MUBARAKISM STILL RULES EGYPT

Egypt's Field Marshal Tantawi and Robert Gates: Touching base with the local henchmen.

The arrest and interrogation last week of deposed president Husni Mubarak and his two sons has left Egyptians jubilant.   The armed forces threw the Mubaraks to the wolves to placate mounting public demands for retribution against former leaders of the hated old regime.

But the fact remains, in spite of Mubarak’s fall, not much has  changed in Egypt. The Old Guard of generals and bureaucrats still rule Egypt. An intensifying struggle goes on behind the scenes between the military and the fragmented democratic opposition. So far, the military retains an iron grip on Egypt in spite of noisy street demonstrations.  Muabarak is gone but Mubarakism still lives.

No one yet knows what September’s planned parliamentary elections will bring, or if they will be fair and open. One uneasily recalls Algeria’s first free vote in 1991. Islamists won a landslide. Algeria’s reactionary military annulled the vote and arrested democratic leaders. Egypt’s generals may do the same.

A fair vote in Egypt would likely produce victory for parties advocating Islamist political and social principles.  The influential Muslim Brotherhood just formed a new party, Freedom and Justice, patterned after Turkey’s successful Islamist Lite party, AK, and predicts it will win 75% of the vote.

Much of what happens this fall in Egypt will depend on what Washington decides to do.   US influence over Egypt remains paramount.   Egypt’s 468,000-man military is joined at the hip to the US military establishment.

Tellingly, during Egypt’s February uprising, Washington rushed Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Pentagon’s top officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, to meet Egyptian counterparts Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi and Gen. Sami Enan. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stayed home.

The Pentagon channels much of the annual US $2 billion aid directly to Egypt’s armed forces and senior generals. This is a huge amount for so poor a nation.

Egypt’s ruling military establishment is a kingdom within the nation. Like their Pakistani counterparts, Egyptian generals own tourist hotels, apartments, factories, telecommunications and drug firms. Call it Egypt Inc.

According to a WikiLeak cable from the US Embassy in Cairo, Muabark’s regime termed billions in US aid “untouchable compensation” for keeping peace with Israel and jailing the Palestinians in Gaza.

Egypt has also received billions worth of US food aid since 1979,  including 50% of its wheat sold at subsidized prices.   Other US funding streams include secret “black” payments to high officials by CIA, the US Defense Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and favorable trade accords.

Egypt’s armed forces are totally dependent on the US for arms, spare parts, and munitions, the latter two kept in very tight supply so that Egypt could not sustain a war for more than a few days.   US defense contractors are linked to Egypt by a network of sweetheart contracts, much as Turkey was before its AK Party ousted the Turkish military from power.

Much of America’s Mideast security architecture has been designed to benefit Israel, with Egypt playing the key role.

As September elections approach, Washington is struggling to define a new policy towards Egypt that will appear to support the democratic process and deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, while keeping firm control over Egypt’s military and security organs and sustaining the Egyptian-Israeli peace arrangement – which most Egyptians detest.

This nuanced approach will be very difficult. Mere mention of “Muslim” or “Islamic” in the United States produces reflex fear and anger, much as “communist” did in the 1950’s. The Israel lobby is issuing dire warnings about any US dealings with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, insisting this staid organization is a hotbed of potential terrorism. Republicans, much influenced by Israel and America’s anti-Islamic, evangelical Christians, are deeply alarmed over alleged “dangers” of Egypt’s democratization.

If real change comes to Egypt, the first signs may be ending  the siege of Gaza and Egypt’s supply of gas to Israel.   Next, a major shakeup in Egypt’s high command, with promotions of younger nationalist officers, demands for a Palestinian state, ending torture, and sharp curtailment of US influence in Cairo.

A majority of Egyptians want such changes. But if the angry Americans cut off aid, who will then feed Egypt and pay its bills?   Independence has high costs.

ERIC MARGOLIS is a veteran journalist and political commentator.