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- October 19, 1981SADATA Faithful Pupil Takes Over
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- Out of the shadow, a hand-picked successor
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- It may have been, as Anwar Sadat would have believed, the hand
- of fate that brutally tore him from the world stage. That same
- hand narrowly bypassed Sadat's most attentive pupil and
- long-chosen successor, who was at the President's side when the
- bullets slammed into the reviewing stand. Hosni Mubarak, 53,
- Egypt's Vice President since Sadat picked him for the post in
- 1975, emerged from the assault with no more than a bandaged left
- hand as a memento of his narrow escape.
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- Mubarak's accession to the presidency this week fulfills two of
- Sadat's chief wishes; to see his policies continued, and one day
- to leave power to a member of Egypt's "October Generation," the
- men in uniform who helped regain Egyptian self-esteem by their
- initial victories in the 1973 October War. Sadat had first met
- Mubarak in the Sinai town of El Arish in 1950; impressed by the
- young air force officer, the President remembered his name two
- decades later while searching for a commander for his air force.
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- Mubarak got the job and won plaudits in 1973 for his handling
- of the air battle against Israel's superior, U.S.-equipped air
- force. Two years later Sadat named Mubarak, a man from the
- President's home province of Menoufia, to the vice-presidency,
- a decision that surprised virtually everyone, including the
- appointee.
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- Despite three pilot-training tours in the Soviet Union, Mubarak
- is outspokenly anti-Communist and contemptuous of the Soviet
- military equipment on which Egypt relied until 1973. (He once
- told Sadat that the Egyptian air force would not accept MiG-23
- fighters, "even if the Russians give them to us free.") He
- shares Sadat's instinctive, pro-Western orientation. Mubarak's
- wife of 21 years, Suzanne, is of both British and Egyptian
- descent; she is a social sciences graduate of the American
- University of Cairo. Mubarak's two sons, Alaa, 20, and Gamal,
- 17, are American University students.
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- Where Mubarak differs from Sadat is in his approach to problem
- solving, a pragmatist is taking the place of a prophet. Says a
- Western diplomat who knows both men well: "Sadat was the
- pioneer and innovator. Mubarak will be the consolidator." The
- President-designate has had 6 1/2 years to study his new role,
- with Sadat as his intimate mentor. Sadat's visitors became
- accustomed to seeing the stocky, taciturn Mubarak sitting near
- the President, quietly taking notes. Whenever Sadat had
- one-on-one meetings, as at Camp David, he later briefed Mubarak
- minutely. "There was nothing he did or said that I did not
- know," say Mubarak.
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- That closeness, that life in the President's shadow earned
- Mubarak mocking nicknames of "Sadat's Sadat," "court jester" and
- "empty face' among Egyptian critics. As one disgruntled
- parliamentarian put it before last week's tragedy: "Someone
- should tell Sadat that there are more than 40 million other
- Egyptians who should have something to say about who will be
- President." Nonetheless, U.S. officials who have dealt with
- Mubarak rate him highly. He has been "carefully tutored," says
- one, with emphasis. Notes a Washington analyst: "A lot of
- Egyptian politicians have fallen by the wayside during the Sadat
- era, but Mubarak has come out on top."
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- The most telling compliment to Mubarak's abilities came from
- Sadat himself. Mubarak chaired cabinet meetings in Sadat's
- absence, held sweeping authority on national security matters
- and conducted important diplomatic missions abroad. "I know he
- will approve," Mubarak used to say, when he would authorize an
- action. "I will tell him about it later." The ultimate
- approval is now Mubarak's.
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