Panic Hits Egyptian Streets and Beyond

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 2, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                

             Cramming into overflowing Cairo International Airport, thousands of multinational tourists headed for the exits at the same time, clogging up escape routes from escalating anarchy.  When pro-reform rallies turned violent Jan 24, the 30-year-old reign of President Hosni Mubarak began to slip, realizing that his days were numbered.  All the order and tourist-friendly atmosphere turned to chaos with foreigners descending on transportation hubs incapable of meeting demands from panic stricken foreigners looking to get out.  U.S. State Dept. ordered non-essential personnel leave the country fearing for safety should the protests morph into complete anarchy.  With over 1,200 Americans evacuated, more are expected to leave on charter flights in the coming days.  Egypt’s largest airline, Egypt Air, cancelled 75% of flights, with crews too mired in the chaos to get to work.

            U.S. State Department officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton encouraged demonstrators to continue marching toward their goal of regime change.  No one at the State Department really knows what’s behind the sudden anarchy sweeping Egypt.  Tourists fleeing Giza’s Great Pyramids and Sphinx don’t find the mess too amusing, watching fantasy vacations turned into intolerable nightmares.  Whether you liked Mubarak or not, who inherited the job after the late President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1981, Egypt was the safest, most orderly, tourist-friendly destination in the Arab world.  Watching panicked tourists packed into crowded Cairo terminals, without sufficient food, water or help shows how fast a society descends into chaos.  U.S. officials must work with what’s left of Egyptian authorities to maintain order.

            Sanitized State Dept. versions of Cairo streets don’t match eyewitness reports from the airport or Egyptian cities.  “”The terminals are full of panicking people.  The ground staff is disappearing and at the gate, just before entering, we all together had to collect $2,000 for a policeman at the door . . .He would no let use pass without paying,’ said 44-year-old Canadian tourist Tristin Hutton, lucky to make it Frankfurt.  Without any ruling authority, Cairo facilities and streets have been seized by criminals, looking to plunder, pillage and exploit the chaos.  “You cannot even believe what we saw,” said New York-base Pamela Huyser.  “We saw people looting, we saw gunfire, people shooting other people.  A lot of people working in our hotel, the came out with sticks and knives and bats and the protected us for getting looted,” attesting to runaway street violence and anarchy.

            Close calls with looting and firebombing at the Cairo Museum, permanently housing the King Tut’s golden treasures, indicate that gangsters, terrorists and garden variety criminals have taken to the streets. State Dept. officials should be focused on restoring order with what’s left of Egypt’s law enforcement and military.  Most reports have the military teetering on whether to support Mubarak or some legitimate protest leader, like former U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency Chief and Nobel laureate Mohammed ElBaradei.  Thousands of protesters descending on Cairo’s Victory Tahrir Square want Mubarak out, won’t compromise and find themselves in a standoff with what’s left of Mubarak’s power base.  While Mubarak said recently he won’t seek another term, protesters won’t stop until he gets out.  There’s no saving face for the 82-year-old authoritarian ruler.

            Egyptians have a hard time trusting the U.S., who, for the past 30 years, gave Mubarak the economic and military aid to stay in power.  Knowing the history, foreign leaders were surprised by President Barack Obama’s nuanced support for Mubarak, at times siding with pro-reform protesters.  When Hillary sided with protesters, in effect throwing Mubarak under the bus, it surprised foreign leaders expecting the U.S. to stand by Mubarak.  Now that chaos has spiraled out of control, the State Dept. has taken a wait-and-see approach, looking for ElBaradei to step forward.  Since the former U.N. bureaucrat offered his services, the U.S. has supported a peaceful transition of power.  No one wants to more anarchy other than terrorist elements hoping to seize the moment before law-and-order returns.  If Mubarak continues to generate forceful opposition, he must go now.

            Anarchy in Cairo and at the international airport indicates Mubarak’s 30-year-old reign has come to an end.  There’s nothing the U.S. can do to restore confidence in the Mobarak government.  Given that ElBaradei has offered to lead a transitional government, it only makes sense to go with a known quantity.  Under no circumstances should Egyptian authorities trust the Muslim Brotherhood, the same group that generated a rise of Islamic extremism. When Mubarak pulled the plug on the Internet, he flashed his true colors to a watching world.  Regardless of how demonstrators use Facebook or Twitter, Mubarak crossed the line messing with the Internet.  So many businesses and academic institutions have legitimate Internet uses. Mubarak’s cavalier approach showed that betrayed what’s left of his public trust.  U.S. and U.N. officials must now help the octogenerian to move on.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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