Wikileaks on Tunisian Tyranny

The interest in the unauthorized release of U.S. diplomatic cables by whistle-blower site Wikileaks has been largely monopolized by the information relating to Gulf Arab regimes eagerly pursuing an American attack against Iran, the petty insults against European and Russian leaders and the whole debate over the very merit of Wikileaks and the diplomatic cable dump, to use the preferred term of the American media (one commentator referred to them obliviously as a "Thanksgiving dump").

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That means that a lot of other compelling details have been submerged in the abundance of cables released. As a close follower of developments in Tunisia and a chronicler of the human rights abuses of the dying Ben Ali regime, the U.S. cables pertaining to Tunisia were not going to go without notice by this author. Where to begin?

First there is another illustration of the strengthened grip on the government exercised by the Mafioso Trebelsi clan of First Lady Leila Ben Ali (who aspires to replace her husband):

Date08/04/2009 In back-to-back meetings at the Foreign Ministry

today the Ambassador was given a letter from Foreign Minister

Abdallah to NEA AA/S Feltman offering negotiations to resolve

the American Cooperative School in Tunis (ACST) tax issue.

The letter emphasized that the GOT wants to maintain friendly

relations with the United States and views the school tax

issue as a technical, fiscal matter.

You'd have to be really naive to believe this is a mere tax issue. Tax issues and other novelties are the subtle means by which the Leila and her corrupt folk exercise their power of intimidation and control. Here's the run down: A few years ago Leila and friend Suha Arafat, the widow of the late Palestinian leader [sic] Yasser Arafat, opened an elite private school: International School of Carthage (ISC). The Trebelsi family currently runs Tunisia on the premise that no one may have more than them. This fierce jealousy in a family headed by Leila's brother and high school dropout BelHassan Trebelsi made a new enemy after ISC opened its door: Not keen on competition they shut down a French institution run by a Tunisian couple known as Lycee Louis Pasteur, thereby hoping to acquire their affluent students. That was not enough, apparently. American Cooperative School is another private K-12 academy in the country and is facing a war of attrition masked as a tax matter to force a shut down on a similar premise. Though the Trebelsi family may find it harder to go after an institution with support from the U.S. government.

But, elsewhere, the Trebelsi family continues its monopolization of the nation's economy:

Date28/05/2008 In the latest in a long string of questionable

business deals, the Ben Ali clan has recently entered the

banking business, assuming leadership of Tunisia's most

profitable private bank -- Banque de Tunisie (BT). In April,

Alya Abdallah, wife of Foreign Minister Abdalwahab Abdallah,

became President of BT

Moving on:

Date06/03/2009 The Government of Tunisia (GOT) prohibits demonstrations that are not pre-approved and is capable of controlling and dispersing one in the unlikely event one could be mustered without their knowledge. The only known group capable of

implementing this type of demonstration would be the Tunisian

labor union UGTT

Now, really, did the first sentence need to be written? Does not the existence of a tyrant in power since the 1980s obviate such a construct? Maybe some U.S. officials have yet to get the memo that their loyal client Ben Ali is a dictator.

The battle for a post-Ben Ali presidency:

Date03/06/2009 Sakhr El-Matri President Ben Ali's son-in-law

attended a reception hosted by the Ambassador May 26. He

stayed for two hours talking with a wide variety of the

guests, especially the Americans.

Corrupt and ambitious Arabs who seek the high office believe they need not bother cultivating a base among their people (simple photo-ops will suffice) and instead rely on pandering to the U.S. believing that America can crown them. A contemptible lot who do not know what dignity is.

But America's government thinks he's a possible successor:

Date26/02/2009 Mohamed Sakhr El-Matri, the President's

son-in-law, is viewed by many as a possible successor to

President Ben Ali. Ref B reported his election to the ruling

Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party's Central

Committee in July 2008.

This guy looks like a college grad and isn't fit to run a dealership.

They want to torture them:

Date23/06/2009 A senior MFA official convoked the German, Italian

and Spanish Chiefs of Mission June 19 to inform them the GOT

wants the Tunisian detainees in Guantanamo Camp returned

home. According to the European COMs, the implicit message

was that their governments should not accept the US request

to take Tunisian detainees.

Date04/11/2008 Over the last two years, GOT officials have said

Guantanamo detainees transferred to Tunisia will not be

tortured or mistreated. President Ben Ali reiterated this

"promise" to the Secretary in September.

And, finally, America worries about its relationship with an unstable and unpredictable regime with a dying tyrant at the helm who is becoming rigid (akin to Bourguiba before the "medical coup") and one cable reports that U.S.-Tunisian relations have stagnated in the last few years and then this:

Date17/07/2009 By many measures, Tunisia should be a close US

ally. But it is not. While we share some key values and the

country has a strong record on development, Tunisia has big

problems. President Ben Ali is aging, his regime is

sclerotic and there is no clear successor.

Nonsense. Human rights organizations have reported that Tunisians returning home have suffered prison abuse.

Thanks to the excellent Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar for compiling the diplomatic cables.