CAIRO: Formerly a well-known member of Egypt's opposition, Saad Eddin Ibrahim defended Suzanne Mubarak and praised her educational background. Ibrahim, chairman of the Ibn Khaldun Cender for Development Studies, said in several articles about presidential succession that Suzanne was against her husband, Hosni Mubarak. During a meeting with the press, Ibrahim said former President Mubarak asked him how to deal with matters related to Israel. Ibrahim responded by telling him he should not visit Israel at all. Mubarak's advisor, Osama el-Baz, told Ibrahim to prepare a program in three weeks that aimed to bring a gradual change to democracy. Mubarak refused the program, which was taken from Mexico, when he learned that the Mexican president lost power during the first democratic election. Ibrahim said the late President Anwar Sadat did not tell his vice president, Mubarak, everything. Mubarak asked Ibrahim about a meeting he held with Sadat in Alexandria. Ibrahim said Mubarak was a U.S. agent, calling him “ignorant" and "uninformed.” Egypt is better than before and is not like Syria or Libya because of its civilized people, said Ibrahim while answering a question on how Egypt can get out of this crisis. Egypt will get through this by treating the Egyptian police and security forces. He said that this will take around six months or even a year. He also noted that elections should be postponed for 6 months to give parties time to prepare, especially given that there is fear of the Muslim Brotherhood and associates of the National Democratic Party (NDP) winning on Election Day. Ibrahim's study on the different ideologies of the Egyptian people shows the majority do not want Islamic rule. Ibrahim said that he will not run for president and that he wants the next Egyptian president to be from the youth. It is better to have more than one agenda as there isn't one unified idea, said Ibrahim while commenting on whether or not there should be a single national project. There should be parliamentary seats for the youth, as the revolution belongs to them, he added. Ibrahim wants to erase illiteracy and criticized those who say Egypt is not ready for democracy.
