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Regardless of the statements from President Obama that Mubarak must leave office "now," it is clear that the waffling by the Obama administration is intended to buy time for the CIA to appropriate the Egyptian government's torture and rendition files that date back to Holder's original authorization of the program. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's major goal is to limit the damage to her husband from any disclosure of documents by a new Egyptian reform government about her husband's role in the CIA's use of Egypt to detain and torture prisoners. CIA director Leon Panetta is also trying to avoid the torture rap from his time as President Clinton's chief of staff.
The CIA has embarked on a policy of suppressing the Egyptian revolution until all potentially embarrassing documents and computer files held by Suleiman's EGID and other Egyptian government agencies can be successfully removed from Egypt to the United States.
The CIA recalls how partially shredded and un-shredded classified CIA documents at the U.S. embassy in Tehran were obtained by students who took over the embassy and, unlike the suspiciously-redacted Wikileaks cables, were soon published for the world to see, CIA agents names and all. In fact, the long-cut shredders used to destroy the documents were a blessing for the Iranians who handed the spaghetti-like shreds to Iran's best carpet weavers to reconstruct them in practically their original form. The EGID and other Egyptian intelligence and security agencies have likely amassed tons of files on CIA activities over the past several decades and the potential for the release of documents concerning all the CIA operations that involved Egypt -- the 1980 October Surprise, Iran-contra, CIA arms smuggler Edwin Wilson's operations in Libya, repeated covert efforts against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, arms smuggling by the CIA to other African nations through the warehouse at Cairo West airport, and the CIA's nurturing of "Al Qaeda" for the mujaheddin war in Afghanistan and 9/11 -- has Langley shaking over the possibility that a reform government will reveal the dirty little secrets of the CIA and successive American presidents going back to Ronald Reagan.
The CIA has been behind the scenes in Egypt advising the security forces and army on suppressing the popular uprising in order to delay the clock for Mubarak and his regime. The International Network for Rights and Development reported that three Israeli cargo planes arrived at Cairo's Mina International Airport on January 28 carrying large amounts of gas used for dispersing large crowds. There were also reports of U.S. and Israeli counter-insurgency personnel being dispatched to Egypt to assist the regime in suppressing the rebellion. Other reports emanating from Egypt claimed that Israeli professional provocateurs were among the pro-Mubarak "demonstrators" who attacked peaceful demonstrators in Tahrir Square, resulting in an outbreak of deadly violence on February 3. Israel has a long history of such activities in Egypt, including the infamous 1954 Lavon affair that, if successful, would have seen "false flag" Israeli terrorist attacks on U.S. targets in Cairo that would later be blamed on Egypt, eliciting a military response by the United States on Egypt.
The CIA has a special procurement program that is used to buy sensitive items from foreign governments. "Sterility codes" are used by the CIA to designate the "degree of traceability" that is used for the procurement of off-shore purchases of foreign items, such as crowd control gas from Israel for use by Egypt. The records of the purchases are likely to be found in "Local Procurement" records maintained by the CIA stations in Cairo and Tel Aviv.
The CIA's last-ditch support for the Mubarak regime is strikingly similar to its support for the Shah of Iran in his final days in power. As with the revolt against Mubarak in Egypt, the uprising against Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1978 came as a shock to the CIA. On December 2, 1978, two million people filled Tehran's Shahyad (now Azadi) Square demanding that the Shah step down. Almost two million people similarly filled Cairo's Tahrir Square demanding that Mubarak step down. In the months preceding the mass demonstration in Tehran, Iranian security forces massacred thousands of people. Iranian opposition forces claimed that Israel's Mossad provided assistance for the massacres to Iran's feared SAVAK security agency.
The CIA, to the very end, also provided assistance to the Shah's government. Some 75 CIA agents were dispatched to Iran along with more than a hundred private contractor operatives, all retired U.S. military and intelligence operatives. These agents worked closely with members of the Iranian military and SAVAK, many of whom had received training in the United States. Similarly, a number of Egyptian officers and non-commissioned officers, as well as EGID agents, received training in the United States. Just as President Obama dispatched Frank G. Wisner, Jr., former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and reputed CIA agent-of-influence, to talk to Mubarak, a close friend of Wisner, President Jimmy Carter, in November 1978, asked former U.S. ambassador to Iran and former CIA director Richard Helms, a personal friend of the Shah, to conduct liaison between the White House and the Shah. During his time as CIA director, Helms authorized the training of SAVAK officials in torture techniques. The CIA and Mossad coordinated their pro-Shah efforts in Iran.
As the Shah's position weakened, the Pentagon sent crowd control vehicles to Iran that were equipped with water cannons. Contingency plans were drawn up by the Pentagon and the National Security Council for the U.S. to dispatch troops to Iran to put down the popular rebellion and save the Shah and his Peacock Throne. SAVAK agents were also trained by the CIA to infiltrate anti-Shah groups and report on their plans. Other CIA provocateurs were believed to have infiltrated Iranian student groups that later took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran. There is a belief by many intelligence agents at the time that the most egregious incidents carried out by the students after they took over the embassy and held U.S. personnel hostage were committed by CIA and Mossad infiltrators bent on bringing about a swift U.S. military move against Iran and prevent Ayatollah Khomeini from taking power.
In the world of the CIA, the playbook never seems to change.
Along with the calls for Mubarak to step down now, there should be similar calls across the United States for Eric Holder to pack his bags and leave town.
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