Hosni Mubarak (Reuters)
Egyptian opposition groups for years had targeted 2011 as the year they’d move to oust President Hosni Mubarak — and US officials, although supportive, were “doubtful” of the unwritten plan’s existence, a secret diplomatic cable shows.
A hodgepodge of Egyptian groups — including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Revolutionary Socialists and three opposition political parties — talked about weakening Mubarak before elections this September, US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey said in a December 2008 cable obtained by the WikiLeaks Web site.
Scobey cited talks with an unnamed activist leader of an opposition group called April 6 — named after the day it first staged protests in 2007 — which wants the Mubarak regime replaced with a parliamentary democracy. April 6, which has 70,000 members and legions of Facebook fans, is now at the forefront of the Egypt protests.
“We have no information to corroborate . . . the unrealistic plan” described by April 6’s leader, Scobey said.
But somehow the years-old plan looks to be coming to fruition, either intentionally or in a coincidence swayed by earlier unrest in nearby Tunisia.
Despite strong US ties with Mubarak, there’s evidence US officials quietly supported the same activists seeking to remove him, the cable shows.
In 2008, the State Department co-sponsored a youth activist conference that helped organizations use social media to spread opposition across the globe — and helped one of April 6’s leaders to attend without the knowledge of Egypt’s secret police.
The April 6 leader was among delegates from around the world at the Alliance of Youth Movements gathering at Columbia Law School in 2008. At the three-day confab, participants swapped best practices for taking their activism “to the streets” and guidance on “planning events, marches and protests.”
There was also a panel devoted to “Egypt’s pro-democracy youth movements” and how to advance them with social media.
At the time, top department officials said they backed opposition protests even in countries allied with the United States, such as Turkey and Egypt.
“We are very supportive of pro-democracy groups around the world. And sometimes, that puts us at odds with certain governments,” said James K. Glassman, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the Bush administration.
Somehow, the April 6 leader’s cover was blown when he returned to Cairo, and police confiscated his notes from the conference at the airport.
Nonetheless, American diplomats contacted the activist regularly in 2008 and 2009 for information about human-rights abuses.
He’s out of diplomats’ reach now, say news reports: The unnamed protest organizer was picked up last week by Egyptian secret police.