US Chickens Come Home to Roost in Egypt

Barack Obama, like his predecessors, has supported Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with $l.3 billion annually, though mostly in military aid. In return, Egypt minds US interests in the Middle East, especially by providing a buffer between Israel and the rest of the Arab world. Egypt collaborates with Israel to isolate Gaza with a punishing blockade, to the consternation of Arabs throughout the Middle East. The United States could NOT have fought its wars in Iraq without Egypt's logistical support. Now with a revolution against Mubarak by two million Egyptians, all bets are off about who will replace him and whether the successor government will be friendly to the United States. Mubarak's whole system is corrupt, said Hesham Korayem, an Egyptian who taught at City University of New York and who provides frequent commentary on Egyptian and Saudi television. He told the author of this article that there is virtually no middle class in Egypt, only the extremely rich - about 20 to 25 percent of the population - and the extremely poor - 75 per cent. The parliament has NO input into what Mubarak does with the money the United States gives him, 300 million of which comes to the dictator in cash each year. To read the rest of this rapidly breaking story, please click on my heading -
US Chickens Come Home to Roost in Egypt, at www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23048