CAIRO: After receiving the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy, former Managing Director and Publisher of Al-Masry Al-Youm Hesham Kassem returned from Washington last week. During his trip, he met with President George W. Bush at the White House.
Angry with the changes in America’s approach to pushing democracy in Egypt, Kassem returned to face the onslaught of state-run media. However, he says he will not pay attention to this continuous criticism. Instead, he’ll continue working on his new project – launching a newspaper. But that’s not all he is working on.
In an interview with Daily News Egypt, Kassem said he will be writing a book uncovering the changes that took place in the American administration regarding the democratic agenda in Egypt.
Daily News Egypt: How did you know you won the prize?
Kassem: I was informed of my nomination for the prize on June 9, 2007. They contacted me earlier to make sure that I would accept the prize in order to avoid any embarrassment, and I did not hesitate in accepting it. I realized that people in Egypt would criticize me and I knew that the newspapers would be the ones to launch the attack, but still I do not submit to any pressures.
I asked myself if there is any other reason that would prevent me from accepting the prize other than the expected criticism campaign from the newspapers – there were none. I decided to accept it because, on the contrary, this [media] campaign would be an honor for me.
You met President Bush during your visit to Washington. What went on during that meeting?
This is considered to be a prestigious prize and three former presidents have received the same prize. It is traditional for the recipients of the prize to meet with the US president and have their pictures taken with him. All four recipients had a conversation with President Bush about the political conditions in each country, while he showed us the Oval office and told us the history behind it. He then discussed his own democratic agenda, not only for Egypt, but for the whole world. He mentioned that after retiring, he plans to establish an organization that would work to defend freedom and democracy. This was the most significant point discussed during the meeting. We also got a tour of the White House and saw Rose Road, which is where he delivers his speeches.
Did you talk about Egypt?
He only cared to talk about very few points concerning Egypt.
Can you give us an example?
He inquired about the Muslim Brotherhood and how the people are responding to the idea of democracy in Egypt. I said that the Muslim Brotherhood are the only functioning stream now in Egypt and that, with a deteriorating economy, there is no other choice but the Brotherhood. I also said that the new generations are interested in democracy, but that people who follow the ‘new schools of thought’ are bluffing and are not concerned about democracy.
Did you ask him where he stands regarding the current regime?
The meeting with the US President was a diplomatic one and not a business meeting. Plus, I had lost all hope in Bush’s democratic agenda long before this meeting because as I have seen [the regime] backing away from it for a while now. This is why I refused to meet John Hannah, one of the administration’s employees. Hannah said, “We can meet somewhere else if there is any embarrassment in meeting me at my office; and I replied “That is not the point, why meet you? We are done with that issue, the democracy festival is over. Upon Scott Carpenter’s insistence I agreed to meet Hannah, and actually, he didn t deny that the US’ democracy agenda was over. He didn t even know of the [prison] sentence handed down to the four chief editors of independent newspapers. He asked one of his assistants whether the US has reacted to that or not and she said no. And when they did react, their reaction was weak, a throwback to the Clinton era.
What went on during your discussion with Hannah? And what is their future strategy for dealing with Egypt?
He wanted to know how things are going now, and if there really is a decline in democratic progress. They are intimidated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and their opinions are divided between two streams. One of these streams suggests bringing the MB into power as an alternative, and this group is addicted to dealing with regimes and thinks of the Muslim Brotherhood as an alternative. They say that if the current regime is destabilized they will bring the Muslim Brotherhood into power and impose them just like they imposed Hosni Mubarak. Thus, they believe they will have the same kind of regime which they can control using the Diplomatic Remote Control Policy. However, there is no contact between the MB and the US administration, and allegations claiming otherwise are not true and I bear responsibility for this statement.
There is another tendency that refuses the idea of having the MB in power and prefers dealing with Mubarak. As for the group of Democratic Hawks like Scott Carpenter and Liz Cheney, they resigned – so it s over.
