(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - On Friday, tens of thousands of protesters once again took to Liberation Square in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
The anti-government protesters have been demanding that the army hand over power to a civilian government since the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime last month.
They have promised to continue their mass demonstrations until all remnants of the Mubarak regime leave and the army hands over power to a civilian government.
This is weeks after Mubarak handed over power to Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is headed by Defense Minister Gen. Mohammed Tantawi.
The developments come as popular revolutions continue to sweep US-backed autocratic regimes across the Middle East and North Africa.
Press TV has interviewed former US Ambassador Edward Peck to learn about his insight into the latest developments in Egypt.
Press TV: I want to start with the referendum in Egypt that is only days away. What do you think a yes vote to the referendum will be given that the remnants of the previous regime are conducting it?
Edward Peck: Well, I am what they call a thinking optimist, which makes me sound sometimes like a pessimist. But I am realistic. I remember not too long ago, when everybody in America, and in Egypt too I think, was just ecstatic at the big changes that were coming, and I said “well, let's see what changes do come.”
Because what has happened is that you have gotten rid of a symbol, Hosni Mubarak. Nothing else has changed really. You got rid of some other people as well, but the same situation existed after Mubarak left as existed before, and that is that you had the Egyptian military community which has been in power since 1952. And the question is “are they going to let go?” And the answer is “I don't know”, and I guess we are going to find out what happens when the referendum takes place and see how the people react because we all had the feeling not too long ago that the Egyptians in Tahrir [Liberation] Square were delighted with what they had accomplished and sort of assumed that the change would go on under its own power. And we don't see that much, yet.
Press TV: Right. Speaking of the military community left behind at the hands of power by Mubarak, a community that Omar Suleiman, the former vice president is part of and its think-tank, what role do you think that Omar Suleiman may be playing behind the scenes? Or is he even still in the game?
Edward Peck: That is a tough one. My own experience has taught me that people who are in powerful positions enjoy staying in power positions. And you have seen that in so many places, in this country too, people who become powerful politicians like to stay in that way. And that is why they are always concerned about being reelected in our system or reappointed if they are not running for election.
And so, many of the people in Egypt who have been in power with Mubarak, even at a lower level, are probably quite happy to stay in those positions because of a profound belief that they have developed that they do good work and the nation needs them. And part of that problem of course is caused by the fact that they are surrounded by people working for them who tell them what a wonderful job they are doing.
It is awfully difficult to speak truth to power because that can be costly.
Press TV: And one more thing, of course, the role of the United States. We all remember how important Hosni Mubarak has been to the US and its policies in the region. With Mubarak out of the picture, what do you think is the US position on Egypt now, a country that does not have a president yet? The US of course [is] most probably looking for an ally in the next president. Do you think -- my question is -- that the US may be influencing the election of a man to see a president that will be as friendly as Mubarak to the US?
Edward Peck: I would imagine, when you say that the US is involved, that certainly our ambassador, our diplomats, [US Secretary o f State] Hillary Clinton, [and US] President Obama perhaps are all involved in talking to or talking with, or having the subordinates talk to or with rulers of Egypt in an effort to present the views that our government has about what should happen in Egypt.
What they want in Egypt is as you say an ally, but above that, they would like to have a stable country, a country that is not going to be involved in internal chaos such as we see in Libya and in Yemen today. That is the sort of thing that we have always wanted from Mr. Mubarak and Anwar Sadat before him. It was a good relationship in which we could talk with them and they could talk with us, and we had a set of mutual interests.
It seems fairly clear that some of the things that developed while we had that working relationship did not please the Egyptian people, they made that very clear, they didn't like other things that were happening including perhaps some of the things that made Egypt our ally in the Middle East.
So, I am sure that we are talking to people, but I doubt very much that we are doing an awful lot more than that because the issue is quite sensitive right now, and a misstep could be very costly for America and perhaps for Egypt as well, if we were to be detected doing something other than talking.
Press TV: One development that has recently unfolded. We have seen Republican John McCain and Joseph Lieberman traveling to Cairo and visiting Tahrir [Liberation] Square, the focal point of the revolution in Egypt. Why would a trip like that come at this point in time? What do you think they have taken back with them to the United States after having visited and sat down with the officials?
Edward Peck: Most of what they said when they came back -- that I saw -- was that they were urging a no-fly zone over Libya which an awful lot of people who perhaps know a little bit more than either of those two senators about the Middle East think of as a very bad idea.
But they are two prominent US political figures and I am quite sure that when they went to Egypt, they had an opportunity to speak to almost anyone they asked to speak to, in the government or outside it. But part of the difficulty that both of those gentlemen face is that they may not be really knowledgeable about what Egypt is or what Egypt has been, and -- and American expression -- what it is that makes Egypt tick.
So, I don't think that they did an awful lot more than explaining what America hoped to have happened. There is still a lot to do, of course.
One an independent, the other a Republican, and they are listened to in this country and I assume they were also listened to in Egypt.
Press TV: We all know what makes John McCain tick, don't we? We remember the expression, during the presidential election, saying “Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran.” He is in love with bombing, I think...
Edward Peck: He was talking about Iran. “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.” I think he kind of did that because he did that to music if you remember in what we would call the heat of the moment, as you are standing up facing the cheering people. And he may have been sort of a little off the track.
But he is a military man. His father was a well-known naval officer, very senior. McCain of course has had a military career up until the moment, and he was captured and spent all those years in Hanoi as a prisoner. So, he has a different view of these things than people who have not had that background and those experiences.
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