Washington’s new myth: “intelligence failure” in Egypt: Regime change has been planned for years

Larry Chin - Global Research, February 6, 2011

The Obama administration and prominent members of Congress have begun pushing the idea that an intelligence failure prevented the US government from predicting massive civil unrest in Egypt and the Arab world.

This new “debate” over the gathering of intelligence fills the mainstream media with red herrings, obscuring the fact (leaked by WikiLeaks and the Daily Telegraph) that the US government has secretly backed leading figures behind Arab opposition for at least three years. Strong evidence suggests that an Egyptian regime change has been planned for years. Leading opposition groups, civil society organizations and dissidents---including the Muslim Brotherhood---have been co-opted by front groups backed by the CIA, the Pentagon and the State Department, and wooed in earnest by members of both the Bush/Cheney and Obama administrations. The US government and its allies already have enduring ties to key figures on all sides of the Arab revolts, with the goal of controlling the process and preserving Anglo-American geostrategy.

It is true that the Arab revolutions are real, and their depth and scope, and the speed at which they have ignited have unprecedented and extensive power does lie in the hands of mobilized peoples (if genuine and untainted dissidents grasp the specifics of the larger dynamic). It is also true that not all of the various political players were “in the loop”. But the idea of a general US “intelligence failure” is ludicrous, given years of ongoing US manipulation and intelligence penetration.

What the Obama administration, Washington politicos and the US corporate media wish to create is the same deception as the one resulting from 9/11. That false flag operation was also not an “intelligence failure” but an intelligence “success” resulting from many years of preparation, and unmatched CIA power and penetration worldwide. Now, as then, there is an extensive history (that eliminates the “lack of foreknowledge” argument), specific warnings.

Even if the “intelligence failure” idea, and the myth that both the CIA and Obama administration as a whole have been completely blind, are accepted at face value, what would an “informed” Obama administration have done about Egypt? The same thing it has already done: use whatever means necessary to protect vital US oil and military interests.

The “failure” debate is a new tempest in a familiar old teapot: official scapegoats and cover-your-ass games, and new propaganda excuses to further justify even more covert operations and “improvements”.