Army say no to MB, Rebel say no to Army, everyone say no to each other in Egypt, Jul 10, 2013,

Tamarod condemns Egypt's interim charter as dictatorial

LAST UPDATE

Tue Jul 9, 2013 2:54PM

Egypt's opposition Tamarod movement has dismissed the country's interim charter as "dictatorial," criticizing the temporary constitution for giving too many powers to president.

"It is impossible to accept the (constitutional declaration - CD) because it founds a new dictatorship,” the group stated on its official Twitter account on Tuesday.

On Monday, Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour adopted a temporary constitution outlining the president's powers. The declaration also lays out a timetable for the transition, which is to last around six months until a presidential election is held.

However, Tamarod, which initiated the protests that led to the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, described the declaration as a "setback for the revolution."

The group argued that the document has granted the president too many powers, saying it would later submit an amendment to the declaration to Mansour.

Meanwhile, Muslim Brotherhood officials in Egypt have rejected the interim president’s plan for constitutional changes and new elections in the following year.

Morsi was unseated by the military on July 3, and the Chief Justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, was sworn in the next day as the interim president of Egypt.

Since last week, the North African country has been the scene of rival rallies and clashes between thousands of supporters and opponents of the ousted president.

On Monday, at least 51 people, mostly Morsi supporters, were killed in clashes with the security forces outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo.

The development came after the army opened fire on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the capital, prompting the Brotherhood to call for an uprising against the military.

The Brotherhood censured the ouster of Morsi as a “Military Coup.”

Egypt's liberal coalition rejects Mansour's decree

LAST UPDATE

Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:3AM GMT

Egypt’s National Salvation Front (NSF), the country’s main liberal coalition, has rejected a constitutional decree issued by interim President Adli Mansour.

On Tuesday, the NSF published a statement, announcing “its rejection of the constitutional decree.”

Late on Monday, Egypt's interim President Adli Mansour adopted a temporary constitution outlining the president's powers. The declaration also lays out a timetable for the transition, the period of which is to last around six months until a presidential election is held.

The NSF said it had not been consulted.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition group Tamarod (Arabic for rebellion) - which was behind the demonstrations against ousted President Mohamed Morsi in the recent weeks - have also rejected the decree. Tamarod has rejected the decree because, it argues, the order lays the ground for the formation of an autocracy.

In a televised speech late on July 3 night, Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that Morsi was no longer in office and declared that the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mahmoud Mansour, had been appointed as the new interim president of Egypt. The army also suspended the constitution.

Army officials said Morsi, who had taken office in June 2012, was being held “preventively” by the military and might face formal charges over accusations made by his opponents.

Mansour was sworn in as interim president in a ceremony in Cairo on July 4, where he vowed to “preserve the system of the republic, and respect the constitution and law, and guard the people’s interests.”

Violent Ramadan ahead: Egypt’s army chief says no to dialogue with Brotherhood. Assad nixes ceasefire

