Israel Matzav

Mubarak is terminally ill

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is said to be terminally ill.

Most Western intelligence agencies were said to have estimated that the Egyptian president is dying from terminal cancer in his stomach and pancreas. Earlier this month, Mubarak was reportedly treated in a hospital in France, and in March his gallbladder was operated on in Germany.

A Central European intelligence officer told The Washington Times that Mubarak will probably die within a year, before Egyptian presidential elections in September 2011.

"When I was in Cairo in May, it was interesting. People were mellow about the prospect of him being ill. Everyone understood the end was near; the estimates were 12 to 18 months," Steven Cook, an Egyptian-affairs specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, said to The Washington Times.

A senior US intelligence officer said: "We have access to, for lack of a better word, his court. We know he is dying, but we don't know when he will die. You can be dying for a long time, by the way. Look at [former Cuban President Fidel] Castro."

Sources told The Washington Times that the National Intelligence Council and the US Central Command are reportedly analyzing possible situations and power transitions after Mubarak's death.

However, State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley said in a briefing that "no one is looking past Mubarak. He is still the president of Egypt, and we rely on him and his government for the critical role they play in security and stability in the Middle East."

The problem with making peace with leaders and not with countries is what happens when the leaders die. Israel has never been at peace with the Egyptian people. What will happen when Mubarak dies? That depends who leads and who how strong they are.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:51 PM