Just in case someone has not seen this interview of Wael Ghonim

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/feb/08/egypt-activist-wael-ghonim-google-video

I did not see it until just now and thought some others may not have seen it.

It is incredibly moving. These young Egyptians have such excellent character. The pictures of the young men who were killed are devastating. What wonderful children. I extend my deepest sympathies to their families. What a terrible loss for Egypt.

Is Egypt ready for democracy? These young people certainly are and they have proved it. Obama, this is one chance you have to move the world toward something better. Take it. Do the right thing. Support the immediate transfer of power to a committee that is totally pledged to take the country to democracy. The Egyptian youth have won the right to live in a country that has a government of the people, for the people and by the people. Nothing less will do.

(i'm sure the whole text is online somewhere, but: )


on edit.. found transcript.. http://shorttext.com/5ji3p2rucu3

Wael Gholim was, in a sense, tortured. He points out that his body does not bear the marks of torture. But I have met with people who were in prison in our country. I have talked to a number of them. Those I have met with who were in very unusual emotional states were, I suspect, mentally unbalanced to begin with.

Wael Gholim's extremely vulnerable state, the emotionality that was so close to the surface with him, cannot be his pre-detainment state. He is a manager of a company. It is not possible that a person with emotions that raw could manage a company like Google in the Middle East.

Therefore, I would have to conclude, based on that interview, that Wael Gholim was emotionally, if not physically, abused to the point that he suffered emotional or psychological damage. I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, so this is not a diagnosis of some kind. It is just an observation based on my subjective comparison of his statement with statements that I have heard from others in similar situations.

The interviewer pointed out that he had not eaten or had much to drink since his release from prison, but still, I suspect that interrogation techniques just short of physical torture may have been used on him. He states that he did not sleep. I suspect that he was asked the same questions over and over and over. I suspect this based on the fact that he seems to be answering the same questions over and over in the interview.

Those DUers who pray will, I hope, pray for Wael Gholim and all those who have had to suffer arrests in Egypt.

Never. These people love their country beyond their own personal convenience. They love their country as much as anyone ever loved anything and the sacrifices they suffer make earthquakes in the thoughts of everyone in the region, everyone in the world, about how much we can really make a change.

PB