In Egypt, as Mubarak clings to power, military shows strength
| TOOLBOX    Resize COMMENT  Discussion Policy  CLOSE Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post. |
Why Do I Have to Log In Again?
Discussion Policy
CAIRO - The Egyptian military moved on multiple fronts Sunday to display its strength and consolidate support as factions within the government and on the street vied for control of this strategically vital nation at the heart of the Arab world.
With pro-democracy demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak for a sixth day, the military sent conflicting signals about where its loyalties lie. On the streets, soldiers curried favor with demonstrators. But F-16 fighter jets streaked through the sky, and in images on state-run television, the nation's military brass appeared alongside the embattled president.
All across Egypt, troops in tanks fanned out to work with residents in chasing down marauding bands of knife-wielding thugs and to impose some semblance of order after the nearly complete disappearance of uniformed Egyptian police.
Egyptians of all political persuasions accused the much-maligned police of being behind a campaign to terrorize the country - either by perpetrating the violence themselves or by standing aside and allowing it to occur.
As hatred toward the police grew, so did admiration for the army - which may be the intent of Egypt's security establishment as it struggles to find a way out of the crisis. The apparently contradictory signals from the army suggested that the question of who will rule Egypt remains very much in doubt, nearly a week after protesters turned this country's political universe upside down with a mass mobilization that appears to be growing stronger.
Attempts to organize
Opposition leaders gathered Sunday to try to organize their efforts, and they tentatively settled on pro-democracy activist and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei as their interim leader in any negotiations with the government. Baradei told reporters that he has the "popular and political support'' necessary to begin the process of forming a unity government and that he would be seeking contact with the army to discuss a political transition.
But Baradei received only a lukewarm reception when he spoke later Sunday at Tahrir Square, the capital city's central plaza, and protesters said they would rather continue to operate as a diffuse people's movement than as an organized opposition. Thousands of protesters who marched peacefully under military protection vowed to stay in the square until Mubarak resigns from office.
At one point in the early afternoon, protesters and soldiers worked together to beat back two Interior Ministry vehicles that attempted to enter the site. An army commander then scaled his tank and announced to the crowd that the Interior Ministry had deployed thousands of armed men who were bent on sowing chaos in Egypt. The army, he said, "would stand with the people." The commander, dressed in camouflage battle fatigues, was cheered by the crowd and kissed on the cheek by demonstrators, who chanted, "The army and the people are one!"
That sentiment, however, was not matched by images broadcast on state television that featured the 82-year-old Mubarak alongside the military and intelligence chiefs, as well as the defense minister. In a possible indication of an ongoing power struggle, the interior minister did not appear to be present.
The army is believed to have the power to topple Mubarak if it chooses, but so far it has not done so, which may mean its gestures of solidarity with the protesters are meant only to placate the movement as the president engineers a succession plan. On Saturday, Mubarak announced that Omar Suleiman would be his vice president, making the intelligence chief the most likely possible heir to authority in a country where power typically passes from one strongman to the next.
Demonstrators are cautiously optimistic that the armed forces are on their side, but they also know that Mubarak is a former military officer who has enjoyed unbroken backing from the army for the nearly 30 years he has reigned.
Protesters on Sunday held aloft a banner reading, "The army must choose between Egypt and Mubarak." When in the late afternoon the air force dispatched the fighter jets to sweep low over Tahrir Square - their engines booming as they passed - the crowd's reaction reflected the confusion of the moment: Some protesters cheered what they saw as a show of support for their cause, while others cursed an attempt at intimidation.
CONTINUED 1 2
