With protest continuing in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak despite a curfew, the government has ordered the army to help put down the protest.

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Eqypt’s total military expenditures in 2009 was $3.6 billion. Mubarak’s administration has been one of largest recipients of American military support ever, receiving $1.3 billion in military assistance every year. It is likely that much of the equipment the Egyptian army is using now to help put down the protests likely came from America and was paid for by American tax dollars.

In a defiant, out-of-touch speech on state television, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced in a late-night statement that he will ask the government to resign and install a new one tomorrow. However, Mubarak will not resign or leave the country. Many of the government ministers scheduled to be sacked have been in place a decade or more.

In a press briefing on the situation in Egypt (and probably his last briefing ever), Robert Gibbs made a stunning, but important statement:

We believe in the basket of individual freedoms includes the freedom to access the Internet and the freedom to use social networking sites.

Gibbs did not say (and none of the reporters asked) whether this includes access to the Wikileaks site. Or whether it includes access to the Internet at broadband speeds.

Maybe NASCAR lowered it’s ticket prices to thank fans for the tax loophole for Motorsports Entertainment Complexes.

Al Jazeera’s live feed of Egyptian Government statement.

It’s not at all clear that Baradei will serve as the kind of leader in Egypt that he seems to want to. But given that Baradei is one of the few opposition leaders the US press seems to understand, I think it worthwhile to review the Neocons’ long-standing attacks on him.

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office released a report (pdf) to Congress summarizing its latest analysis of the training of the Afghan National Army (ANA). The title conveys much of the sense of the report: “AFGHANISTAN SECURITY: Afghan Army Growing, but Additional Trainers Needed; Long-term Costs Not Determined”. The report documents that training of the ANA actually met an interim goal three months ahead of schedule last fall, but then indicated that the overall end goal for ANA size likely will need to be increased. Importantly, the report plants what I predict will be the seed producing a total lack of accountability for David Petraeus when the ANA eventually proves to be not up to the task of taking over full control of Afghan security (while “training” goals are currently being met, ANA units still remain far from functional on their own) by stating that the effort is suffering because of lack of staffing by those who carry out the training of ANA forces.

Both the GAO report and the only media report I have seen on it, from CNN, fail to to cite the importance of the data presented in Figure 1 of the report, where we see that despite the increased numbers of ANA forces being trained and the “surge” of ISAF forces, violence levels in Afghanistan continue in a steady upward trend. Even when factoring in the seasonal variation in violence, it can be seen in Figure 1 that the total number of monthly attacks in winter 2010-2011 is roughly twice the rate of summer 2008 attacks. When comparing identical seasons, summer 2010 attack rates are roughly three times summer 2008 attack rates and seven times summer 2005 attack rates.

The official report is that there will be a US press briefing shortly on the Egyptian situation, but privately Administration officials are waiting for Hosni Mubarak to speak.

OK, the press briefing is about to begin.

In a small reversal from comments earlier this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged for an end to violence in Egypt, though she made that statement about both the government and protesters. John Kerry, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made a similar statement, denouncing the government’s actions with tear gas and rubber bullets and Internet bans, but also encouraging the activists to “remember the lessons and legacy of peaceful protesters from Gandhi to Dr. King and to exercise their right to be heard in that tradition.” The curtain was lifted on the likely fear on the part of the US government due to concerns over the cost of oil.

Figures. This is a guy who requires his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged, and we now know that Ayn Rand was a big welfare queen herself.