We cannot talk about the January 25 Revolution and what happened in Egypt and a number of Arab countries afterwards without discussing the Western agenda on the Middle East. This vision can't be ignored or dealt with in isolation from what happened and is happening in the region for years, especially those events that constitute the maps of the so-called Arab Spring. America and the West have openly declared their desire for further fragmentation of the Arab nation in light of two considerations. First: understanding capabilities of the Arab armies, and the extent of the danger that surrounds Israel since the October 1973 war and the then unified Arab position. Second, the Arab states employing the oil weapon to pressure the United States in its stance toward Israel, which is such an important motive for control of that wealth. Barbara Ibrahim calls for suspending US aids to Egypt Ahead of the then vice president Omar Suleiman's speech on Jan. 11, 2011 in which he announced Hosni Mubarak left power, the Brotherhood sought to control the Revolution fabricating a number of hot events and clashes with the organs of the State in various provinces. While the regime responded to the Egyptians' demands, and began to amend constitutional articles through a committee set up to conclude them, intelligence and media bodies were playing for the sake of the group at home. Mohamed Salim Al-Awa formed a committee to recover $ 3 trillion smuggled abroad by Mubarak and his family. The country, then, entered a new phase of power transition after Mubarak, who has abandoned his constitutional powers for the military council. The hit-and-run game continued between the regime and the opposition. Former President Hosni Mubarak held a meeting at the presidency headquarters on February 7 with Vice President, the President of the Court of Cassation, heads of the Parliament and the Shura Council, to follow up on actions taken by the Court to speed up appeals against the then MPs. The then PM Ahmed Nazif met with the Board of the new squad to discuss the repercussions of the crisis on the economic situation. The Committee of planning and budget the parliament held a meeting attended by Minister of Finance to discuss Mubarak's draft law to amend some sections of the state budget to face repercussions of the crisis, asserting Egypt rejected the help of the International Monetary Fund to cope with losses resulting from the events, and pledged to take all necessary measures to rapidly deal with the crisis. The National Council for Human Rights, headed by Boutros-Ghali, issued a statement on February 7, commending the uprising of young people that have been successful in breaking the restrictions on freedoms, and rebuild the state on the basis of democracy and social justice, and to express regret about the fall of a large number of martyrs and injured, to condemn the withdrawal of security, and claim quickly to investigate those responsible for excessive use of force with protesters. They also resented the sudden withdrawal of the police, as well as the attacks against the demonstrators with horses and camels, and announced of the formation of a commission of inquiry into such violations. No one knew then who opened prisons and took out prisoners and spread chaos in the country, and prevented the police from performing their duty and incited to kill and break into police stations, crimes that have been exposed later to be carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood group and its allies. Palestinians prevented from entering Egypt National Security Authority instructed not to allow Palestinians into the country during the current events, and alarmed at the offices of the Egyptian airlines not to book tickets for them. Political activist Wael Ghonim, the regional director for Google and the founder of the We are all Khaled Said website- was released February 7 released, in response to demands of young people and some satellite channels. Ghoneim met young people in the Pioneers Company in Mohandseen district to discuss the escalation of the situation and put a future vision for their strategy as well as gathering financial contributions for the deceased and the injured during the protests. He also created a new page on Facebook that gained about 8 million signatures authorizing him to speak on behalf of young people. Meanwhile, bombing threats against embassies including the Qatari embassy were anonymously launched. Police also received information that the Brotherhood compromised with criminals to provoke panic among protesters in Alexandria on Friday, February 11. On February 8, Mubarak issued a republican decree to form a constitutional committee to study the amendments of some constitutional articles, to form a committee to follow up the faithful implementation of all what has been agreed upon in the national dialogue meetings, and to form a committee to investigate the facts, and refer them to the Attorney General. Omar Suleiman held a meeting with chief editors of national, partisan and private newspapers, during which he stressed that dialogue is the only solution and that the military wants to honor the heroes of the October War, adding the calls to oust President Mubarak was an affront against his person. Minister of Interior issued a decree on February 8 releasing 34 political detainees including ousted President Mohamed Mursi as well as thirty-three members of the Brotherhood's Shura Council and the Supreme Guidance Office. The American Barbara Ibrahim, wife of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Developmental Studies, also demanded the US administration to exercise some pressure on the Egyptian regime to force Mubarak's removal through abolishing military and economic aids. Violence sweeps Egypt On February 8 and 9, many Muslim Brotherhood criminals gathered in the New Valley, setting fire to a number of rubber tires on the back of a clash with a police officer, sabotaging and burning a police car, storming a police station and torching its contents, as well as storming the State Security Investigation office. Those attacks left three people killed and 10 others injured. The vital facilities were being secured by the armed forces. On February 9, around 2000 protesters gathered at Zaraarah, Port Said in front of the province headquarters to protest against housing problems, smashing the headquarters' glass façade. Finally, they stormed the governorate building and stole its contents and besieged the governor who was later on freed by the army. The Constitutional Committee held a meeting to discuss amendments to articles numbers 