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Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh told Al Jazeera that Mubarak must go, and if "they were serious, the parliament would have been dissolved, also a presidential decree ending the emergency law." It was enacted in 1981 when Mubarak took power, Egypt's new strongman after Sadat.
So far, popular determination and courage are breathtaking but no match against brute force if it's used. Egypt's combined military/police might is formidable, Pratap Chatterjee explaining in his February 4 London Guardian article headlined, 'Egypt's military-industrial complex," explaining that:
According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress approved over $70 billion in military and economic aid in the last 60 years. Currently it ranges from $1.5 - $2.0 billion annually, the most for any nation after Israel, getting more aid than the rest of the world combined.
It buys F-16s, aerial surveillance aircraft, Abrams tanks, Chinook, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft missile batteries, and much more, including tear gas canisters and 12-guage shotgun shells marked "MADE IN USA."
"In addition, hundreds of Egyptian military officers come for short training courses to the US each year." When security forces attacked street protesters, senior "Egyptian military officials led by Lieutenant General Sami Hafez Enan, (Egypt's armed forces head, met) with Admiral Mike Mullen (US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman) in Washington....Egyptians are well aware of (close US-Egypt ties and aren't) happy about (America) training and tear gas shells supplied to the Egyptian military."
In fact, crowds in Tahrir Square chanted:
"Hosni Mubarak, Oman Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans." They believe decades of US aid kept Mubarak's regime in power. Indeed, the relationship is longstanding. Angryarab.blogspot.com's site mentioned several notable quotes explaining how solid:
In 1984, Ronald Reagan said:
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