Egypt's former spy chief Omar Suleiman dies

Egypt's former spy chief Omar Suleiman dies

www.aljazeera.com

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former vice president and long-time spy chief to deposed president Hosni Mubarak, has died in the US, the official MENA news agency has reported. He was 76.

"Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States," the agency said.

"He was undergoing medical tests in Cleveland," Suleiman's aide Hussein Kamal said, adding that arrangements were being made to return his body to Egypt for burial.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.guardian.co.uk
www.nytimes.com
www.zawya.com
www.seattlepi.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Could Suleiman be the new president?

As the crisis rages across the Middle East with Syria on the brink of well "something" , Israel seemingly preparing to strike Iran, we have this little bit of news. Now what with political assasinations being in vogue at the moment is it possible that Omar was assassinated?

Sulemian took control of the country after Mubarak stepped down and could have have been the long term premier of Egypt if the US had got its way and the Egyptian public had not responded in uproar. This was the former spy chief who was notorious for having involved himself personally in torture sessions, its not like he wouldn't have had plenty of enemies.

www.aljazeera.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Suspicious .Was he poisoned?? Is the autopsy report available?

reply to post by ludwigvonmises003


Ha not yet. Apparently his health was deterorating and he died whilst undergoing medical tests.

"He was fine. It came suddenly while he was having medical tests in Cleveland," said the aide, Hussein Kamal, without specifying the cause of Suleiman's death.

www.guardian.co.uk...

He was fine then suddenly he was dead?! Right ok.

From the BBC's profile of the man (where there is also no mention of his torturing ways).

There had been few reports about Gen Suleiman since. He was not known to have been suffering from a medical condition.

www.bbc.co.uk...

According to Ynet, through an Egyptian paper, he died whilst undergoing heart surgery.

Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Sabaa reported that Suleiman died in a Cleveland hospital after undergoing heart surgery.

,

www.ynetnews.com...

Contradicting claims coming out. Could be a sign of something more sinister afoot?

If someone did want him dead getting someone to inject him with something in the hospital while he was undergoing these medical tests is not impossible. Everyone has their price, even hospital staff

Or perhaps he died naturally, but that just isn't as interesting

reply to post by Mkoll


Yes. A hospital is very much a prime location for an assassination attempt, the Muslim Brotherhood maybe? Their reach is pretty widespread. Either way he is another one of the old guard of Egypt out of the way.

Here it says that he was undergoing medical tests, no mention of heart surgery:
www.israelnationalnews.com...

He was undergoing medical tests in the United States at the time of his death, according to his aide, Hussein Kamal. "He was fine. It came suddenly while he was having medical tests in Cleveland,” Kamal told Reuters, without further detail. No cause of death was given.

With the current situation in the ME, anything is possible, but then again, he was 76 years old.

off-topic:
I am still confused as to what the actual role of the muslim brotherhood is in Egypt, and why everyone is supporting and congratulating them. Either they are just puppets, or then they are part of a bigger plan for the whole Middle-East

definatly merk`d.....

i always wonder how short sighted some "orginisations" are......the fact is, that dude there knew waaaay too much...BUT he was most definatly a supporter of the west....

the audacity....i mean c`mon...

contraversial...is an understatement......but as the ME issue is unfolding.....EGYPTs most "in the know" person is no longer......which means the west will have to deal with the SADATS & NASSERS of Egypt.....not to mention the 76 million muslims.....
if he was assasinated......BAD MOVE.....he comanded respect for the west...who knows maybe they thought he was comprimised....but hes a western asset in the area....

peace

Originally posted by Peruvianmonk
reply to post by ludwigvonmises003

 

Ha not yet. Apparently his health was deterorating and he died whilst undergoing medical tests.
.

how can you die from a test....??? was it electrodes....blood tests.....


is this what happens when you compirmise......sheesh

reply to post by ModerateSkeptic

I am still confused as to what the actual role of the muslim brotherhood is in Egypt, and why everyone is supporting and congratulating them. Either they are just puppets, or then they are part of a bigger plan for the whole Middle-East

The Brotherhood's position is interesting, in particular in regards to Gaza. Hamas are convinced that the MB, from where Hamas sprung from through the founding of Hams in 1987 by ex-members, will lift the blockade and protect them from any Israeli aggression. The MB however have committed themselves to maintaining the Camp David accords with Israel. It is going to be an extremely difficult circle to square.

A good nuanced and close up article on Foreign Policy about the man from an American academic who met him several times.

Our conversation focused almost exclusively on foreign relations. He was deeply hostile to America's enemies in the Middle East, complaining bitterly that every time he thought he had a deal between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Syrians and Iranians would scuttle it. He also offered his view that the United States, Egypt, and other friendly countries in the region should work together to keep "Iran busy with itself." His implication was clear -- Egyptian intelligence, the CIA, Mossad, Saudi intelligence and others should engage in clandestine operations to destabilize the clerical regime in Tehran.

Some of my Egyptian friends still have a hard time processing the fact that Suleiman was unable to quell the Egyptian uprising. To them, this was a man who -- despite being shrouded in secrecy -- loomed impossibly large. Wasn't he was a master manipulator, a man to be feared? After all, he had kept the Muslim Brotherhood down, brutalized the regime's other opponents, served as the trusted interlocutor of Americans and Israelis alike, and was on the short list of Hosni Mubarak's possible successors. For some Egyptians, it is hard to make sense of the fact that Suleiman turned out to be more Wizard of Oz than Dark Lord of the Sith.

Omar Pasha's failure to put a stop the uprising was a direct result of his arrogant conceit that people power could never threaten the regime. His bellicose conviction that he alone could work Egypt's levers of power was ultimately misplaced: In the end, he misunderstood his own people, who ultimately refused to submit to the brutal methods that Suleiman had worked to perfect. I cannot say that I will miss Omar Pasha, but in an important way I am glad to have met him.

By granting me an audience, by being unfailingly polite, by answering my questions, he gave me some insight into how he thought -- and thus how the regime thought and justified its actions. I know he believed his endless attempts at manipulation and coercion were acts of patriotism, but that is hard to justify given his complicity in the Mubarak regime's sundry crimes and abuses.

www.foreignpolicy.com...,1

The man and the regime he came from were allied to US interests, will the Muslim Brotherhood be in the long term?

reply to post by Peruvianmonk


Cleveland is not that far from Langley Virginia.

reply to post by John_Rodger_Cornman


CIA and Suleiman were best friends. He was after all the Egyptian intelligence chief who co-operated over the rendition programme.