As the Egyptian people pursue their ascribed destiny of freedom, the world anxiously awaits an archetypical revolution.
Egypt has undergone all of the standard phases: unrest from an autocrat’s worn-out welcome, a violent response from the head of state and popular victory through persistence. There remains one order of procedure left — what to do with the fallen leader.
As of now, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak purportedly has fallen ill while awaiting an interrogation meant to flesh out the corruption charges held against him, and his two sons, widely hated in Egypt, are in prison.
Among the most controversial matters held against Mubarak’s regime (there are many) are Egypt’s peace treaty and oil exportation to Israel, the latter of which is the foremost topic to be explored upon his interrogation.
Egypt has previously supplied about 40 percent of Israel’s oil necessities, but Egyptian businesses were often shrugged aside for Israel’s needs, resulting in marked-up prices for domestic consumers and costing Egypt an estimated $714 million.
In a display of public discontent, a bomb erupted at Egypt’s oil pipeline to Israel in early February, posing a bold affront to Mubarak’s oil racket.
With Mubarak now out of office and investigations underway, there exists a spectrum of possibilities for the course of action.
Either the man and his corroborators are dismissed, forgotten and pardoned for their crimes — judging shame to be punishment enough — or one undertakes a Che Guevara-esque eradication of any and all persons attached to the former government.
Given the influence Egypt’s revolution has had thus far, the choice made by the interim leaders and Egyptian people regarding Mubarak is bound to have broad effects on the acquiescence of other dictators currently under fire in the region.
The answer to such a dilemma is surprisingly emotionally charged even for the subjects of Mubarak’s regime.
Interviews in Egypt have uncovered a sprawling emotional range of opinions on the former president from embarrassment to sympathy and even love.
Among Mubarak’s greatest detractors are the youth, who assume a predictable — though nonetheless crucial — position of animosity toward the previous establishment.
Many older Egyptians, however, are somewhat reluctant to see him on the political scaffold.
Millions of Egyptian men and women grew up with Mubarak. Like most autocrats, his likeness could be found across the country and, through good and bad, he remained a constant for the majority if not the entirety of the people’s lives.
The result is much like Stockholm Syndrome, for one cannot help but sympathize when decades of a man’s work is snatched from beneath him — especially when the man was your leader, the work was your country and the decades were your life.
Nevertheless, while some wish to let bygones be bygones, others seek catharsis through crucifixion.
Obviously, a middle ground between the two parties must be established.
Hussein Hanafy, a man interviewed in Egypt by The New York Times, summarized the situation perfectly.
“I feel sorry for him,” Hanafy admitted. “But he is not innocent.”
As often occurs in a revolution, the incendiary calls for retribution are right for the wrong reasons while pleas to neither condone nor condemn are wrong for the right reasons.
For a state to call itself rational, legal and fair, the laws must be upheld consistently for integrity’s sake.
A guilty man must be tried — not because the people will it but because the law demands it. But one must not dwell, for there are far more pressing matters for a reborn republic than a witch hunt.
The proper prescription is a patient trial. To quell the popular sentiment, the trial should indeed begin soon, but it must be noted that this is not the most important matter at hand.
The state deserves whatever Mubarak robbed of it, and Mubarak deserves to be punished — but not to the detriment of the cause.
Clayton Crockett is a 19-year-old international studies freshman from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ccrockett.
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Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected].