In what regards the debate about President Hosni Mubarak, I opted not to say a single word – in criticism – after his downfall that I had not said when he was still president. I hence limit myself to saying that democracy was absent, corruption was rampant, and the last legislative election round – as I wrote before – could not have been fair without the Muslim Brotherhood winning any seats, which is what prompted me to call on the president at the time, to dissolve the parliament and hold new elections. Today, I shall not add a single letter to that criticism, and instead shall write in defense of Hosni Mubarak. After the first surgery he underwent in Germany in 2000, Hosni Mubarak changed. His mental and physical strength declined, and as a result, he could no longer work more than one hour each day or so, and was then isolated by an unscrupulous inner circle from the people so that it may rob the country. The rest is history. However, Hosni Mubarak's tenure did not span only six years, but thirty, and his full track-record tells us the following: - That he steered Egypt clear of any military adventures, and did not gamble with the lives of Egypt's youths, or further burden the economy in futile and costly wars. - That he overcame the terrorism that beleaguered Egypt in the nineties, and defeated Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups, which had they won, would have wreaked havoc, beyond Egypt, on every other Arab country. - That he rushed to support Kuwait in its ordeal, and encouraged other Arab countries to work for the liberation of Kuwait. Prince Khalid bin Sultan, the Commander of Joint Forces and Theater of Operations during the Kuwait liberation war, told me that the Egyptian force was one of the best trained and most capable among the battle groups he had led. - That he distanced himself from Hamas without boycotting it in the beginning, because of its known links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He then boycotted Hamas because of the latter's alliance with Iran, as Hosni Mubarak always felt that Egypt represents the Arabs' Sunni depth, and a peer to Iran, whose danger Hosni Mubarak had perceived before most people. The above are facts that I refuse to debate. If they were opinions, I would have welcomed objections and opposing views. In truth, comparing Hosni Mubarak with his predecessors that we knew or our fathers knew shows the following: - That King Farouk was a philanderer, living well but not ruling well. It is in his days that we lost Palestine, and heard about the defunct weapons scandal. Meanwhile, Gamal Abdel Nasser had overwhelming charisma, attracting people to rally behind him. However even I, a person with no combat experience except two weeks of military training after high school, know that it is not wise at all for any leader to fight on two fronts at once. Abdel Nasser threatened and imposed a blockade on Israel, and gave it a pretext while half of his army was in Yemen. A second Nakbah [catastrophe] ensued, not just a defeat. As for Anwar Sadat, he fought a war which started with victory, and ended in a draw with the Israelis on the western side of the Suez Canal, after crossing at Deversoir. Sadat then held an individual peace agreement with Israel and ruined Egypt's role in leading the Arabs and ruined the Arabs with it. This is while he scolded the Arab countries, which boycotted Egypt when they in the past were following its leadership. In fact, Hosni Mubarak, as commander of the air force, was the most successful Egyptian leader in the 1973 war. What did Hosni Mubarak do, by contrast? I am not claiming he is the Charles de Gaulle of his time. But I argue that he is better than the three leaders who preceded him, and I insist once again that I am talking facts, not just opinions. The youths of Egypt then rose up against the regime and overthrew it, and this is their right. They are the sons and daughters of the country and its future. However, I fear that they may have acted for the freedom of their own opinions, rather than for the freedom of opinion or freedom per se, which makes me say that the way Hosni Mubarak was dealt with after his ouster did not reflect the Egyptians' moral character. It was rather beside the truth, righteousness and the man's track-record for 30 years, not six. Hosni Mubarak did not deserve to be insulted along with his family, and to be threatened with trial and prison, and perhaps even execution. He is past the autumn of his life, and it is time for this knight to rest. [email protected]
