EAWorldView | February 1, 2011
By Scott Lucas
Mubarak and Obama
Here’s an interesting fact about Frank G. Wisner, Jr., the former US Ambassador to Egypt and now President Obama’s special envoy, as he starts talks in Cairo today with the Egyptian Government….
His father Frank G. Wisner, Sr., was quite the specialist in regime change. Frank G. Wisner, Sr., headed up covert operations at the CIA in the late 1940s and 1950s. His schemes were legendary, even if most of them failed: Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic States, East Berlin, Hungary 1956.
So is Wisner Junior spearheading a 21st-century regime change effort? Or is the Obama Administration propping up President Mubarak? Your 4-point guide:
1. THE MESSAGE TO MUBARAK: YOU’VE GOT TO GO…SOON
The general line put out from Washington yesterday was that officials were “calling contacts in the Egyptian government, military and opposition to urge movement toward a transitional process leading to free elections”.
However, this got more specific after a meeting between Administration officials, including Dennis Ross of the National Security Council, and outside analysts in the morning: “Recogniz[ing] that time is not our friend,” said one of the analysts, “they are trying to find ways to speed [the transition] up.”