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7:55 a.m. M.
Saturday 21 November 2020
Books – Muhammad Ataya:
In June 2009, the streets of Cairo, which at the time was inhabited by 16 million people, became empty lanes, as all the roads were empty of people except for the security men who were deployed everywhere , to ensure what could be a valuable treasure for terrorist groups, this is how former US President Barack Obama described his visit In his recent memoirs “The Promised Land”, his visit to Egypt.
Like most US presidents, Obama decided to write his memoirs documenting the period in which he held the US presidency (2008-2016), and it was translated into more than 20 languages, including Arabic.
In his 900-page diary, Obama was interested in talking about his meetings with most of the world’s leaders. The former United States president documented his visit to Egypt and his meeting with the late President Hosni Mubarak.
Despite the good relations between Egypt and the United States during that period, Obama’s comments in his memoirs about the late President Mubarak did not favor him.
The most popular leader of the Arab world
Obama never met the late leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, as the latter passed away and the former was only 9 years old, but Obama mentioned about the late Arab leader that he was the most popular in the region.
In his memoirs, he said: “In the early 1950s, an army colonel with an attractive and educated figure named Gamal Abdel Nasser orchestrated the military overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy and established a secular one-party state.
Soon after, he nationalized the Suez Canal, defeating British and French attempts at military intervention, making him a global figure in the anti-colonial struggle and the most popular leader in the Arab world.
Obama indicated that Abdel Nasser had made many decisions aimed at eliminating all remnants of British rule and the feudal past in Egypt.
He said: “Overseas, he actively promoted secular Arab nationalism and mysterious socialism, fought a losing war against the Israelis, helped form the Palestine Liberation Organization and the League of Arab States, and became a member of the Letter from the Non-Aligned Movement, which apparently refused to take sides in the Cold War. It aroused suspicion and anger from Washington, in part because Nasser was accepting economic and military aid from the Soviets. “
He added that “Gamal Abdel Nasser cracked down on the opposition and specifically targeted the Muslim Brotherhood, which sought to form an Islamic government, through popular political mobilization and charitable work, but also included members who turned the group’s activity into violence”.
In Mubarak’s office
Obama moved in his memoirs from the Abdel Nasser era to Mubarak, and did not mention the late President Anwar Sadat, except for his assassination and Mubarak’s inauguration to the presidency in 1981.
Obama’s caravan arrived at the Dome, which he described as a “mid-19th century antiquity,” and after the welcoming ceremony, Mubarak invited him to his office for a discussion that lasted hours.
Obama described President Mubarak as “he was eighty-one years old, but still broad-shouldered and strong, with a Roman nose, dark hair combed from his forehead, and thick eyelids that gave him the air of a man used to driving and a little bored with they”.
In his memoirs, Obama said that “after speaking with Mubarak about the Egyptian economy and asking for suggestions on how to revitalize the Arab-Israeli peace process, I raised the issue of human rights and suggested steps I could take to free the prisoners. politicians and ease restrictions on the press. “
He added: “Mubarak used to speak English with an acceptable accent and was able to politely dismiss my concerns about freedoms in Egypt, insisting that his security services target only Islamic extremists and that the Egyptian public strongly supports his firm approach.” .
He continued: “I have an impression that will become very familiar in my dealings with aging dictators: they live in isolation in their palaces, and every interaction with them is mediated by static and submissive employees around them; they were unable to distinguish between their personal interests and those of them. interests of his people. “
