I just discovered an opinion piece in the New York Times written by Nobel   
   laureate, and former Director General of the United Nations International   
   Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed Elbaradei. As you may recall, prior to   
   stepping down from that position, Mr. Elbaradei -- who is Egyptian by birth   
   -- was directly involved in the negotiations and inspections concerning   
   Iran's controversial nuclear program.   
      
   Prior to that, Elbaradei carried out the very same function regarding Iraq's   
   non-existent nuclear program. As I point out in some of my articles,   
   contrary to the accusations of former U.S. president, George W. Bush, no WMD   
   were ever found in Iraq, which makes America's long involvement in Iraq an   
   absolute farce, and in fact, an outright lie and a deception.   
      
   As was to be expected, while carrying out his official responsibilities as   
   the Directory General of the United Nations International Atomic Energy   
   Agency, Mr. Elbaradei was subjected to a lot of pressure by the U.S.   
   Government, which constantly criticized him, and accused him of not working   
   fast enough, diligently enough, or thoroughly enough, to discover Iraq and   
   Iran's nuclear secrets. Of course, the Bush administration needed physical   
   proof in order to justify its illegal invasion of Iraq before the eyes of   
   the world. As I said, that proof was never found.   
      
   With the recent unrest in Egypt, due to the fact that he has long been   
   critical of the Mubarak government, Elbaradei was selected by the youthful   
   leaders of the revolution to represent them, and to be one of their voices   
   to the world; thus, his opinion piece in the New York Times. I found his   
   commentary rather interesting. Not only is it well-written, but it clearly   
   expresses the goals and aspirations of the Egyptian people in a post-Mubarak   
   era. Below is his commentary.   
      
      
   The Next Step for Egypt's Opposition   
      
   By MOHAMED ELBARADEI - NYT   
      
   February 10, 2011   
      
      
   WHEN I was a young man in Cairo, we voiced our political views in whispers,   
   if at all, and only to friends we could trust. We lived in an atmosphere of   
   fear and repression. As far back as I can remember, I felt outrage as I   
   witnessed the misery of Egyptians struggling to put food on the table, keep   
   a roof over their heads and get medical care. I saw firsthand how poverty   
   and repression can destroy values and crush dignity, self-worth and hope.   
      
   Half a century later, the freedoms of the Egyptian people remain largely   
   denied. Egypt, the land of the Library of Alexandria, of a culture that   
   contributed groundbreaking advances in mathematics, medicine and science,   
   has fallen far behind. More than 40 percent of our people live on less than   
   $2 per day. Nearly 30 percent are illiterate, and Egypt is on the list of   
   failed states.   
      
   Under the three decades of Hosni Mubarak's rule, Egyptian society has lived   
   under a draconian "emergency law" that strips people of their most basic   
   rights, including freedom of association and of assembly, and has imprisoned   
   tens of thousands of political dissidents. While this Orwellian regime has   
   been valued by some of Egypt's Western allies as "stable," providing, among   
   other assets, a convenient location for rendition, it has been in reality a   
   ticking bomb and a vehicle for radicalism.   
      
   But one aspect of Egyptian society has changed in recent years. Young   
   Egyptians, gazing through the windows of the Internet, have gained a keener   
   sense than many of their elders of the freedoms and opportunities they lack.   
   They have found in social media a way to interact and share ideas,   
   bypassing, in virtual space, the restrictions placed on physical freedom of   
   assembly.   
      
   The world has witnessed their courage and determination in recent weeks, but   
   democracy is not a cause that first occurred to them on Jan. 25. Propelled   
   by a passionate belief in democratic ideals and the yearning for a better   
   future, they have long been mobilizing and laying the groundwork for change   
   that they view as inevitable.   
      
   The tipping point came with the Tunisian revolution, which sent a powerful   
   psychological message: "Yes, we can." These young leaders are the future of   
   Egypt. They are too intelligent, too aware of what is at stake, too weary of   
   promises long unfulfilled, to settle for anything less than the departure of   
   the old regime. I am humbled by their bravery and resolve.   
      
   Many, particularly in the West, have bought the Mubarak regime's fiction   
   that a democratic Egypt will turn into chaos or a religious state, abrogate   
   the fragile peace with Israel and become hostile to the West. But the people   
   of Egypt -- the grandmothers in veils who have dared to share Tahrir Square   
   with army tanks, the jubilant young people who have risked their lives for   
   their first taste of these new freedoms -- are not so easily fooled.   
      
   The United States and its allies have spent the better part of the last   
   decade, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lives,   
   fighting wars to establish democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that the   
   youth of Cairo, armed with nothing but Facebook and the power of their   
   convictions, have drawn millions into the street to demand a true Egyptian   
   democracy, it would be absurd to continue to tacitly endorse the rule of a   
   regime that has lost its own people's trust.   
      
   Egypt will not wait forever on this caricature of a leader we witnessed on   
   television yesterday evening, deaf to the voice of the people, hanging on   
   obsessively to power that is no longer his to keep.   
      
   What needs to happen instead is a peaceful and orderly transition of power,   
   to channel the revolutionary fervor into concrete steps for a new Egypt   
   based on freedom and social justice. The new leaders will have to guarantee   
   the rights of all Egyptians. They will need to dissolve the current   
   Parliament, no longer remotely representative of the people. They will also   
   need to abolish the Constitution, which has become an instrument of   
   repression, and replace it with a provisional Constitution, a three-person   
   presidential council and a transitional government of national unity.   
      
   The presidential council should include a representative of the military,   
   embodying the sharing of power needed to ensure continuity and stability   
   during this critical transition. The job of the presidential council and the   
   interim government during this period should be to set in motion the process   
   that will turn Egypt into a free and democratic society. This includes   
   drafting a democratic Constitution to be put to a referendum, and preparing   
   for free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections within one year.   
      
   We are at the dawn of a new Egypt. A free and democratic society, at peace   
   with itself and with its neighbors, will be a bulwark of stability in the   
   Middle East and a worthy partner in the international community. The rebirth   
   of Egypt represents the hope of a new era in which Arab society, Muslim   
   culture and the Middle East are no longer viewed through the lens of war and   
   radicalism, but as contributors to the forward march of humanity, modernized   
   by advanced science and technology, enriched by our diversity of art and   
   culture and united by shared universal values.   
      
   We have nothing to fear but the shadow of a repressive past.   
      
      
   Mohamed ElBaradei, as the director general of the International Atomic   
   Energy Agency, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. He is the author of the   
   forthcoming book "The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous   
   Times."   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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