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 9, 2013

The holy Muslim month of Ramadan beginning in the Middle East Tuesday, July 9, heralds more, rather than less, bloodshed. After at least 51 deaths in a Cairo shootout Monday, Egypt’s military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi rebuffed US diplomatic efforts to bring the various political forces in the country around the table for dialogue. The high military council is divided on this: One faction urges a relentless crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its deposed president; a second, led by Gen. El-Sisi, says they mustn’t be cowed by the backlash to Monday’s incident, but should keep the political process for a new and stable government on track
In line with this perception, Provisional President Justice Adli Mansour issued a decree Tuesday for elections to a new parliament in February 2014, followed immediately by voting for a new president. He did not fix a precise date. No one expects this decree to tranquilize the turmoil in the country or deter the Brothers from an uprising (intifada) declared against the powers that unseated them after Egyptian soldiers shot dead at least 51 of their supporters. They were accused by the army of trying to storm the Republican Guards Club in Cairo where deposed president Mohamed Morsi is held. The Brothers claimed they were just holding a peaceful sit-in.
The generals have geared up to meet this threat, which appears to have been kicked off Monday with attacks on strategic targets across Egypt - carried out, according to debkafile’s military sources, by the Brotherhood’s armed underground, Al-Gihas al-Sirri.
In parallel, the military is also deploying for a major offensive to curb the armed Salafi Bedouin rampant in Sinai and now harnessed to the Brotherhoods uprising. The generals believe this center of revolt must be nipped in the bud without delay for the sake of confining the MB uprising to mainland Egypt.
To this end, heavy military reinforcements were seen pouring into Sinai in the early hours of Tuesday. The urgency of cutting down the Brotherhood’s capabilities for making trouble was attested to by the risk the Egyptian army took by withdrawing substantial military strength from the Suez Canal towns of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez and redeploying them in Sinai. They acted on the assumption that, in the short term, the Brothers would concentrate their defiance on street protests and clashes with the army to Cairo.
Our military sources report that Maj. Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, head of the Second Army, arrived Monday in the northern Sinai town of El Arish to set up a command center for the forthcoming campaign against the Islamist opposition and its allies, the Salafist networks linked to al Qaeda and the radical Palestinian Hamas.
The outbreaks in Egypt this week overshadowed the disastrous situation in Syria.
debkafile’s military sources report that alongside thrusts on other fronts, such as Homs, the Syrian army and Hizballah are in the final stages of preparations for their big push to liquidate rebel strongholds in Aleppo and recapture Syria’s second city.
Syrian President Bashar Assad decided to go ahead with this offensive despite the onset of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown for a month.
Iran and Moscow are speeding extra military and arms supplies to aid this effort by airlift. Refusing to brook any further delays in the battle for Aleppo, Assad turned down a proposal by UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s and the new Syrian opposition president Ahmad Jabra to declare a bilateral ceasefire for the month of Ramadan.

 New Egyptian War: Americans Lose, Again

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute 
July 8, 2013
Looking at the banners in the massive Egyptian protests last week, we saw many anti-American slogans. Likewise, the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that was deposed by the military last week was very critical of what it saw as US support for the coup. Why is it that all sides in this Egyptian civil war seem so angry with the United States? Because the United States has at one point or another supported each side, which means also that at some point the US has also opposed each side. It is the constant meddling in Egyptian affairs that has turned Egyptians against us, as we would resent foreign intervention in our own affairs.
For more than 30 years, since the US-brokered Camp David Accord between Israel and Egypt, the US supported Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. Over that period the US sent more than $60 billion to prop up Mubarak and, importantly, to train and seek control over the Egyptian military. Those who opposed Mubarak’s unelected reign became more and more resentful of the US, which they rightly saw as aiding and abetting a dictator and denying them their political aspirations.
Then the US began providing assistance to groups seeking to overthrow Mubarak, which they did in 2011. The US continued funding the Egyptian military at that time, arguing that US aid was more critical than ever if we are to maintain influence. The US Administration demanded an election in Egypt after Mubarak’s overthrow and an election was held. Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won a narrow victory. The US supported Morsi but kept funding the Egyptian military.
After a year of Morsi’s rule, Egyptians who did not approve of his government took to the streets to demand his removal from power. The US signaled to the Egyptian military that it would not oppose the removal of Morsi from power, and he was removed on July 3rd. With the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government came the arrest of many politicians and the closure of many media outlets sympathetic to them. Then the US government warned the same Egyptian military that undermined democracy that it needed to restore democracy! Is it any wonder why Egyptians from all walks of life are united in their irritation with the United States?
Despite the Egyptian government being overthrown by a military coup, the Obama Administration will not utter the word “coup” because acknowledging reality would mean an end to US assistance to the Egyptian government and military. That cannot be allowed.
Instead, we see the same Obama administration that is on a worldwide manhunt for pro-transparency whistle-blower Edward Snowden demand that the Egyptian military exercise “political transparency” in its dealings with the ousted Muslim Brotherhood-led government.

So, successive US administrations over the decades have supported all sides in Egypt, from dictator to demonstrator to military. There is only one side that the US government has never supported: our side. The American side. It has never supported the side of the US taxpayers who resent being forced to fund a foreign dictatorship, a foreign military, and foreign protestors. It has never supported the side of the majority of Americans who do not wish to get involved in the confusing internal affairs of countries thousands of miles away. It has never supported the side of those of us concerned about blowback, which is the real threat to our national security. Unfortunately, US administrations continue to follow the same old failed policies and Obama is no different. More intervention, more foreign aid, more bullying, more empire.