I just discovered an opinion piece in the New York Times written by Nobel laureate, and former Director General of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed Elbaradei. As you may recall, prior to
stepping down from that position, Mr. Elbaradei -- who is Egyptian by birth
-- was directly involved in the negotiations and inspections concerning
Iran's controversial nuclear program.

Prior to that, Elbaradei carried out the very same function regarding Iraq's non-existent nuclear program. As I point out in some of my articles,
contrary to the accusations of former U.S. president, George W. Bush, no WMD were ever found in Iraq, which makes America's long involvement in Iraq an absolute farce, and in fact, an outright lie and a deception.

As was to be expected, while carrying out his official responsibilities as
the Directory General of the United Nations International Atomic Energy
Agency, Mr. Elbaradei was subjected to a lot of pressure by the U.S. Government, which constantly criticized him, and accused him of not working fast enough, diligently enough, or thoroughly enough, to discover Iraq and Iran's nuclear secrets. Of course, the Bush administration needed physical proof in order to justify its illegal invasion of Iraq before the eyes of
the world. As I said, that proof was never found.

With the recent unrest in Egypt, due to the fact that he has long been
critical of the Mubarak government, Elbaradei was selected by the youthful leaders of the revolution to represent them, and to be one of their voices
to the world; thus, his opinion piece in the New York Times. I found his commentary rather interesting. Not only is it well-written, but it clearly expresses the goals and aspirations of the Egyptian people in a post-Mubarak era. Below is his commentary.


The Next Step for Egypt's Opposition

By MOHAMED ELBARADEI - NYT

February 10, 2011


WHEN I was a young man in Cairo, we voiced our political views in whispers,
if at all, and only to friends we could trust. We lived in an atmosphere of fear and repression. As far back as I can remember, I felt outrage as I witnessed the misery of Egyptians struggling to put food on the table, keep
a roof over their heads and get medical care. I saw firsthand how poverty
and repression can destroy values and crush dignity, self-worth and hope.

Half a century later, the freedoms of the Egyptian people remain largely denied. Egypt, the land of the Library of Alexandria, of a culture that contributed groundbreaking advances in mathematics, medicine and science,
has fallen far behind. More than 40 percent of our people live on less than
$2 per day. Nearly 30 percent are illiterate, and Egypt is on the list of failed states.

Under the three decades of Hosni Mubarak's rule, Egyptian society has lived under a draconian "emergency law" that strips people of their most basic rights, including freedom of association and of assembly, and has imprisoned tens of thousands of political dissidents. While this Orwellian regime has
been valued by some of Egypt's Western allies as "stable," providing, among other assets, a convenient location for rendition, it has been in reality a ticking bomb and a vehicle for radicalism.

But one aspect of Egyptian society has changed in recent years. Young Egyptians, gazing through the windows of the Internet, have gained a keener sense than many of their elders of the freedoms and opportunities they lack. They have found in social media a way to interact and share ideas,
bypassing, in virtual space, the restrictions placed on physical freedom of assembly.

The world has witnessed their courage and determination in recent weeks, but democracy is not a cause that first occurred to them on Jan. 25. Propelled
by a passionate belief in democratic ideals and the yearning for a better future, they have long been mobilizing and laying the groundwork for change that they view as inevitable.

The tipping point came with the Tunisian revolution, which sent a powerful psychological message: "Yes, we can." These young leaders are the future of Egypt. They are too intelligent, too aware of what is at stake, too weary of promises long unfulfilled, to settle for anything less than the departure of the old regime. I am humbled by their bravery and resolve.

Many, particularly in the West, have bought the Mubarak regime's fiction
that a democratic Egypt will turn into chaos or a religious state, abrogate
the fragile peace with Israel and become hostile to the West. But the people
of Egypt -- the grandmothers in veils who have dared to share Tahrir Square with army tanks, the jubilant young people who have risked their lives for their first taste of these new freedoms -- are not so easily fooled.

The United States and its allies have spent the better part of the last
decade, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lives, fighting wars to establish democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that the youth of Cairo, armed with nothing but Facebook and the power of their convictions, have drawn millions into the street to demand a true Egyptian democracy, it would be absurd to continue to tacitly endorse the rule of a regime that has lost its own people's trust.

Egypt will not wait forever on this caricature of a leader we witnessed on television yesterday evening, deaf to the voice of the people, hanging on obsessively to power that is no longer his to keep.

What needs to happen instead is a peaceful and orderly transition of power,
to channel the revolutionary fervor into concrete steps for a new Egypt
based on freedom and social justice. The new leaders will have to guarantee
the rights of all Egyptians. They will need to dissolve the current
Parliament, no longer remotely representative of the people. They will also need to abolish the Constitution, which has become an instrument of
repression, and replace it with a provisional Constitution, a three-person presidential council and a transitional government of national unity.

The presidential council should include a representative of the military, embodying the sharing of power needed to ensure continuity and stability
during this critical transition. The job of the presidential council and the interim government during this period should be to set in motion the process that will turn Egypt into a free and democratic society. This includes
drafting a democratic Constitution to be put to a referendum, and preparing
for free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections within one year.

We are at the dawn of a new Egypt. A free and democratic society, at peace
with itself and with its neighbors, will be a bulwark of stability in the Middle East and a worthy partner in the international community. The rebirth
of Egypt represents the hope of a new era in which Arab society, Muslim
culture and the Middle East are no longer viewed through the lens of war and radicalism, but as contributors to the forward march of humanity, modernized
by advanced science and technology, enriched by our diversity of art and culture and united by shared universal values.

We have nothing to fear but the shadow of a repressive past.


Mohamed ElBaradei, as the director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. He is the author of the forthcoming book "The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times."



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