Interesting reports have now emerged concerning Husni Mubarak's last hours in power, and his desperate attempts to hold on to the Presidency. A detailed account published in al-Ahram relates how the military expected Mubarak to announce his resignation on Thursday, along with the Americans and just about everyone else. However, according to the report, his son Gamal - who was being groomed to succeed his father - along with some of his top aides (and most probably the Saudis) were advising the beleaguered President that he could still ride out the turmoil and hang on to power.
Insiders gave the Associated Press a glimpse into the final hours before Mubarak fell. Their accounts paint a picture of an isolated dictator, unable or unwilling, to grasp the reality that nothing short of his immediate departure could save the country from descending into chaos. According to the AP:
"He did not look beyond what Gamal was telling him, so he was isolated politically," said the official. "Every incremental move (by Mubarak) was too little too late." The military, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly impatient with the failure of Mubarak and Omar Suleiman, his newly appointed vice president, to end the protests."
According to the account in al-Ahram, "military leaders threatened to publish their own statement announcing that Mubarak had been sacked. The newspaper said a statement announcing Mubarak's resignation was pre-recorded by the army's chief-of-staff, Sami Enan, and delivered to the offices of the state television broadcaster Nile TV."
In the end, however, the military's statement was not required after Vice President Omar Suleiman agreed at the last minute to read his own 49 second statement that finally brought to an end Mubarak's 30-year rule.
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