Meet The New Boss

Omar Suleiman

The New York Times reports that the Obama Administration is backing a "gradual transition," led by the Gen. Omar Suleiman, a long-time confidante of Hosni Mubarak, who was named Vice President when the protests began.  One thing you can say about Suleiman is that he will work well with the United States; he has before.

Jane Mayer, who wrote The Dark Side, a fabulous and deeply disturbing book on the Bush Administration's torture policies, explains that "since 1993 Suleiman has headed the feared Egyptian general intelligence service," and in that capacity "was the C.I.A.’s point man in Egypt for renditions—the covert program in which the C.I.A. snatched terror suspects from around the world and returned them to Egypt and elsewhere for interrogation, often under brutal circumstances."

The opposition to the current regime is not thrilled with this plan.  As the Times put it, they want a "faster and more sweeping changes to the military-dominated government."  Opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, said that Suleiman leading a transitional government with U.S. backing would be a "major setback."