"It is very possible that Hosni Mubarak was not an ideal leader. It is very possible that the regime in Cairo was corrupt and not enlightened. It is certainly difficult to be an Egyptian in Cairo, Ismailia, Alexandria and Luxor. Yet Mubarak and his people understood something that 100 Obamas will not understand even 50 years from now: Mubarak and his regime were apparently the last obstacle in our conflicted world in the face of the Islamist tsunami, a predator that is already devouring some European states and turning the world into an increasingly less comfortable place to live in.
It’s very possible and almost certain that the process is inevitable, and we are doomed to live with it. However, if possible, we should postpone this eventuality. What use would there be for democracy sages should the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or anywhere else take power or exercise decisive influence on the government, get rid of all signs of the “flawed” Western culture, and turn Egypt’s 82 million citizens, for example, into soldiers holding up the sword of Islam?
What kind of democracy will it be then? Who will demand “civil rights” in a state that will be overtaken by veils? Where will the Americans be when in the same al-Tahrir Square we’ll be seeing hands and tongues and ears and noses cut off and the heads of “rebels” severed? The Americans will surely need huge quantities of tissues then.
President Mubarak was indeed a tyrant. He was apparently corrupt as well. Yet this is the same Mubarak who wore suits and ties, spoke English, upheld the peace treaty, hosted Israeli leaders at his palace, arrived at the Rabin funeral, and even – imagine that – provided us with gas at a special price.
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Sunday, February 13, 2011
Eitan Haber/ Mubarak was last obstacle in face of threatening Islamist tsunami
Eitan Haber, Rabin's former press secretary and a veteran Yediot columnist, writes in Ynet, that In un-politically correct terms, rather then laud the masses and join in the celebration of democracy, remembers Mubarak who was forced to quit, as remaining the only obstacle to radical Islam extremism in the middle east: