OBAMA & HIS ADMINISTRATION EMBRACE/NURTURE TERRORIST TIES BUT DENY THEY ARE TERRORISTS

http://terrornewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2011/02/homeland-security-napolitano-staff-met.html

AND (friendly) HEADS UP TO SHEP of Fox News: if you criticize Mubarak for shutting out the Press, how about Obama doing the same all week - much to the distress of White House Press Corps?


MEANWHILE

U.S. Pressure on Mubarak Opens a Rift With Arab Allies

By ADAM ENTOUS, JULIAN E. BARNES and JAY SOLOMON


WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's attempt to abruptly push aside Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in favor of a transition government has sparked a rift with key Arab allies Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, which fear the U.S. is opening the door for Islamist groups to gain influence and destabilize the region.

Vying to influence the outcome of events, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have sent public and private messages of solidarity to Mr. Mubarak and his vice president, longtime intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, diplomats said. The messages amount to support for the president and Mr. Suleiman to oversee the transition and to ensure that Islamists can't fill any possible power vacuum.

The support from Arab states has provided a measure of comfort to Mr. Mubarak, who announced he wouldn't take part in September's election. It may in part explain why the Egyptian president rebuffed Mr. Obama's call for an immediate transition that includes the opposition.

The backlash shows how the turmoil in Egypt is rapidly reshaping U.S. policy in the region. In deciding to set itself against Mr. Mubarak, a U.S. ally for decades, the U.S. is now facing the disquiet of other friendly Arab governments, who have long provided support for American policy goals.

Meanwhile, Islamists in the region, including Hamas and Hezbollah, believe they are on the ascent as U.S. allies falter.

Perhaps it is time for Obama to step down! Egypt considers him a "Manchurian President," who should not be there.

• DEFINITION: The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who has been brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for the Communist Party.