# Outrage builds as Egypt presses for release of blind sheik behind '93 WTC attack



## GAP (4 Jul 2012)

Well, that didn't take long.....

Outrage builds as Egypt presses for release of blind sheik behind '93 WTC attack
By Perry Chiaramonte July 03, 2012
Article Link


Egypt's new government is sparking growing outrage in the U.S. for its attempts to win the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

In Cairo, President-elect Mohamed Morsi proclaimed to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Tahir Square on Friday that he will gain the release of Rahman, who is in a federal prison in North Carolina after having been convicted of masterminding the bombing that killed six and unsuccessfully plotting to blow up other landmarks, including the United Nations.

Although a U.S. official told FoxNews.com the sheik will never be freed, the fact that Egypt's newly-installed Muslim Brotherhood government is asking has top elected officials here seething.

“It’s disgusting for a head of government to state in his inaugural speech that a man who attempted to commit mass murder should be freed,” Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told FoxNews.com. “The fact that he said this in his first speech says to me that this is from the heart, and the Muslim Brotherhood has been trying to convince us that they have changed.
More on link


----------



## George Wallace (4 Jul 2012)

I don't think that something like this comes as much of a surprise to those closely watching the politics of that Region.


----------



## jollyjacktar (4 Jul 2012)

My wife has friends in Egypt.  They are appalled at his election.  She tells me that the general feeling amongst her friends is that he is just white washing to the masses there to get them on his side, then.... whammo his real agenda will come out and the shit will hit the fan.  They feel that he will be just as bad if not worse than the previous lot.  The tourism business already reeling from the past year will suffer further with the new Egypt to come.


----------



## cupper (5 Jul 2012)

Interesting comments by Farhid Zakaria last week. He pointed out that Morsi only got 25% of the vote in the first round of the elections, and that the moderate or secular candidates got a combined 33%. During the run-off election, he got just over 50% of teh vote, but only half the number of people voted in the second round. So essentially Morsi only ever had support of 25% of the electorate.

Taking this a little further, it is possible that the courts nullifying the legislature may be a calculated effort to give the moderates and secular parties a second chance to elect a legislature that would temper the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.


----------



## Infanteer (5 Jul 2012)

President Obama on the decision to leave Mubarak hanging.

"Aw sh*t".


----------



## GAP (8 Aug 2012)

While not directly related to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, these two articles give a bit of insight of how the new president of Egypt and his Islamic Brotherhood connection is going to play out......

Egypt launches Sinai air raids
Article Link
  8 August 2012 

The Egyptian military says it has launched missile strikes from helicopters against suspected Islamist militants in the Sinai peninsula.

Military spokesmen said the initial operation had been a "success" and that it was ongoing.

Twenty people were killed in the village of Touma, according to military officials in Sinai, while the Sheikh Zuwaid area to the west was also hit.

On Sunday, militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the area.

After that attack - the deadliest and most brazen against Egyptian troops in this border region for decades - Israeli forces said they killed some of the militants who broke through into Israel.
More on link


Egypt President Mursi sacks officials after Sinai attacks
Article Link
  8 August 2012 


Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has sacked the country's intelligence chief and the governor of the country's North Sinai province.

Hours earlier, the Egyptian military launched an offensive in the region against suspected Islamist militants which it says has killed 20 people.

The campaign comes after militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the area on Sunday.

On Wednesday, more attacks followed on checkpoints in the town of al-Arish.

Those attacks left a number of people wounded and the military offensive was launched hours later.

The sacking of the country's intelligence chief was announced in a statement on state-run TV.

"Gen Mohamed Murad Mowafi is given retirement starting from today," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said.

Gen Mowafi had been quoted in Egyptian media as saying that the intelligence services had received warning of Sunday's attack.

However, he said they had only passed the matter on to the relevant authorities, saying that the intelligence services' job was only to collect information.

Mr Mursi has appointed an acting intelligence chief, Gen Mohamed Raafat Abdel-Wahed.

He also dismissed the commander of the presidential guard, as well as several other top security officials.

Sunday's attack was the the deadliest and most brazen against Egyptian troops in the Sinai region for decades, and Mr Mursi had faced criticism for not taking decisive action in response.
end


----------

