Egypt Trades Torture Supervisor for 'Mubarak's Poodle'?

by **Strawberry** Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:42 am

As thousands in Egypt celebrate the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign today, authority in the North African nation has shifted to Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, a man experts and some protestors said is undoubtedly a member of the old regime, but clean of the human rights abuses the plagued the state's intelligence and police agencies.

"He's the defense minister. He's a career officer... Anyone that serves the ministry for that long is part of the regime," Nathan Brown of George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs told ABC News. "I would be surprised if he kept that job that long without being loyal [to Mubarak]."

However, John Sifton, a former investigator with Human Rights Watch and author of two major reports on Egypt, said that as far as abuses, "in comparison with the civilian institutions, the military -- let's just say we have a lot more faith and optimism about what's going to happen" now that the military is in charge.

http://uruknet.info/?p=m74916&hd=&size=1&l=e

Ive highlighted what initially stood out to me but the whole article is insightful.