General Omar Suleiman was gulled into throwing his hat in the presidential ring by two generals who needed a fig leaf for disqualifying the two Islamist contenders for the presidency.

Omar Suleiman’s retirement from Egypt’s presidential race leaves the stage open to the Muslim Brotherhood and possible one other Islamist contender. Frontrunner Khairat El-Shater is offering his Salafist rivals perks for standing down. The Egyptian street will pick the winner.

Former Egyptian intelligence strongman Gen. Omar Suleiman’s decision Thursday, April 5 to drop out of the race for president in the June election shocked Washington and Jerusalem and dashed their hopes of a figure capable of challenging Khairat El-Shater and halting or at least offsetting the Muslim Brotherhood’s monopoly of power in post-Mubarak Egypt. The Supreme Military Council ruling Egypt was told that Islamist power had become unstoppable after starting to penetrate the young army elite taking over in July, debkafile reports.

The military rulers of Egypt are upending President Barack Obama's plans for Egypt by bringing forward the handover of power to the Muslim parliamentary majority - without providing for the framing of a democratic constitution and the election of a moderate president. To save the day, Washington hopes to handpick an acceptable ...

The US and Israel made the same mistake of using Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman as their single line of information on Egypt - and were caught napping. They are still woefully wanting on Egyptian political and military intelligence.

Friday night, Feb. 11, as Egypt celebrated Hosni Mubarak exit, Israel counted the cost of losing its most important strategic partner in the region. Thirty-two years of peace leave Israel militarily unprepared for the unknown on their 270-kilometer long southern border; no experience of desert combat; an army trained and equipped only for the hostile fronts of Iran, Lebanon's Hizballah and Syria; a dearth of intelligence about the Egyptian army and its commanders, and no clue to the new rulers' intentions.

Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Friday, Feb. 11, that Hosni Mubarak had decided to step down as president of Egypt and hand his powers to the High Council of the Armed Forces· The announcement was greeted with ecstatic cheers by the protesters assembled in Cairo's Tahrir Square and other city centers on the 18th day of their demonstrations for his ouster.
With a single sentence Suleiman marked the end of Mubarak's 32-year rule of Egypt.

By holding on, Hosni Mubarak confronted the Obama administration with a moral dilemma: How to orchestrate a military coup raising a general to the presidency and reconcile it with the democratic transfer of power?

Egypt and its population of 82 million are on the point of a calamitous breakdown as large sections of the economy are shut down by strikes against state-appointed managements and Vice President Omar's Suleiman's leadership. As protesters continue to fill Cairo's Tahrir Square, trains have stopped running, food is running low and lifeline highways are blocked by protesters. Egypt's Foreign Minister Abul Gheit called on the army Wednesday, Feb. 9, to take over government and save Egypt from total anarchy.

Who moves into the presidential palace when (date unknown) Hosni Mubarak leaves? Washington's preferred candidate is not Omar Suleiman. DEBKA-Net-Weekly, in its coming issue Friday, surveys the field, none of which offers guarantees against violent upsets down the road. Is there a deal between the regime and the army? Maybe the incumbents are settling in to stay, sparing a few crumbs to keep the opposition quiescent.  Are there any other options?

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debkafile's military sources disclose exclusively that the army heads, on the sidelines of the anti- and pro-Mubarak standoff till now, have decided to stand against the president's premature removal before his term runs out in 200 days. "We can on no account permit an Egyptian general, Hero of the October (1973) War against Israel, to be humiliated, whatever the political price may be," the generals say. Sunday, Feb. 6, Vice President Omar Suleiman's compromise proposals split the opposition.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman survived an attack on his convoy in central Cairo a week ago just after he was sworn in by President Hosni Mubarak. This is denied by Cairo. debkafile: This and other untoward incidents tend to occur every time the US President  Barack Obama turns up the heat for ending the Mubarak presidency. The latest was the sabotage of the Egyptian-Israeli gas pipe in northern Sinai Saturday, Feb. 5 which cut off supplies to Israeli and Jordan. 

Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak is determined to go down fighting – or not at all – even if Egypt is plunged in civil war. He is mustering his financial, military and mental sources for the battle of his life. The figure rising to prominence from the turbulence is new ...

From mid-week Israel has been feeding Vice President Omar Suleiman intelligence at his request and with Washington's approval. It includes aerial intelligence from the main hubs of unrest and naval patrols to secure Suez Canal passage. Israel has beefed up its border units on the Egyptian border and surveillance ...

Wednesday, Feb. 2, President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and the army and security chiefs: Remove Mubarak in the coming hours or else US aid to Egypt will be cut off, debkafile reports exclusively from Washington. The White House said: "Transition must begin now." The first violent collision between pro- and anti-Mubarak activists in Cairo left 30 dead, 2000 injured, and threatens more civil bloodshed. The last Israelis were evacuated from Egypt, including news correspondents.

The popular uprising against the Egyptian regime reached a standoff at the end of its sixth day, Sunday night, Jan. 30: President Hosni Mubarak made it clear to the armed forces chiefs whom he met at military headquarters that he has no intention of bowing to the massive popular demand to resign, or heed US and international calls for an "orderly transition of power."
All ten anti-regime groups have not produced a leader able to challenge him.