Mubarak’s end: Quick, stunning

February 12, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

CAIRO

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak brushed off political enemies and crushed opposition voices for 30 years. But his network of oppression unraveled in a mere 18 days, the pent-up anger of a disillusioned younger generation exploding in protest, overwhelming the police state and forcing the military to push him aside.

It was a stunning end for a stodgy, 82-year-old former air-force commander who for decades entrusted Egypt’s fate to no one but himself. As protests swelled day after day, he brooded and maneuvered, as if oblivious to the calls and rage of his compatriots, who had finally summoned the courage they had so long lacked.

The overthrow of Mubarak was a warning to the icons of power across the Middle East. Egypt has been the heart of the Arab world for centuries, and Friday’s drama was a message to Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and other nations in turmoil. If the congenial, complacent Egyptians can do it, the revolutionary thinking goes, anyone can.

That presents a tremendous challenge to Washington as it confronts the prospect of a shifting regional order with new aspirations. The U.S. has for generations talked of human rights and political freedoms while supporting governments, such as Mubarak’s, that were an affront to those virtues even as they served American interests. From Cairo to Suez, Egyptians are now asking why.

But Friday night and into this morning, they were mostly joyous.

“We have proved Mubarak and his regime wrong, and we will now show the world how we will build a real democracy,” said opposition leader George Ishak.

What lies ahead is anything but certain. No one knows how power may change hands in coming days or months. The army is now in control. It has not said when it will restore democracy and have elections.

People trust the military, but the danger of the army’s self-imposed role may be lost in the euphoria of Mubarak’s departure to his home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh.

But there are few others in Egypt who can promise calm. The Egyptian opposition lacks a galvanizing voice. It is a disparate collection of personalities, many of whom have been jailed by Mubarak. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei has been working with the activist youth and has called for a three-member transitional governing council before September elections.

Mubarak, whose emblazoned image looms over city streets and desert highways, is deposed but remains at the edges in a curious internal exile.

This nation of more than 80 million people has slipped badly under Mubarak’s rule. Its stature has been marred by rampant corruption among ruling-party officials, persistent inflation and more than 40 percent of its population living on $2 a day or less.

It has been run by a government more concerned with nepotism and patronage than putting forth grand visions.

What brought the Egyptians to joy and wonder was a new fire engulfing the pillars of Mubarak’s power.

A young, educated generation bypassed traditional opposition voices and assembled a revolution out of Facebook and other online social networks.

They were geeks with attitude and cunning, and their fervor spread. Tahrir Square swelled with families, accountants, laborers, shopkeepers and mystics.