"Egypt's president-elect has vowed to win the release of an Egyptian cleric jailed by the U.S. for planning the first attack on New York's World Trade Center.
Omar Abdel-Rahman, "the blind sheikh," is serving a life sentence in a federal prison for his role in the 1993 bombing that killed six people in lower Manhattan. The attack on the World Trade Center launched by al Qaeda eight years later on Sept. 11, 2001, killed nearly 3,000 people.
""I see banners for Omar Abdel Rahman's family, and for prisoners arrested according to martial rulings and detainees from the beginning of the revolution," said Egyptian president-elect Mohammed Morsi to a buoyant crowd of Islamist supporters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday. "It is my duty to make every effort, and I will beginning tomorrow, to secure their release, among them Omar Abdel Rahman."
Rahman, 74, a veteran of Egypt's Islamist movement, was jailed in Egypt for allegedly helping to inspire the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. He entered the U.S. in 1990. One of his followers was convicted of gun possession, though acquitted of murder, after the assassination of Jewish leader Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York in 1990." Yahoo News
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Soooo, AIPAC/Israel pesters the US for release of Pollard the convicted spy and now Mursi and the new Egypt fostered by the US is going to pester us for the release of this lunatic mullah.
BTW, there is no "O" sound in Arabic. His name is Mursi. The Cairenes may say it otherwise but that is incorrect. His name is spelled in Arabic "mursii."
pl
Well, it certainly sounds like Mursi wants to curry favor with the US doesn't it? Well, maybe not.
Posted by: Bill H | 08 July 2012 at 10:19 AM
Oh, we could make everybody happy. Easy. Rahman released to Israel, and Pollard released to Egypt.
Posted by: Mike Martin, Yorktown, VA | 08 July 2012 at 10:53 AM
MM,
My idea was sending them back in the same wooden box. I think your idea may be better.
Posted by: Tigershark | 08 July 2012 at 12:00 PM
Pollard will be paroled Nov. 21, 2018, (30 year minimum) as was mandated under the guidelines of the terms of his sentencing. So why is Israel pushing for early release? The only reason I can think of is they want to display dominance over the US by eating away at the edges of US sovereignty.
The Israeli government reminds me of the
Apaches who thought that they could take the power from a dying enemy, and the slower the death the larger the number of warriors that could feed off his power.
Posted by: optimax | 08 July 2012 at 03:07 PM
Excuse me,should have worn my glasses, that should be 2015. He will be released in three years if he continues to be a good boy.
Posted by: optimax | 08 July 2012 at 05:31 PM
Or, you could make me happy.
Rahman and Pollard to fight to the death in a cage match, and the survivor to be released to the opposite country...
OK - really, let's just leave them where they are.
Posted by: PeterHug | 08 July 2012 at 06:53 PM
Sorry, I didn't see this before posting my comment below.
Agree.
Posted by: PeterHug | 08 July 2012 at 06:54 PM
PL,
I see how you spell the President of Egypt's name, and it looks like it would be pronounced like 'mercy'. It could also be more like 'moor-si'. What I hear on the news is 'more-si'.
Could you clarify the pronunciation for me please, Professor?
Merci
Posted by: rick | 08 August 2012 at 06:19 PM
rick
"Moorsi" is the classical Arabic way to pronounce his name. There is no "Oh" sound in Arabic. There are three vowel sounds. These exist in both long form "oo," "aah" and "ee" and in short vowel sound as well but with the same phonetic values. Mursi's name may be pronounced in some local way but I am not responsible for that. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 08 August 2012 at 06:27 PM
Thank you sir. You the man.
Posted by: rick | 08 August 2012 at 09:01 PM