Frank Wisner was the emissary sent by president Obama to Hosni Mubarak to, we were told, encourage him to leave office quickly. He was supposedly chosen because he had a personal relationship with him developed while earlier serving in Egypt as US ambassador. But Wisner seems to have gone rogue, saying publicly that Mubarak should not leave immediately. The administration has tried to distance themselves from those remarks but suspicions exist that (surprise!) the US government is not being honest in what it tells us and is trying to have it both ways in Egypt, trying to appease its long-standing ally Mubarak and the pro-democracy protesters.

Now Robert Fisk of The Independent reveals that Wisner currently works for a private lobbying firm that was hired by the Mubarak government to advance its interests. The firm Patton, Boggs is a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, with its tentacles everywhere, and Wisner’s name is listed as a foreign affairs advisor.

Why did the US bypass its current ambassador in Egypt to deal with Mubarak? Surely the White House must have known about Wisner’s blatant conflict of interest, since working for Mubarak means that his primary loyalties are not to the administration. Why has our media not made a fuss about this? Why did it take a foreign journalist to unearth this crucial information?

Incidentally, the chairman of the firm Thomas Boggs is the brother of the awful Cokie Roberts at NPR, and they are both firm members of the Village establishment.