What's in Mubarak's mind? Former U.S. ambassador to Egypt may know
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (pictured) is likely thinking more about restoring order than leaving, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt says.
January 31st, 2011
05:23 PM ET

What's in Mubarak's mind? Former U.S. ambassador to Egypt may know

Street demonstrations in Egypt show no signs of letting up. Calls for President Hosni Mubarak to leave office persist. So far, Mubarak shows no signs of heeding the call. Is he considering an exit from office or does he believe he can manage his way out of this crisis?

Daniel Kurtzer believes Mubarak isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Kurtzer was the U.S. ambassador to Egypt from 1997 to 2001, the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 and an adviser on Middle East policy to the Obama campaign during the 2008 presidential election. Today, he's a professor of Middle Eastern Policy Studies at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He knows Mubarak well.

"Mubarak, as the ultimate guarantor of stability in Egypt as far as he sees it, is only thinking about how to restore calm and law and order," Kurtzer said. "In the back of his mind is the idea that maybe the demonstrators have an issue and something needs to be done. But his major concern now is to restore law and order."

It would take a dramatic turn of events for Mubarak to leave office, according to Kurtzer.

"I believe the only thing that will change Mubarak's mind is a sit down with top military and security leaders who basically say to him, 'Your presence is putting the system in jeopardy.' There's no evidence yet to suggest that that kind of attitude has grown in the military," Kurtzer said.

To listen to the full interview with Kurtzer, click the audio link below:

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Filed under: Egypt
soundoff (35 Responses)
  1. Cesar

    Nuckifuts, you sound like you're going away or something. Why?

    January 31, 2011 at 11:15 pm | Report abuse |
  2. RUFFNUTT

    living in mom's basement is smart.. my friend 'stewart the elf' lives in his parents basement and is like 42 years old. all he does is play dungeons and dragons and eat pizza and drink mountain dew.. he works at the haunted house in the fall, and a renassance fair sometimes..

    altho it is funny to watch him driving around with his bo staff in his car dressed up like an elf.. the reason he says he's an elf is cause he has 12 toes..

    January 31, 2011 at 11:36 pm | Report abuse |
  3. NuckinFuts

    Well I was trying to insult the fake cesar that's floating about here. If you're familiar with the bizzaro superman character you'd know you have to communicate everything in opposites. If you want to compliment someone you insult them. If you want to insult them you compliment them. Yes I'm bored. I'll admit it.

    January 31, 2011 at 11:59 pm | Report abuse |
  4. leeintulsa

    Few years?! I'm 43 and MY parents both had to work. I needed a roommate to get "my own place".

    February 1, 2011 at 10:55 am | Report abuse |
  5. Veritas

    All you faux bloggers alter ego sybel multi/personalitys take up time and space of folks who have VALID ON TOPIC opinions so instead of playing games which is not the purpose of this forum, (no harm in humor) but your not at all funny. please leave space for others. just saying. Whats going through mubareks brain alzhiemers. i think the people of egypt have spoken he needs to step down.

    February 1, 2011 at 11:53 am | Report abuse |
  6. Cesar

    Yea FOX bloggers, shove off, we don't need any rift-raft around here. Go to your precious FOX and see if they let you post and ventilate. @Veritas, Sarah Palin sends her regards. Says if you're ever in Alaska to drop in and say hi.

    February 1, 2011 at 2:28 pm | Report abuse |
  7. NuckinFuts

    @Veritas: I thought the BeingHosniMubarak guy was quite funny while making a valid point. Too bad you never laugh. I like when you smile.

    February 1, 2011 at 2:57 pm | Report abuse |
  8. SeanHannity

    Cesar: Fox doesn't have a blog best to my knowledge. Why would we welcome outside opinion? MSNBC doesn't either for the same reason. You can write NBC news by email, but expect a generic auto response that doesn't address your comment or concern.

    February 1, 2011 at 3:05 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Cesar

    @Sean, oh?

    February 1, 2011 at 5:12 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Cesar

    Ha ha hahaha fatima the ferret never came back. Hahahahahahahahah

    February 1, 2011 at 8:44 pm | Report abuse |
  11. ed bailey

    Why don't we just start making decisions for the oil rich punks we like there and show the world for the "too many to count time" we are big, bad, and incurably self centered.

    February 2, 2011 at 2:36 am | Report abuse |
  12. Person

    Israel is becoming a nation. http://nopolicestate.blogspot.com/2011/01/egypt_29.html

    February 3, 2011 at 9:48 am | Report abuse |
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