Anti-government protesters take part in Friday prayers at Tahrir Square in Cairo February 4, 2011. Tens of thousands of Egyptians prayed in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square on Friday for an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, hoping a million more would join them in what they called the “Day of Departure”. (REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
Now we know…
The Obama Administration was warned about the unfolding crisis in Egypt in late 2010 but did nothing.
The Washington Post reported:
A senior CIA official testifying at the hearing defended the intelligence community’s performance, saying that the nation’s spy services had warned the Obama administration late last year that Egypt’s government could fall.
“We warned of instability,” said Stephanie O’Sullivan, who has been nominated to become the nation’s No. 2 intelligence official. The hearing was on her nomination to be principal deputy director of the Office of Director of National Intelligence. But, she added, “we didn’t know what the triggering mechanism would be.”
Despite this… President Obama has told National Intelligence Director James Clapper that he’s “disappointed with the intelligence community” for not predicting unrest in Tunisia that spread to Egypt and other Arab countries, the AP reports.