U.S. Backed Egypt Rebel Leader

Despite President Obama’s reticence to speak ill against President Hosni Mubarak, there’s some evidence that the U.S. is supportive of Egypt’s anti-regime protesters. The American embassy in Cairo helped a young Egyptian insurgent to attend a U.S.-sponsored conference for activists in New York City three years ago, according to newly unveiled WikiLeaks cables. Diplomats kept his identity anonymous from Egyptian police, and upon his return in December 2008 he notified the U.S. authorities that opposition groups were forming to overthrow Mubarak by 2011. The activist has since been arrested by Egyptian authorities, but documents released by WikiLeaks show that the U.S. has pushed Egypt to release others like him from detention.