'US to maintain power grip on Egypt'

Egyptians have gathered in front of
the main hospital of Sharm el-Sheikh,
calling for the trial of former
President Hosni Mubarak who is
reported to be inside the hospital
for treatment. (Photo dated April 13, 2011)

Press TV

Egyptian protesters, who pined for revolutionary change in the North African state, are continuing their demonstrations as the country's military council has failed to meet their demands for reforms.

One such demand is the call for the resignation of the council's head, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawy. The other is the prosecution of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa.

Press TV interviewed Dr. Hesham Tillawi, the host of Current Issues TV, regarding the trial of the former Egyptian ruler. What follows is the text of the interview:

Press TV: How likely do you see Hosni Mubarak be prosecuted, especially in an open court?

Tillawi: Well, it is good news of course for the people on the streets and that would probably calm down a lot of the anxiety that you are seeing there but will it actually change things on the ground? I do not think so. They will probably never deal with Mubarak. Anyway, I think this is more of a publicity stunt to calm down the people on the streets to really think that there is real change in Egypt and will in fact there was much happening as far as democratic changes.

Press TV: Looking at the slow pace of the prosecutions of these former officials, none were given the speedy sentence of that blogger, Michael Nabil, the one sentenced to three years in prison, following an article in which he cited military's violations. Meanwhile, the military council on trial of corrupt officials have said that unnecessary rushing could cause loopholes that the defense can use to acquit the defendants. Will this affect the moral of the Egyptians that the military council is not transparent?

Tillawi: Well, what we are seeing in Egypt is, I think, that they are trying to manage the streets right now and I will guarantee you they will try to do anything to keep the power intact because that was very much the deal with the United States that they had made before Mubarak stepped down. So they are going into a crisis management mode right now and they will do anything to basically keep the same regime because the United States and its allies cannot afford for real democracy to be in any of those countries in the Middle East including Libya, Yemen and all these countries. They know the United States and the West will not let go of the grip they have. All they are doing is they are changing the management of the Middle East. That is all they are doing.

Press TV: Can you a little expand more. In the short term we could look at one of the things and that is the aid that the Unites States is giving Egypt. Obviously this is going to bring the strings attached and that means while all the Egypt still going to be ruling in the manner and form that it did.

Tillawi: Well, the United States has invested a lot of money in Egypt and in its army and over a billion dollars are probably more. Basically the Egyptian army is being financed by the United States and I guarantee you that what we are seeing in Egypt and what we saw in Egypt and we will see in Egypt, that investment will not go down the drain. Let me just take you back about a month ago. The first [people] who went to Tahrir Square after Mubarak was toppled or after he actually was forced to step down; it was John McCain and Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman, I call him the Israeli senator in the United States and John McCain, of course we know how he feels about Israel, those two went there to basically tell the world that we are here, we did it and we are in control. There was a political message for everybody in the world and including the Arab world that we are here. Now, these two represent Zionism. These two in the United States represent the AIPAC lobby and they are godfathers of Zionism. For those two to be in Tahrir Square that is the message to those who know what is happening behind the scenes that these people are the ones in control. I cannot really be clearer than that because that is exactly what it is.

Press TV: Do you think this uprising that has led to this revolution, if it does not confront the United States in the way exercises itself and its policies which are obviously in line and some say are for the safety of Israel if that does not get addressed then how is that going to reflect what we saw in Tahrir Square just this past Friday Egyptians burned the flag of Israel and of the United States so we can see that the people there obviously do not want the control that the United States has exercised which also means the safety of Israel.

Tillawi: The United States is definitely in it. I do agree and that is one thing that we have always talked about and that is Israel would love nothing else but to see an Egypt that is more talking tough and more militant and because they can tell the world look we are in a sea of violence around us and therefore there will be probably excused if they go and finish off the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. That is the ideal environment that Israel would like to have which is the people around her saying it and I agree with him in burning the Israeli flag and the American flag that was probably pushed upon him by some of the Zionist agitators to do that for the cameras.

Now the one thing that we need to understand is that a revolution does not just spark spontaneously. A revolution needs at least 20 to 25 years to actually ride before you take it out on the streets and once you take it out on the streets you need to have an objective, you need to have an aim, these people on the streets should know where they are going but before they know where they are going they should have the ability to do that before they revolt. The Egyptian people, they planned this revolution, I do not think so. Maybe he can tell us who planned it and who led this revolution and where this revolution is going. Right now with the sort of social media and with the media that we have, anyone with 10 million dollars can get the whole country to go out on the streets and we have seen this happened in Iran and we have seen this happened in Tunisia, we have seen this happened all over the world. You know pay a little bit of money and you are going to have many on the streets. Once you get on the street and then what? What is that you want? Maybe the revolution and all these revolutions and all these revolutions all over the Arab world maybe we can see like who planned it and where are they going. Maybe they can tell us where they are going.

Press TV: Well, let's address this in another way. It is said that if this revolution does not address US and Israel it is ultimately vulnerable to corruption and macro-management. Will the military council eventually address this and then move towards what Egyptians want because obviously what the United States wants and we have to bring in the military aid, we have to bring it in ,aside the 250 million dollars which is going to also be forwarded in terms of economic aid. Obviously the US wants something back in return; it is an investment, so what will that be?

Tillawi: The economic factor is extremely important. When you have a revolution, in order for that revolution to actually succeed, you have to be economically independent. Now, we know for a fact that the United States sends, beside the military aid, it also sends food aid to Egypt. Where is all the wheat that comes from Egypt? Where does it come from? Billions of dollars worth of economic aid go to Egypt. Before you go and you think that you are going to have a revolution that is going to make you independent and that is going to make you fight and stand up in front of the Zionism and in front of the United States, you have to be economically self-sufficient. Is not it a shame that a few days ago that Qatar sent three ships to Libya to remove some Egyptians to Egypt? If Egypt cannot economically handle that and relies on Qatar to do that, we have to feed the people first before we go out in the streets and say we want to be independent. Can someone tell us how is Egypt going to feed the Egyptian people if the United States fastest economic aid that it is getting?