Egyptians Mull over Mubarak’s Complicated Legacy

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president for almost 30 years who stepped down after a popular revolution in 2011, has died. He was 91. When the Egyptian presidency and the military eulogized Mubarak on Tuesday, they announced three days of national mourning and largely focused on his career in the military, particularly his time as the commander of the air force during the 1973 war with Israel. It is not yet clear if he will be given a military funeral, but already, the official response is in stark contrast to the reaction to the death of his successor, former President Mohamed Morsy.  Mubarak served as Egypt’s fourth president starting in 1981 until his removal in what became known as the Arab Spring revolution. Throughout his rule, Mubarak was a stalwart United States ally, a bulwark against armed groups, and guardian of Egypt’s peace with Israel. But to the tens of thousands of young Egyptians who rallied for 18 days of unprecedented street protests in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and elsewhere in 2011, Mubarak was a relic, a latter-day pharaoh.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA | CNN