The great hope that many ordinary Egyptians felt when they cast off the autocratic rule of leader Hosni Mubarak early this year is turning into great disappointment and alarm — both for Egyptians and for other nations.
Mubarak is no longer in power, and we cannot say that we miss him.
But freedom and representative government have yet to replace his authoritarianism.
Instead, Egyptian military leaders have been imposing their own authoritarian rule on the Egyptian people. The military leaders are simply refusing to hand over power to civilian authorities. They say the armed forces should be free of civilian oversight, and that the military should be entitled to veto any legislation having to do with its activities.
Military rulers recently backed up their claim to power with violence. Soldiers and police in Cairo burned down tents occupied by Egyptians who were protesting military rule. Scores of protesters have been killed, in addition to hundreds who have been injured.
But the oppressive military is only half of Egypt’s problem. The nation just held parliamentary elections. Yet even if the newly elected leaders do wrest power from the military, Egypt’s prospects are grim.
That’s because the biggest single winner in the elections was the party formed by the radical Muslim Brotherhood. A branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was linked to the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
As if that were not bad enough, another big vote-getter was the even more extreme Salafi Islamists. They oppose most types of popular entertainment, and they do not believe women should even be allowed to vote or play a visible role in public life. In all too many cases — such as Afghanistan and Iran — nations that go the route of Islamic extremism become havens for international terrorists.
We still hope real liberty will take root in Egypt, but that seems painfully uncertain. At this point, at least, it is not at all clear that the Egyptian people are better off now than they were under Mubarak. And soon they could be very much worse off.