76 on conditions of running for presidential elections, 77 that dealt with the duration of the presidency, and 88 related to judicial supervision of elections, and 93 for the determination of electoral appeals by the Court veto, and 179 that tackled crimes related to terrorism. Minister of culture, Gaber Asfour announced the same day his resignation for medical reasons, saying he would declare the true reasons afterwards. The situation in Egypt was escalated in a number of ways. The Arabic Network for Human Rights issued statements on February 9 entitled Vice President threatens the Egyptian people and the demonstrators, calling on officials to leave if it was against the expression of peoples for their views and demands. In a press release, the Brotherhood MP Mohamed Beltagy invited young people to organize seminars to devise new ways to step up their demands for the implementation of the revolution, stressing his group never appeased the regime. Some websites and forums on the internet posted a statement by the Islamic State of Iraq that called on jihadist organizations in Egypt to re-organize themselves, and target prison to release detainees, and work to overthrow the regime, emphasizing on the jihad as an Islamic necessity in that period. Some political leaders received telephone messages from Salafis that warned against any prejudice to the second article of the Constitution that entitles Islam is the state religion and the principles of Islamic Sharia are the main source of legislation. Some political activists in London announced the establishment of the so-called Egyptian Campaign of Solidarity with the Revolution to achieve the objectives and demands of the youth in cooperation with individuals and non-governmental organizations in Egypt and Britain, as well as coordination with a number of senior British lawyers for the formation of a legal committee to prosecute Egyptian businessmen and ministers and former repatriation of funds that have been smuggled to the country. A number of security devices monitored elements of Palestinian organizations including Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Army of Islam infiltrating Egypt through underground tunnels in Rafah, as well as smuggling large quantities of weapons including heavy weapons and car bombs and funds to carry out violence inside the country to spread chaos. Police also discovered the involvement of some Bedouin elements operating in the field of smuggling, planning to smuggle weapons from Ras Sidr City to Sharm el-Sheikh, for terrorist operations and targeting the Suez Canal Water Passage, as stated in police investigations. Citizens located near the Tahrir Square prepared food and drinks for demonstrators, printed leaflets that induced the overthrow of the regime, and manufactured Molotov cocktails. At the same time, elements of the Brotherhood all over Egypt continued organizing demonstrations and rallies in thousands on a daily basis to put pressure on Mubarak to step down. Demonstrations stretched to the headquarters of the Parliament, the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of Ministers, in large numbers, prompting Prime Minister on February 9, to transfer the cabinet meeting to the headquarters of the Ministry of Aviation in Nasr City neighborhood. At this time, Egypt's Attorney General received numerous complaints from citizens against some ministers and officials accusing them of corruption and wasting public money after the president ordered all corrupts be brought to justice. The Brotherhood informed its god father Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who lives in Qatar, through Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, not to come to the country to deliver a Friday sermon on February 11 in Tahrir Square, so as not to give a religious character to the events until the group manages to force Mubarak to step down. On February 4, al-Qaradawi gave his Friday sermon in Doha broadcast by Al Jazeera television. At the same time, Awa has formed a committee called the Legal Group to Recover the Wealth of Egypt, to coordinate with some Swiss and French institutions to hunt down fugitive Egyptian money out of the country actions, claiming it amounted to 3 trillion Egyptian pounds, in an attempt to make people continue demonstrations in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the only faction that was ready to take power in Egypt. The Military's first Statement On February 10 the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued its first statement to announce acknowledge of the legitimate popular demands adding it was in a state of permanent sessions to discuss ways to get out of the crisis. Mubarak made a statement on the evening of the same day to emphasize he would never accept any foreign dictations, and announce he commissioned the parliament to discuss amending five articles of the constitution and the abolition of counter-terrorism article, as well as abandoning his powers for Omar Suleiman, which was not to satisfactory for demonstrators who held bigger expectations. Demonstrators staged the largest protest in Tahrir Square and a number of provinces under the name of the Challenge and Decisiveness Friday. A number of them moved to the headquarters of Radio and Television, and the presidential palace to exercise pressure to overthrow the regime. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a second statement to confirm its commitment to ensure the people's demands announced in the president's speech, but this did not affect positively to resolve the situation. Omar Suleiman gave a statement at six o'clock on February 11 in which he announced President Mubarak stepped down and assigned his authorities to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which was widely welcomed by the protesters and the vast majority of citizens. People took to streets and public squares to celebrate the fall of the regime, followed by leaving and cleaning the Tahrir Square. The Armed Forces issued several consecutive statements that asserted they would not be a substitute for the legitimacy. They commissioned the Ahmed Shafiq government as a caretaker one. A committee of judicial and political figures headed by Judge Tariq al-Bishry was formed to amend the articles of the Constitution are allow parliamentary and presidential elections to be held in a climate of integrity and freedom, and the abolition of emergency law after the stability of the security situation, in a transitional period not exceeding six months followed by handing the rule over to a civilian authority elected by the people.
