WHY MUBARAK PREFERS TO “DIE IN EGYPT”

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt precisely because he remembers that, not too long ago, a contemporary dictator, Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was sacked by the popular uprising ignited by Bouazizi. When Ben Ali fled Tunis on January 14, he naturally headed for France, the country he had served so well as Tunisia’s […]

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt precisely because he remembers that, not too long ago, a contemporary dictator, Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was sacked by the popular uprising ignited by Bouazizi. When Ben Ali fled Tunis on January 14, he naturally headed for France, the country he had served so well as Tunisia’s former colonial master. Ben Ali got the shock of his life: France refused him landing on its soil. This was the greatest embarrassment any dictator could face, and it has been faced by several more dictators before Ben Ali (yet the lesson is still not learnt until Mubarak this week). Ben Ali, true to the servants of the West, assumed that France would be his second home, but Sarkozy disgraced him in his (Ben Ali’s) ‘hour of need’. He had finished the service and could be expended with. Ben Ali had first flown to Malta from where he headed for France. But his plane was prevented from landing in Paris by the French authorities. He was forced to reconsider his options mid air as he headed east: Doha and Dubai were considered, but he eventually arrived in Saudi Arabia where he was welcomed by fellow Arab dictators.

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he also remembers another dictator with the title ‘King of Kings’, the Shah (Emperor) of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was also disgraced by the very country he had served all his life: America. The Shah was treated by the United States much like Ben Ali was done in by the French. He was denied asylum. He had been Emperor of Iran from 1941 until his overthrow by the Islamic Revolution led by Imam Ayatollah Khoemini on February 11, 1979. The Shah traversed the world in his private plane taking up temporary residences in Egypt, Morocco, Bahamas, Mexico and Switzerland, yet he continued to hope that he would be admitted into the United States. Finally, Panama became the closest he could be to America, and he died in ignominy.

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he also remembers another dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Marcos was unimaginably corrupt and absolutely subservient to America. Because he was seen as bulwark in the then American war against Communism (much as Mubarak has been serving in a similar war against so-called militant Islam), the West allowed Marcos to oppress his citizens and violate their rights. The people rose after a popular opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, was assassinated in 1983. This caused a chain of events that served as the catalyst for the People Power Revolution of February 1986 that led to Marcos’ removal. Marcos had intended to land on the US mainland and enjoy his loot, but the same masters he had served so well refused him entry, and he ended up in Hawaii. When he landed, it was said US Customs agents discovered 24 suitcases of gold bricks and diamond jewelry hidden in diaper bags and, in addition, certificates for gold bullion valued in billions of dollars. When the presidential mansion in Manila was seized by the Revolution after the Marcoses had fled, it was discovered that Marcos’ wife, Imelda, had over 2,700 pairs of shoes in her closet. She was later to claim that she actually had 3,000 (that perhaps the ‘revolutionary thieves’ may have stolen the other 300 pairs!).

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he also remembers another dictator, Jean-Bedel Bokassa (later known as Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa) who ruled the impoverished African country of Central African Republic from 1966 until he was overthrown in 1979. The interesting thing about Bokassa was that he was indeed allowed into France for exile (courtesy of the diamond gifts he was said to have lavished on the French leaders). But the French made his life so difficult, miserable and disgraceful in France (for example during one winter, his electricity, heating as well as water supply were cut off) that, at the end, he had to leave France for home in 1986 and confront the death sentence passed on him in absentia for the murder of numerous political rivals. The charges against him included treason, corruption and cannibalism. He died in disgrace and ignominy.

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he also remembers another dictator, a certain Charles Taylor, who was offered asylum in Nigeria after ruining his country, Liberia. The then Nigerian president gave his word to Taylor, and Taylor, being a dictator, believed the word of the Nigerian democratic dictator. Taylor came to Nigeria’s Calabar on exile, and the rest is history. The Nigerian dictator sold the Liberian dictator who today faces trial at the Hague. Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he knows he can be sold by fellow dictators.

Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he knows, despite all his service to America and Israel, the moment he is out of power he would join the list of dictators who started exile in the air, on board their aircraft. Mubarak, more than any other leader in the Muslim world, more than any other leader in the Arab world, more than any other leader in Africa, has served the West and Israel so well. For example, when in 1992 sanctions were applied by the West on Libya, in the name of the United Nations, over the Lockerbie issue, it was the likes of Mubarak who ensured the sanctions worked.

Then South African President Nelson Mandela had torn the UN  sanctions to shreds with the ignominy it deserved by breaking the air embargo on Libya and flying direct into Tripoli. When the West accused Mandela of ‘breaching’ UN sanctions, he famously told the West that they had no right to tell him who his friends were. But Mubarak? He even warned other Arab rulers not to break the sanctions. He was later to help America maintain the sanctions by offering Egyptian aircraft to ferry Libyan pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

And who do you think is the greatest oppressor of the people of Gaza? Israel? No! Israel is an enemy, yes, but it is Egypt’s Mubarak who ensures, for Israel and for the West, that the Palestinian people are kept in their maximum-security, over-crowded narrow prison of Gaza by always keeping the Egyptian-Palestine border shut and sealed.

Yes, Mubarak prefers to die in Egypt because he knows the alternative. His prayers may well be answered. And so to Tahrir! And then to Eagle!