04 February 2011

Why doesn't Mubarak just leave?

That's the question I've been asking myself for several days.  He must have gobs of money, and little to gain by staying in power any longer.  Why not just go somewhere?  I hadn't heard that question addressed either during the Al Jazeera broadcasts or on the web, until today.  Here are excerpts from an article at Foreign Policy:
So why is Mubarak trying to squeeze a few more months out of his three-decade career in office and avowing his intentions to stay in Egypt rather than packing for the Riviera? It may be because exile isn't what it used to be; over the last 30 years, things have gotten increasingly difficult for dictators in flight. Successor regimes launch criminal probes; major efforts are mounted to identify assets that may have been stripped or looted by the autocrat, or more commonly, members of his immediate family...

More menacingly, human rights lawyers and international prosecutors may take a close look at the tools the deposed dictator used to stay in power: Did he torture? Did he authorize the shooting of adversaries?.. A trip to The Hague or another tribunal might be in his future...

If Mubarak leaves, he will need a safe haven: a government that will protect him from lawsuits and criminal charges. It is increasingly difficult for any Western state to make such promises. And that leaves him with few and generally unappealing exit options.
More at the link.  Via The Daily Dish.

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