AGP suffers setback as its top leader joins BJP

By IANS,

Dibrugarh (Assam) : Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday suffered a major setback when its firebrand leader and former MP Sarbananda Sonowal quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a public rally here.

The rally was attended by a host of BJP leaders, including party president Nitin Gadkari and Varun Gandhi, who is the in-charge of the BJP's affairs in Assam.

"I was fed up with the AGP as the party leadership compromised on the core issue of Bangladeshi infiltration. I realised there is no space for me in the party that compromised on the issue of influx, and hence thought the best option was to join the BJP," Sonowal told the rally.

"During the past few months, the AGP leadership started hobnobbing with the AUDF (Asom United Democratic Front), which is opposed to our stand against infiltration. I realised the AGP leadership was simply interested in power and ready to compromise on their ideology by even teaming up with the AUDF," he said.

Sonowal has always been very vocal on the infiltration issue and was instrumental in getting the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act (IMDT) scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2006.

The apex court verdict scrapping the IMDT Act followed a petition of Sonowal. The act placed the onus of proving that a person is a foreign national on the complainant rather than the person so accused.

The act has now been replaced with the Foreigners Act, 1946, applicable across India, where the accused needs to prove his or her citizenship, if questioned.

Addressing the rally, the BJP president said the party was eyeing to capture power in Assam with assembly polls due in March-April.

"The Congress government in Assam has become a national burden with corruption being the hallmark. People in Assam are looking for a change and the BJP is here to give that change," Gadkari said.

Hillary! Take Notice: Egyptians Are Not Intimidated by the F-16s Flying on their Heads in Cairo

By Yvonne Ridley
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011
As people across Egypt continued resisting and rising against the brutal dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak it is quite clear they will not stop until he goes.
 Quite clear to everyone, that is, apart from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is so out of touch with what is happening on the ground you have to wonder who on earth is advising her.
 She appears to have no idea of the burning resentment and hatred held towards America among the ordinary men and women of Egypt. More than 100 have paid the blood price, so far, for standing up to the US backed tyrant Mubarak and two thousand others are injured.
 It has been lost on no one that the empty shell casings from live ammunition and gas cannisters, which litter Tahrir Square and other streets across Egypt, were provided by the United States of America.
 The “Made in the USA” empty shell casings tell their own story not just of the innocents they have killed, but of their origins and of America’s deadly legacy of unwelcome foreign interference in the region.
The Egyptian people have been fed propaganda for 30 years, their evening news on State TV is sanitized and censored and many have been afraid to speak out freely under the US backed dictatorship of Mubarak.
But do not for one minute think the Egyptian people are stupid – sadly the US has once again completely misread and underestimated an entire population.
These demonstrations are as much a protest against US meddling in their affairs as they are against the Mubarak regime.
Despite all of this Clinton showed not one ounce of compassion or humility when she made her latest blundering speech.
With the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop, she called for an orderly transition but only after heaping praise on the Mubarak government which has “made and kept peace with Israel avoiding violence, turmoil and death in the region.”
 She told ABC News: "Democracy, human rights and economic reform are in the best interests of the Egyptian people." These are the same people her own government ignored as they continued to fund and back Mubarak with billions of US tax payers dollars over the decades.
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says Clinton's comments are a sign that the Obama administration is edging towards accepting, if not openly endorsing, an end to Mubarak's rule. The truth is Mark, the Egyptian people do not want any more US interference – they do not want any more American weapons being used against them. America has no interest in the people of Egypt. Its only concern is for the man-made pariah state next door – Israel.
Clinton has been so out of step since this whole turmoil began to erupt. Both she and Obama remained completely silent for four whole weeks as scores of Tunisians died in that uprising and it was only when their man, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali took flight that they condemned his brutality.
When Egypt threatened to kick off Clinton said assuredly that the country was “stable.” That was a week ago and as she is beginning to learn, a week is a long time in politics. She says she wants democracy – but what sort of democracy Hillary? The sort that sees another tyrant take power? Or are you really going to let the people decide?
And by the way, the people are beginning to rise and resist right across the Maghreb, throughout the Middle East and Asia. US Foreign Policy has turned America in to the most hated country in the world and if Washington really told their own people the truth,. I know the millions upon millions of decent US citizens would be horrified by what is being done in their name.
 But the truth is the American people are kept well away from the truth and are among the most least informed people in the world today.
Few Americans have any idea that this and the previous Bush administrations do not want democracy in the region. In fact they have collectively punished the people of Gaza for exercising their democratic right by voting for a Hamas-dominated government.
This has not been lost on the Egyptian people Hillary who, by the way, have a great love for Palestine, a place in their heart for Gaza and an even deeper hatred and mistrust for the brutal Zionist State, which really does threaten peace and stability in the region.
As I write this F16 fighter jets and attack helicopters, made in America, are flying overhead to try and intimidate the Egyptian people. Too late – there isn’t an army in the world that can beat this peoples’ army. Their fear has gone.
 Your ill-informed advisers won’t tell you this Hillary, but I hate to see an empowered female make such a prat of herself, so here’s a piece of advice. The time has come when you really must step back and take a vow of silence. Every time you open your mouth you are looking and sounding even more stupid than the female presenter on Egyptian State TV who assures us all is at peace with the world and the streets of Egypt are empty and calm.
*British journalist Yvonne Ridley is the European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union
 http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Hillary%20Take%20Notice%20Egyptians%20Are%20Not%20Intimidated%20by%20the%20F-16s%20Flying%20on%20their%20Heads%20in%20Cairo%20By%20Yvonne%20Ridley.htm

