palestinians. There was a small protest outside the U.S. embassy in Amman yesterday in which demonstrators burned the American flag and demanded that the American diplomats be expelled from Jordan.

The region is swiftly becoming a powder keg amid the Palestinian Authority’s plan to seek statehood at the UN. 

The U.S. has vowed to veto any move for statehood on the UN Security Council and is lobbying other countries to do also oppose the move. Israel, however, increasingly becoming isolated and faces widespread support globally for Palestinian statehood.

Nonetheless, the U.S. is still hoping the statehood issue is abandoned, fearing a veto could trigger even more anti-American demonstrations in the Muslim world.

“We continue to see any kind of effort by the Palestinians in New York as counterproductive and not in the interest of achieving a two-state solution, which is our goal,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

“Our argument conveyed to countries around the world is that this is a counterproductive measure by the Palestinians, and because of that, it doesn’t get anybody any closer to a comprehensive peace settlement, and that’s why we’ve got to remain focused on getting them back to the negotiating table,” Toner added.

The world’s leading Islamic democracy, Turkey, which has diplomatic and trade relations with Tel Aviv, is also ripped at the Israeli government for failing to apologize for its soldiers killing nine Turkish civilians on a ship that was part of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza last year.

A UN-appointed panel found the Israeli commandos faced “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers,” but was still heavy handed in its response that led to the massacre on aboard the ship. “It seems to us to have been too heavy a response too quickly. It was an excessive reaction to the situation,” the panel’s report stated.

An internal Israeli probe cleared its military of any wrongdoing.

Read more from Kenneth R. Bazinet at The Baz File…

Ex CIA Director: Mubarak's Ouster Offers "Great Hope" For Future

By Anna Cameron

Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said Wednesday that recent events in the Arab world, particularly the revolution in Egypt, represent instances of “great hope” in long-term counterterrorism efforts.

“Here is a vision for the future, for particularly the Arab Islamic world, that has nothing to do with al Qaeda’s vision for the future,” Hayden said of the Egyptian protests. “It is not some view of transcendental religion descending upon man and directing all action. It is empowerment from people through popular choice.”

Though the United States has been effective in tracking and eliminating threats that come from those already committed to executing terrorist attacks, Hayden stressed the importance of improving the identification of new threats and sources of terrorist recruitment.

“We have to deal with the long battle that has to do with the production rate of people who want to come kill us,” Hayden said. “These changes give us the opportunity.”

Notable counterterrorism experts Captain Glenn Sulmasy of the U.S Coast Guard Academy, and Marc Thiessen, chief speechwriter to both President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, appeared alongside Hayden Wednesday to discuss a new counterterrorism agenda for Congress.

While Hayden highlighted the parallels between the Bush and Obama administrations in terms of counterterrorism policy, all three panelists emphasized the need for reform in Congress’ approach to an “intelligence driven war on al Qaeda.”

“We seem to be in a position where we are not capturing high value detainees. This is a conscious choice by the president to kill rather than capture senior terrorist leaders,” said Thiessen. “Our time for dining out on the successes of the Bush administration’s interrogation policy under the Obama administration is [running out]. We need to start replenishing that strategic intelligence or we’re going to get hit.”

White House Press Gaggle

White House Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney

Aboard Air Force One

En Route Portland, Oregon

9:34 A.M. PST                               

     MR. CARNEY:  I’m going to try to do this relatively fast so that nobody gets hurt in landing here.  To begin, I want to read you a statement by the President on violence in Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen: 

     “I am deeply concerned by reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen.  The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur.  We express our condolences to the families and friends of those who have been killed during the demonstrations.  Wherever they are, people have certain universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly.  The United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of their people.”

     That’s the end of the statement.  If you — what I will do now, and we can come back to questions, if you want me to do the week ahead — is that helpful to everyone, or do you want to —

     Q    Can we just —

     MR. CARNEY:  Just go right into questions, sure.

     Q    What kind of briefings is the President getting on the situation in the Middle East?

     MR. CARNEY:  He’s getting regular briefings.  Obviously he has a national security aide with him, and he also has for several weeks now as this — these events in the Middle East have been unfolding, he tasked his national security staff to provide even more regular updates on the situation.  They now come to him obviously in his morning PDB but also in midday updates and end-of-day updates, every day.  So that obviously continues today.

     Q    What’s the impact of the Bahrain situation on the U.S. fleet that’s based there?

     MR. CARNEY:  I refer you to the Department of Defense on that, but specifically I think what we want to focus on here is the President’s deep concern about the use of violence against peaceful protesters in Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen.  And we are expressing that message directly to the government of Bahrain — in response to your question.  And these are universal rights that need to be recognized.  And as you can see, we — that position holds whether it’s Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Egypt — to all countries in the region.

     Q    Staying a little bit with the uprising, there’s one in Africa now, in Djibouti, where the U.S. has the only military base in Africa.  Is there any concern there about possible loss of the military base, or is there any concern on the part of the U.S. government?

     MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have anything on that for you.  You’d have to go to the Department of Defense or the Department of State.

     Q    Has he spoken to the leaders of those four countries? 

