I did not want President Hosni Mubarak to step down in this humiliating manner, which we followed on television over the course of 18 days of a popular revolt that is very rare in our countries. I believe that the president was the most shocked and surprised person among the Egyptians by this result. He believed that he had spent his entire life in the service of his country. For this reason, his addresses during the crisis carried an implicit tone of resentment, as though he considered the revolt against his rule to be a kind of ingratitude. Then he made his Thursday speech, which was that mythical last straw that broke the regime's back. Of course, in the appraisal of the president's opinion on his years in power versus that of the people's opinion, we must all respect the judgment of the people. If there is any remark regarding the gap between the two positions, it would be that it revealed how much the regime was separated or split from the reality of popular sentiment. President Mubarak was not like this in his past years. He is a true Egyptian countryman. But he changed after his first surgery in Germany and I saw him return exhausted, and uninterested in or unable to work. He spent most of the time in Sharm el-Sheikh, and did not want to hear any unpleasant news. He became irritable, and was always very sensitive when faced with any criticism, never forgiving nor forgetting, and he then became even more sensitive in his last years. The Egyptian revolution, through 18 days, was headless, or leaderless, although I read many Western articles warning against the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that they were active behind the scenes. While I do not expect the brotherhood to rule Egypt and while I have not seen any secret role being played by them during the revolution, I do welcome them as long as their presence in or around office will unnerve the Israelis. The Muslim Brotherhood is part and parcel of the Egyptian people. I expect them to be prominently represented in the Parliament. When the results of the elections in November emerged, I was surprised and I wrote that it was not logical for the brotherhood not have won any seats in the Parliament, and I suggested that the president dissolve it in a timely manner and organize democratic elections. I would have been concerned by a revolution without leadership, and by the possibility that one faction may dominate the government, were it not for the Egyptian army, which has always been a resilient and conscious organization, and one of the state's most powerful institutions. We have seen how the military leadership confronted the test, or the predicament, with wisdom and did not fail the president, -who is a military hero that emerged from its ranks-, while not opposing the rebels revolting him because they are the voice of the people. When the president lost consciousness for 20 minutes during the inauguration of the previous parliament, all incoming and outgoing communications in the parliament hall were conducted through Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. And when the president resigned, the army took over power, until elections are organized and power is handed over to civilians. I do not think that Egypt is on the verge of a military coup. The era of coups is long gone, and the revolution of the Egyptian people is a wakeup call for any ruler in the future who saw what happened to his predecessor and who thus does not want to challenge the people and meet the same fate as his predecessor. A wise man learns from his mistakes, and an even wiser man is that who learns from other people's mistakes. The new Egyptian President, and every incumbent or future Arab leader, must learn the Egyptian lesson very well. Egypt has always had a leading and pioneering position among the Arab countries. We have followed Egypt in erroneousness, from nationalizations to the one party rule and suppression of freedoms, and perhaps we shall follow it now in rightness, in a true democratic rule. Once again, I wish that Hosni Mubarak had left the presidency by choice, in a manner that preserved his dignity. He would've been able to do so, if half or quarter of the decisions taken after January 25 had been taken a day or two before that day. There is something I noticed about President Mubarak's approach in recent years: decisions would almost always come too late, perhaps one day, one month or one year too late. I leave the readers with a story about me and the President. I had interviewed him a few dozen times, and the ‘inevitable' question in them all always was: When will you appoint a Vice President? He gave me various answers, including one that the post is very important and he does not want to make mistakes. However, the President himself made a mistake when replying once, when he said something to the effect of: he had searched and hadn't found one single Egyptian who is qualified for the post. All the opposition newspapers attacked him, and there were several articles in Al-Wafd alone. The writers all told the president something to the effect of: Who do you think you are? There are 60 million Egyptians (back then) and not one of them is to your liking? I feel that Hosni Mubarak had feared that if he appointed a Vice President, he would meet the same end as Anwar Sadat. He then appointed a Vice President a few days ago, and he only remained in office a few days after that, so perhaps his intuition was correct. [email protected]
