(AhlulBayt News Agency) - And there, in Tahrir Square, they remained - the young and the old, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the Egyptians - for 18 days and nights until the unthinkable occurred; Hosni Mubarak, the strongman who had ruled the country for 30 years, stepped down.
When Vice-President Omar Suleiman announced in a televised address on Friday February 11, at 6 pm local time, that Mubarak (despite earlier statements to the contrary,) actually was leaving office and had already handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian armed forces, the entire country erupted in an unprecedented outpouring of jubilation. Never in Egypt's history, had its people shown such joy.
"The sense of euphoria is simply indescribable," an Al Jazeera correspondent, at the Heliopolis presidential palace, said.
Another reporter described the atmosphere in Alexandria as “an explosion of emotion,” with hundreds of thousands celebrating in the streets.
Indeed, exultation swept through Egypt. But nowhere were the celebrations greater than among those, who had manned the barricades at Tahrir Square, where the crowds, upon hearing the news, gave a great roar of elation like the voice of the sea. Crying, cheering, and embracing one another, they began to chant, “Freedom! Freedom!” and “We have brought down the regime!" - a feat no Egyptian would have dared dream of a mere month earlier.
When the announcement was made, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nobel Peace Prize winner and Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, who had opposed the Mubarak regime, commented that the country had been “liberated after decades of repression.” In a cell phone message, he described Egypt as “a proud and free nation.”
The country's oldest and best organized opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, also hailed the historic moment, with senior Brotherhood leader and spokesman,Essam al-Erian telling AFP, "We salute the great people of Egypt in their battle… We celebrate this moment with the Egyptian people, and we will follow the people in this course."
As news of the event spread, congratulations began to pour in from heads-of-state, prominent officials, and ordinary citizens across the Globe.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sent a message, saying, “Congratulations to the Egyptian people. And we hope that a system meeting the expectations of the Egyptian people will emerge.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told AFP that she welcomed Mubarak's exit as a “'historic change” and “a day of great joy.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt sent a message saying, “Let's hope this is the beginning of a new renaissance for Egypt and the Arab world!” And EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said, “The future of Egypt rightly remains in the hands of the Egyptian people.”
The revolution was an overwhelming success. The people of Egypt had spoken and through their sheer force of will, had managed to topple a seemingly all-powerful ruler, along with a regime that had been entrenched for 60 years.
But was it really the success it was proclaimed to be? Or was it, as some experts maintain, simply cosmetic dressing? Despite the fact that Egypt's present military rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, have instructed a civilian panel to revise the constitution to guarantee the country's democracy and to accomplish the task within 10 days, a number of experts maintain that no real changes have taken place - or are they likely todo so. So what does the future actually hold in store for Egypt - true democracy, or just more of the same - with different 'window dressing?'
One of the skeptics is former US Ambassador to Iraq and Middle East expert, Edward Peck. In a recent interview with Press TV on the developments in Egypt, the diplomat observed, “What has been interesting to me, as a friend of Egypt, is that , for all intents and purposes, nothing has actually changed. The army has been in charge since, as I recall, 1952 and is still in charge now. What the protesters have succeeded in doing is, in actuality, removing a symbol, Hosni Mubarak. But I do not get the feeling that right up until this moment anything of significance has really changed.”
When asked who he believed would decide the future of Egypt, Peck answered, “Obviously the army. The army has really been in charge since 1952,” he explained, “and they have had people wearing suits, but they have been military people. Now with the dissolution of the parliament and the abandonment of the constitution, and the rule of martial law, it is clear that the military is in charge, and they say that they are going to have elections in 6 months! Well, they have certainly got an awful lot of work to do in the meantime for that to happen.”
The former ambassador concluded that he was not sure if the protesters had really gained anything, because he had seen “far too many situations like this, when the people in power decide that they (would) really like to stay in power.”
Political analyst and Mideast expert Osman Bakach is of a similar opinion. In an interview with Press TV, he said that Egypt has not had a "true" regime change - only a “cosmetic change” and aside from Mubarak stepping down, there really has not been any tangible change in Egypt. The regime remains in place and the only thing that has happened is that the military council sat down with the opposition.
“All of this, I maintain, will end(result) in nothing more than a cosmetic change. There is no real regime change here,” he said.
But why are these experts so gloomy about Egypt's future when the rest of the world is so optimistic?
Is there any basis for their predictions? Was Mubarak, as they maintain, actually nothing more than a figurehead?
If we delve beneath the razzle-dazzle of media hype, read between the lines while sifting the contradictory 'facts on-the-ground' as to what is really going on in Egypt, we find that the former president most likely was nothing more than a symbolic figurehead and, as it happens, these predictions, given the facts, hold water and are logically sound.
In order to assess the situation clearly we first need to look at what has actually happened. As syndicated columnist, author and Mideast correspondent Eric Margolis recently observed, Egyptians are simply getting more Mubarakism, without Mubarak. In other words, the people, who are now 'running the show,' are the same ones who were in power under Mubarak.
Is such a statement too far-fetched? Think again. Let's take a closer look at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces - the men, who are 'calling the shots' in Egypt, starting with the head of the council, Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi. He was most definitely a Mubarak man, appointed as Minister of Defense in 1991, and later, serving as Deputy Prime Minister under the former president. He is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Then there's General Omar Suleiman. Most of us are aware that he was Mubarak's vice-president and chosen successor and is now a key member of the council. What is not as well-known, however, is the fact that Suleiman headed Mubarak's dreaded secret police, the Mukhabarat, an organization notorious for its use of torture and abuse.
And we mustn't forget Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's prime minister and former Egyptian air force officer, who is now a member of the council, as well.
There is also the armed forces' chief-of-staff, Lieutenant-General Sami Anan, who formerly served as Mubarak's defense attache to Morocco. And there is Air Marshal Reda Mohamed, who served as commander of the Eastern Air Zone and then the Southern Air Zone in 2005. In 2007, he was appointed the Air Force's chief-of-staff.
The fact is that all the members of the council served under the Mubarak regime. None of them are new. And the Egyptian military, which has been in control of the country, albeit behind the facade of a 'president' since the 1952 coup (which is referred to in Egypt as a 'revolution') is still in control - only now, it is out in the open.
So when push comes to shove, will the military relinquish its long-held power, or are all the people-power promises merely lip service? Who can tell? But, if its past track record is any indication, Egypt is most likely in for more of the same.
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