CAIRO - Perhaps for the first time in US foreign diplomacy, Washington's officials and congressmen are campaigning to punish and topple an Egyptian Cabinet minister for removing the fig leaves from the guys in the White House and congress. Frothing at the mouth, anti-Muslim congressmen are out for the scalp of Egyptian Minister of International Co-operation Fayza Abul-Naga for uncovering the US-led conspiracy against the Egyptian people and their revolution. Everybody across the world knows beyond any doubt that Washington has the tradition of mobilising its huge financial, intelligence, logistic and military resources and facilities to remove maverick heads of state or leaders, who overstep the line and make sure that Washington can't stick its nose into their internal affairs. There are victims of this US policy in many countries. They include Manuel Noriega, the former military governor of Panama, who was captured and detained as a prisoner of war during the 1989 US invasion of Panama, late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, whose country was attacked in 2003 based on false and fabricated reports about its stockpile of nuclear weapons, late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, whose country was bombed by the US air force in 1986, etc. etc. Since this week's article is entirely devoted to the war against the Egyptian minister, I am about to prepare a series of articles (to be published in book form) about the American policies against heads of state and world leaders in modern history. It will be interesting for the reader to discover that the victims of the fierce US bulldogs include Washington's closest and biggest supporters, such as former president Hosni Mubarak and the Shah of Iran. Anyway, let's get to this week's main topic. For the first time in 30 years, Washington has been snubbed by an Egyptian Cabinet minister for its suspicious role in the counterrevolution in Egypt. Fayza Abul-Naga, the Minister of International Co-operation, has bluntly accused the US administration of President Barack Obama, in collaboration with the US Congress, of entertaining sentiments against the January 25 Revolution, which overthrew Hosni Mubarak. The latter had been officially celebrated in decision-making circles in Washington and Tel Aviv as their biggest ally in the Middle East. Abul-Naga, dubbed the Iron Lady by prominent and ordinary Egyptians, is the only minister from Mubarak's regime, who has survived a series of post-revolution Cabinet reshuffles. She bid farewell to all her colleagues in the Cabinet of Ahmed Nazif and his two successors Ahmed Shafiq and Essam Sharaf. She kept her ministerial portfolio in the national salvation government formed by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri. It seems to me that Abul-Naga is being groomed to succeed el-Ganzouri in case he suddenly resigns for any reason, such as his health. She is acting as Cabinet spokesperson during weekly press conferences to explain how the Government is dealing with the ‘hard tasks' it has been given. In her testimony in connection with the legal investigations into the alleged illegal and hostile activities by local NGOs directly linked to the US Congress and Germany, Abul-Naga accused Washington of masterminding and financing the recent tragic violence in Egypt. She told the prosecutors that Washington channelled hundreds of millions of dollars to ‘elements' disguised as NGOs. She said openly that the ultimate goal of those who deliberately instigated instability and chaos was the division of Egypt into three smaller states: Sinai, Upper Egypt and North Egypt – in the style of what happened in the Sudan. When officials raided NGO offices in Cairo and elsewhere, they found detailed maps of a fragmented Egypt. These NGOs are managed and controlled by the US government-funded National Democratic Institute (founded by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright) and the International Republican Institute chaired by Republican Senator John McCain, who is scheduled to visit Egypt this week to help find a way out. The suspects include 16 US citizens, who have been banned from leaving Egypt, pending their trial at the criminal court in Cairo. Rubbing salt into the wounds, the US administration and Congress are trying hard to humiliate Egypt as they threaten to cut military and economic aid, unless Cairo immediately release the US citizens and stop legal proceedings against them. Having been caught red-handed, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim members of the US administration and Congress are calling for Abul-Naga's expulsion from the Cabinet for allegedly spoiling the US-Egyptian relationship. Press reports have disclosed that Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri has sent security men to Abul-Naga's residence due to warnings that her life was in danger. Her guards are also to escort her to the office. Abul-Naga initially suspected the NGOs controversial role in 2005. Her advice to reject US aid and re-examine the aid policies was rejected outright by the then president Hosni Mubarak.
