Defending his record and saying he would "die on Egyptian soil," By Blake Hounshell. February 1, , PM. What in the World? November 12, , PM. Trending 1. A Blueprint for Peace in Ethiopia. Blame Brussels. Latest Analysis.
Or are they? The Month in World Photos. Argument Adem K. The moment the president deployed the army on 28 January to deal with the growing protest movement, it became obvious to everyone that the soldiers would hold the key to his survival.
A source close to the president's office told the BBC that, at some points in the protests, the army showed signs of impatience with the president's handling of the crisis. He was losing his command of things, he was not meeting many of his advisers and the military were getting very uncomfortable," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC. The military may have been "suggesting politely" to Mr Mubarak that he should step down.
In contrast, the Mubarak family has stayed in Egypt since but kept a low profile. Mubarak had always maintained his innocence and said history would judge him a patriot who served his country selflessly, but for many Egyptians his time in power was a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His successor, Mohamed Mursi, lasted only a year in office, however, after mass protests in led to his overthrow by then defense chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president. Mubarak-era figures, meanwhile, are gradually being cleared of charges, and laws limiting political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old regime is back. His only political agenda was to maintain calm and maintain power. And that made him a reliable if limited ally.
Mubarak received billions in American military aid, equipping and rewarding the army and its commanders, on whom his power ultimately rested.
In recent years he proved a willing partner in Washington's endless search for an Israel-Palestine settlement. But for many Palestinians, and particularly Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, his pro-American stance was a galling betrayal. When Israel attacked Gaza in , for example, he allowed Israeli bombers to over-fly Egyptian territory. In terms of the broader region, Mubarak maintained close ties in later years with fellow Sunni Muslim rulers in the Gulf and, despite attempts at reconciliation, remained strongly at odds with Iran over its nuclear programme and its involvement in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
As the Arab world's most populous and influential country, Egypt under Mubarak saw itself as a natural leader in the face of Tehran's expanding ambitions.
In this it was egged on by the US. Now, with Mubarak gone, the US and Israel face a more uncertain strategic reality, and not just in regard to Iran. Whoever leads Egypt in the longer term is unlikely to be as biddable as his fallen predecessor. Mubarak's track record at home was less impressive and in his failures, both in political and economic policy and in leadership, were rooted the causes of his downfall. From the start, the president refused to countenance serious opposition, rigging presidential and parliamentary elections with unashamed efficiency.
Moderate, secular, liberal politicians and their academic, business and financial constituencies had little choice but to ally themselves, directly or indirectly, with Mubarak's dominant National Democratic party, or enter a political wilderness of persecution and impotence.
At the same time, Mubarak maintained an absolute ban on Egypt's biggest political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, even after its leadership renounced violence and embraced the democratic process. Even in when, under pressure from George Bush and Washington's post-Iraq Middle East "freedom agenda", he allowed multi-candidate presidential elections for the first time, polling was heavily manipulated in his favour.
As soon as Bush lost interest, he reverted to form, persecuting independent pro-democracy leaders such as Ayman Nour and the Kefaya movement. Last year's parliamentary poll was the most fraudulent ever, according to human rights groups.
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