Transformation Is Coming to the Arab World, Despite Biden's Defense of Dictators

By Mazin Qumsiyeh
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011

"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with Israel.… I would not refer to him as a dictator” US Vice President Joe Biden ( a lackey of AIPAC)

I first visited Egypt 30 years ago in 1981 to do research for my master's thesis which was later published in my first book "The Bats of Egypt".  I visited Egypt twice since then and I recall vividly police abuse of their own people and yet the Egyptians I encountered mocked and joked about dictatorship.  We tried at least from a distance to support our Egyptian brothers and sisters as they struggle for freedom. Arabs everywhere (yes even here in occupied Palestine) are talking about a transformation and about revolution.  But all such transformations carry pain. Over 200 Egyptians were killed, thousands injured, and there is much destruction.  Yet in a nation of 85 million people this is still a relatively peaceful transformation.   While dealing with the present is critical we must also at this juncture start to look post dictatorship in the Arab world and plan the future.
I recall vividly a talk by a self-described "Liberal Zionist" (an oxymoron) at Duke University on 1 March 198l; at 77 year old he had no inhibitions in saying "Zionists do not want democracy in the Arab world."  He explained that if Egypt was a democracy, it would not have signed a peace deal with Israel since the sentiments of the Arab people does not accept such arrangements that could be done with someone like President Sadat or King Hussein.  On this point he was absolutely correct but in the long run such short-sighted perspective is self-destructive (1).
As I watched last night Hosni Mubarak make his (hopefully last) speech, I was very much reminded of the last speech of the Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Bin Ali of Tunisia.  They all claimed after so many years of torturing their own people that they now want to "reform".  The US funded and supported the brutal Mubarak regime for over 30 years even as plenty of evidence from human rights organizations documented its abuse of its own citizens. See example videos of torture by Egyptian police (2).  This is also the same police who, on the instruction of the Mubarak dictatorship, beat international activists trying to provide humanitarian relief to besieged Gaza (3).  Mubarak then went on to for the first time appoint a vice president (his intelligence chief and ex-army buddy Omar Suleiman) and appoint another army officer as prime minister.   It is now recognized that his reign is ending and a new era is beginning.
It is rather amusing that the brutal dictator of "Saudi" Arabia (a country named after a ruling family!) called to support Mubarak and stated that the demonstrators are hooligans and criminals.  Anyone who knows anything about Egypt knows that this amazing and inspiring mostly nonviolent revolution is a true expression of the will of the Egyptian people regardless of their political or religious persuasions (leftist, Muslim Brotherhood, Nasserite Arab Nationalist, Christians, Muslims, etc). 
In other news in brief for those who don't keep up with internet news or those who watch mainly the (supine) Western Media:
-Large demonstrations by Egyptians and human rights defenders at Egyptian embassies around the world all demanding democracy
-Israeli embassy in Cairo essentially emptied (an apartheid state embassy in the largest Arab country is an abomination)
-Israeli pundits very worried about how Egypt might look after Mubarak.
-There are many signs that the Egyptian military (like the Tunisian military) may be critical in this struggle.  Already there are instances where the demonstrators were protected from the Egyptian police by the Egyptian military. See footage (4)
-A number of human rights groups and Egyptian community representatives abroad all called for ending the Egyptian police brutality. By contrast EU and US government officials are making feeble statements to hedge their bets and at best call for "peaceful" actions from "all sides". Slowly they were forced to modify their retorhic to talk about "change" but must finally call on their puppet Mubarak to leave power and insist that he and his sons and family return the billions stolen from the Egyptian people.
-A number of religious and civil organizations in Egypt broke their silence to support the ouster of the "last Pharaoh"
-The dictatorship cutting of web and mobile phone services and banning reporting by groups like Al-Jazeera did little to stem the tide of protest because people are living it daily in their homes and on the streets and they are not being incited from outside.
-Protests spread to Jordan and Yemen (two other Western supported governments).  There are now plans for large protests in Syria and other countries.
-On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called Mubarak and stated his support for stability of Egypt.  Other news outlets stated that he fully supports the Mubarak regime.  Hamas then came in to say that they support the Egyptian people.  Sadly, I think all rational human beings know which horse to bet on in this struggle between people and a western-supported dictator who accomplished nothing for his people and instead enriched his family (his sons are billionaires in a country in which tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day).  