     MR. CARNEY:  I’m sorry?

     Q    You named four countries.  Has he spoken to the leaders of any or all of those —

     MR. CARNEY:  He has made no calls to foreign leaders since we last spoke.

     Q    Jay, Egypt has given permission to the Iranians to send those warships through the Suez Canal.  Does the United States have any position on that?

     MR. CARNEY:  We’re monitoring that, obviously, but we also would say that Iran does not have a great track record for responsible behavior in the region, which is always a concern to us.  But beyond that, I don’t have a comment.

     Q    Jay, on Wisconsin, is the President keeping up with what’s going on there?  Speaker Boehner today said the President should tell OFA to stand down. 

     MR. CARNEY:  I want to make clear that — something about what — the President’s comments in the radio — the television interview he gave the other day.  There are two points he made.  One is that he is very understanding of the need for state governments, governors, state legislatures to reduce spending, to be — to make tough choices, to be fiscally responsible.  He’s doing that at the federal level and he understands that states need to do that at the state level.

     But he also feels very strongly that we need not to make this an assault on the collective bargaining rights of workers in a given state.  Public service workers need to make sacrifices just like everyone else, but there’s a distinction here that he sees.  And I just want to make sure that people see that he was very clear about his recognition that states need to deal with their budgets just like the federal government needs to deal with its budget.

     Q    Do you expect the President to weigh in on this activity in some of the other states — Ohio or Indiana?

     MR. CARNEY:  I have no scheduling announcement to make, or I have no information that he would do that.

     Q    The Post suggested this morning the White House had a role in stoking the protests in Madison.

     MR. CARNEY:  The President made a comment in a television interview.  That’s the only role that I see that we’ve had. 

     Q    What about Organizing For America?

     MR. CARNEY:  I’d refer you to the DNC for comment on that.

     Q    Does the President support federal funding for Planned Parenthood?

     MR. CARNEY:  I’m sorry?

     Q    Does the President support federal funding for Planned Parenthood?

     MR. CARNEY:  There’s a longstanding history of funding for Title 10 by HHS, and on the history of that program and the funding of that program and what it does, I’d refer you to HHS.

     Q    The Intel CEO — the announcement that was made this morning — back in September he was pretty critical of the administration, on stimulus and what not.  We know that he was part of — one of the CEOs in December at the Blair House, then he was at the state dinner last month.  What has changed for him that he’s going to now partner up with the President when he was so critical just six months ago?

     MR. CARNEY:  I think that’s a good question.  The Intel CEO has also been very supportive of the President’s agenda on infrastructure, on research and development.  But more broadly, I think the point of the Jobs and Competiveness Council is to foster ideas for job growth and competitiveness.

     And he wants to hear from — the President wants to hear from a lot of different voices, and private business is clearly essential to the agenda the President has for creating jobs and enhancing our competiveness around the globe.  So the point is not to collect people who agree with him on every issue and every policy decision he’s made, but to create an environment — a council that — where ideas, good ideas can be generated for going forward on job-creation.

     Q    Was the President’s statement released on the ground?  I’m just wondering.

     MR. CARNEY:  It is — this is happening now, as we say.

     Q    Jay, other countries have frozen the assets of Hosni Mubarak and his lieutenants that are — assets in their countries.  Are we doing the same thing?

     MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have anything for you on that.  I don’t know.  I would refer you — I would refer you to State.  I don’t have anything.

     Q    Jay, is there going to be any news in the President’s speech today — any more news?

     MR. CARNEY:  As you know, the purpose of the event is to highlight the innovation agenda the President is pushing, and also education.  Intel has been very strong on — in its own programs.  I think — I hope we have paper for you on the investments they’ve made in enhancing the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math because it’s so vital to the future economic growth in these key industries for our country.

     I think he will speak a lot about that, and I don’t want to steal his thunder.  All right?  Okay, thanks, guys.

     Q    Are you going to do a week ahead?  Are you still going to do that?

     MR. CARNEY:  You guys want a week ahead?  I have that.  Here we go. 

     On Monday, the President has no public events scheduled. 

     On Tuesday, the President and members of his Cabinet will travel to Cleveland, Ohio, where the White House will convene a “Winning the Future” forum on small business, in association with Cleveland State University and Northeast Ohio economic development organizations JumpStart and NorTech. 

     In his State of the Union address, President Obama spoke of the need to out-innovate — sorry, out-innovate, out-educate and out-build our competitors in order to sustain our leadership and secure prosperity for all Americans.  The forum will be an opportunity for the President and his economic team to hear directly from small business owners and leaders about their ideas for how America can continue to grow the economy, put Americans back to work, and win the future.

     On Wednesday the President will attend meetings at the White House.

     On Thursday the President will hold a meeting with the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at the White House, the aforementioned council.  In the evening the President and the Vice — and the First Lady — sorry — will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House on Thursday — well, as I said — for the Motown Sound in performance at the White House, a concert celebrating Black History Month and the legacy of Motown records.

     On Friday the President will attend meetings at the White House. 

     That is your week ahead.

     Q    Thank you.

     MR. CARNEY:  All right.  Thanks, guys.

END               9:45 A.M. PST