I wrote seven months ago that "The political leadership in the fragmented Arab countries and Palestinian authority have convinced themselves that they have no option but to endlessly try to talk to politicians from Tel Aviv and Washington (the latter also Israeli occupied territory) hoping for some 'gestures'….I know most politicians like to feel 100% safe (mostly for their position of power) and are afraid of any change.  But I wish they would realize that daring politicians make the history books and those who hang around trying to protect their seats will be forgotten.  Cowardice is never a virtue." And then I concluded that "In the demonstrations yesterday, a child in Gaza was carrying a sign that says 'we demand freedom' and a child in Cairo that says 'children in Egypt and in Gaza want the siege lifted'. That is our future - not elderly politicians meeting to do media damage control with empty words. "(5)
But make no mistake about it: no power transformation happens without a period of unrest, instability, and pain.  I believe in these difficult periods, humans are tested.  Some are weak and may even try to use the situations to make some quick personal profit. Others are of strong and decent character and this shows in their watching for their neighbors and their community.  I have seen countless pictures and heard countless stories of acts that can only be described as heroic (e.g. people protecting the national museum in Cairo or their neighbors' houses).  Intellectuals are stepping forward to articulate rational scenarios for the future.  People helping other people.   So I think we will weather the transition.  As to what the future holds.  Clearly, the era of ignoring the masses is gone.  It will not be easy since we have a legacy of decades of poor education (one that does not emphasize civic and individual responsibility etc). Getting rid of dictators is not enough. Building a civic participatory society is not easy (Europe's enlightenment did not come just from removing a few dictators). 
People's expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world.  And there is great potential (natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc).  It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically.  Slogans will not work.  We the people must take responsibility for our own lives and for our communities.  We need to take time to educate children in a very, very different way than we were educated.  The beginnings may be simple.  For example, in many Arab countries, people were thinking that as long as the country is not theirs (ruled by dictators), they can only watch over their own personal space and literally dump trash in the public space.  In the new era, they have to learn that public space is theirs too.  Order and respect for fellow citizens and for the country will have to be taught very early to our children.  This is but one example for laying a brick in the road to real freedom and real prosperity.  The bricks though are many and they will have to be fashioned and laid by the people.  It is very hard work but it is the only way forward.
(1) I challenged him on this in the Q&A and then wrote a follow-up letter that was published in the Duke Chronicle. Seehttp://www.qumsiyeh.org/zionistpositionfailstorecognizeotherside/
(2) Torture at Egyptian police stations, here are three examples (warning disturbing content!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQRFz65M6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHM6LYiBsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8KG5N_yq1s 
3) Egyptian police beat Free Gaza convoy activist on December 30, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT4tk2RiNIo 
4) See this associated press story about role of Egyptian military
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/29/ap/middleeast/main7296653.shtml
and this interesting footage of military shielding demonstrators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqcEsDwgYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQD-X9G9xfk 
5) Mazin Qumsiyeh “Of Cowardice, Dignity and Solidarity” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ofcowardicedignityandsolidarity/
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org

http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Transformation%20Is%20Coming%20to%20the%20Arab%20World,%20Despite%20Biden's%20Defense%20of%20Dictators%20By%20Mazin%20Qumsiyeh.htm

Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Border Troops, Ayman Nofal Returns to Gaza

Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Troops
Press TV, Sat Feb 5, 2011 12:12PM
 An Egyptian border policeman stands guard on Rafah border. Over the last three days, Gazans have been giving food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza border since the beginning of the popular revolution.

Underground tunnels, which were used to bring basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, are now working in the opposite direction.

Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to the internal upheaval, are getting bread, canned food and other supplies from the impoverished coastal enclave through the tunnels.

Gaza's merchants have also been sending vegetables, eggs and other staples into Egypt, where store owners have run out of stock because normal supplies are cut off by the unrest, Ha'aretz reported Friday.

Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes to deliver their basic needs to the enclave which has been sealed off by an Israeli blockade.

Rafah is the main entry and exit post between Egypt and the coastal enclave.

Millions of people have been holding daily protests in Egyptian cities for the past 12 days. The demonstrators are demanding an immediate end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The violence has claimed around 300 lives so far.

FTP/JM/MGH/MMN
Nofal: We got out of jail against the will of the oppressors
[ 06/02/2011 - 05:25 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)--
 Qassam Brigades leader, Ayman Nofal, told the PIC on Saturday night that the Palestinian prisoners got out of the Egyptian jail "against the will of the oppressors".
He expressed appreciation for all those who arrived to his home in Gaza to congratulate him on his safe return from the Egyptian regime's captivity.
He also thanked the media that displayed solidarity with his case and with all the Palestinians who took part in rallies demanding his release.
Nofal said that they came under intensive fire by jailors during the escape and that he was slightly wounded in the incident.

The Qassam commander said that relatives of Egyptian detainees stormed the jail, which led to their release from captivity.

Qassam leader Nofal in Gaza after being released from Egyptian jails
[ 06/02/2011 - 01:21 PM ]
GAZ, (PIC)--
Top leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Ayman Nofal, arrived on Saturday in the Gaza Strip after he was released from Egyptian jails.
An informed source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that thousands of Palestinians received Nofal upon his arrival at his home in Nusayrat refugee camp and congratulated him on his release from Egyptian prisons.
The Egyptian security apparatuses kidnapped Nofal on January 27, 2008 when thousands of Gazans knocked down the border wall in Rafah area in order to buy basic needs from Egyptian stores.
He was reportedly exposed to severe torture at the hands of Egyptian interrogators in a bid to extract some information about the whereabouts of the Israeli occupation soldier and prisoner of war, Gilad Shalit,  and the activities of the Palestinian resistance.
Egypt's popular uprising
Many political analysts believe that the regime of Hosni Mubarak is falling apart and the events in Egypt are gradually moving towards imminent decisiveness in favor of millions of protestors who demand the removal of the whole political system.
The fig leaves covering the body of the ruling family has also started to fall, where Britain's Guardian newspaper revealed in a report a few days ago that Mubarak and his family have a fortune of about 70 billion dollars according to analysis by experts from the middle east.
Much of this family's wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in up market homes and hotels, the newspaper said.
In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians has started since yesterday to flock into Al-Tahrir Square to participate in a mega rally in the context of a new week of protests to be held Sunday in support of the steadfastness of the young protesters there.
Christian leaders in Egypt also announced they would perform Sunday prayers in the square and would participate in the gathering calling for the removal of Mubarak.
Protesters were seen hanging banners with pictures of the victims who were killed in the events that broke out on January 25.
Jailed Hamas leader returns from Egypt
Hamas member arrives in Gaza after escaping Egypt jail
Published today (updated) 06/02/2011 15:21 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) --
A leader of Hamas' armed wing arrived in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after escaping from an Egyptian prison.

Thousands of prisoners broke out of jail in Egypt amid security chaos as ongoing anti-government protests spread across the country.

Al-Qassam Brigades member, Ayman Noufel, returned to the Al-Buraij refugee camp in central Gaza, where he was received by his family and senior Hamas leaders.

Noufel was detained three years ago in El-Arish, when thousands of Palestinians broke out of Gaza through the wall on Egypt's border.

He was one of eight Palestinians who escaped from Egyptian jails, six of whom have returned to Gaza.

The whereabouts of the remaining two is still unclear, but their families said they received unconfirmed information that Egyptian forces detained them at a checkpoint near Sheikh Zuwayid, a city 15 kilometers from the Gaza border.

According to official statistics in Gaza, 39 Palestinians were in Egyptian prisons before the protests broke out. More than a dozen had court orders mandating their release, but Egyptian security insisted on keeping them in custody.

The oldest detainee to escape was Mu’atasem Al-Quka, who spent seven years in Abu Za'abal prison accused of affiliation with Hamas.

He added he did not know at first what he was charged with but was later told it was for being a member of a movement banned in Egypt.

Al-Quka said he was ill-treated in Egyptian prisons especially in Abu Za’bal prison. He said prisoners were able to flee the jail because Egyptians demolished its walls.

http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Gazans%20Feed%20Hungry%20Egyptian%20Border%20Troops,%20Ayman%20Nofal%20Returns%20to%20Gaza.htm

Omar Suleiman: From Shadowy Spy Chief to Key International Player

By Leela JACINTO (text)
France 24, 05/02/2011 -

When President Mubarak named spy chief Omar Suleiman the country’s first vice president in three decades, most analysts read it as a signal of an orderly transition. But given Suleiman’s background, it may not be the change Egyptians want.
On January 29, when embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named him vice president, Omar Suleiman emerged from the shadows of Egypt’s extensive security-intelligence apparatus to become a pivotal international figure. But for many analysts and followers of US-Mideast policy, Suleiman was already a familiar figure. And not all of them felt reassured by the new appointment.
Suave, sophisticated, and fluent in English, Suleiman had been the country’s spy chief since 1993, when he took over as head of Egypt’s powerful General Intelligence Service (GIS) – or “Mukhabarat” as it is commonly known in Egypt.
A Soviet-trained, former army man, Suleiman looked set to fill the “shadowy intelligence chief” mould when he took over the GIS.
But all that changed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
In pictures: Major players in Egypt’s crisis
In 2009, US magazine Foreign Policy ranked Suleiman the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Meir Dagan, the head of Israel’s Mossad.
When the whistleblower website WikiLeaks published US diplomatic cables last year, analysts learned that Suleiman had already been singled out by Egyptians as a likely Mubarak successor.
A May 14, 2007, leaked US cable reads more like prophesy than a diplomatic memo. “…in past years Soliman (sic) was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post,” read the cable.
Suleiman in fact filled a post Mubarak vacated 30 years ago when he took over the presidency following the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.
Just pick up the phone and talk
The Jan. 29 appointment of a new vice president was greeted with relief in some quarters, notably because it signalled that Mubarak had acknowledged the unpopularity of his son and widely rumoured successor, Gamal Mubarak.
ANALYSIS: OBAMA'S RESPONSE
EGYPT Fast change or smooth transition, that's the question
Privately, many US officials were relieved to have a man in Cairo they could phone and “level with”.
Indeed as the situation in Egypt subsequently deteriorated, Suleiman rapidly turned into Washington’s point-man in the Egyptian administration.
On Feb. 2, as pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square waged pitched battles against anti-government protesters, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Suleiman to urge him to investigate who was behind the day’s violence and hold them accountable.
Former US Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner, who was dispatched to Cairo by Obama to try to diffuse the crisis, also met with Suleiman during his visit.
‘Not squeamish’ about ‘torture and so on’
Negotiations between Suleiman and US ambassadors go a long way back and have historically proved fruitful.
In her book “The Dark Side,” New Yorker correspondent Jane Mayer quotes then US Ambassador to Egypt Edward Walker describing Suleiman, as “very bright, very realistic”. Walker acknowledged that the GIS head was involved in “some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way”.
“The Dark Side” examines the murky chapter of US renditions under the Bush administration’s “war on terror”, when the CIA snatched suspected terrorists from across the world and turned them over to authorities criticised for using extensive torture.
Egypt, a country ruled by the same man under emergency laws for decades, was an enthusiastic partner in renditions, wrote Mayer as she followed the cases of terror suspects who claimed to have been captured by the US and sent to Egypt, where they were tortured.
Torture in Egypt has been a longstanding issue that has dominated human rights reports on the world’s largest Arab nation for decades.
As the Mukhabarat chief, Suleiman was considered the “hit man” for Mubarak’s regime, wrote Ron Suskind, author of the book, “The One Percent Doctrine”.
In an interview with the United States ABC News network, Suskind sarcastically described Suleiman as “a charitable man, friendly," before going on to add: "He tortures only people that he doesn't know."
‘Liars who only understand force’
Suleiman also played a key role in the Egyptian-negotiated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over the past two years, paying official visits to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where he met with Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
He has extensive experience on the Palestinian dossier, which included a failed attempt by Egypt to negotiate a Palestinian unity government between rivals Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2008.
Familiar with Hamas and PA leaders, Suleiman also played a critical role in demolishing underground smuggling tunnels from Gaza into Egypt.
As the spy chief of the Arab world’s largest Sunni Muslim nation, Suleiman concurred with Israeli and US policies on tightening the reins on Shiite Iran.
But most appealing for the US has been Suleiman’s reputation as an ardent anti-Islamist with a visceral dislike of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s officially banned but tolerated Islamist group.
According to British daily The Guardian, Suleiman has in the past described the Brotherhood as "liars who only understand force".
In his new role of vice president, Egypt’s former spy chief will now have to negotiate with a group he has traditionally considered the country’s most serious security threat. It will not be easy for the vice president, nor for his Islamist negotiating partner.
 http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Omar%20Suleiman,%20From%20Shadowy%20Spy%20Chief%20to%20Key%20International%20Player.htm