A Faithful Pupil Takes Over

Out of the shadow, a hand-picked successor

It may have been, as Anwar Sadat would have believed, the hand of fate that brutally tore him from the world stage. That same hand narrowly bypassed Sadat's most attentive pupil and long-chosen successor, who was at the President's side when the bullets slammed into the reviewing stand. Hosni Mubarak, 53, Egypt's Vice President since Sadat picked him for the post in 1975, emerged from the assault with no more than a bandaged left hand as a memento of his narrow escape.

Mubarak's accession to the presidency this week fulfills two of Sadat's chief wishes: to see his policies continued, and one day to leave power to a member of Egypt's "October Generation," the men in uniform who helped regain Egyptian self-esteem by their initial victories in the 1973 October War. Sadat had first met Mubarak in the Sinai town of El Arish in 1950; impressed by the young air force officer, the President remembered his name two decades later while searching for a commander for his air force.

Mubarak got the job and won plaudits in 1973 for his handling of the air battle against Israel's superior, U.S.-equipped air force. Two years later Sadat named Mubarak, a man from the President's home province of Menoufia, to the vice-presidency, a decision that surprised virtually everyone, including the appointee.

Despite three pilot-training tours in the Soviet Union, Mubarak is outspokenly anti-Communist and contemptuous of the Soviet military equipment on which Egypt relied until 1973. (He once told Sadat that the Egyptian air force would not accept MiG-23 fighters, "even if the Russians give them to us free.") He shares Sadat's instinctive, pro-Western orientation. Mubarak's wife of 21 years, Suzanne, is of both British and Egyptian descent; she is a social sciences graduate of the American University of Cairo. Mubarak's two sons, Alaa, 20, and Gamal, 17, are American University students.

Where Mubarak differs from Sadat is in his approach to problem solving: a pragmatist is taking the place of a prophet. Says a Western diplomat who knows both men well: "Sadat was the pioneer and innovator. Mubarak will be the con-solidator." The President-designate has had 6 1/2 years to study his new role, with Sadat as his intimate mentor. Sadat's visitors became accustomed to seeing the stocky, taciturn Mubarak sitting near the President, quietly taking notes. Whenever Sadat had one-on-one meetings, as at Camp David, he later briefed Mubarak minutely. "There was nothing he did or said that I did not know," says Mubarak.

That closeness, that life in the President's shadow earned Mubarak mocking nicknames of "Sadat's Sadat," "court jester" and "empty face" among Egyptian critics. As one disgruntled parliamentarian put it before last week's tragedy:

"Someone should tell Sadat that there are more than 40 million other Egyptians who should have something to say about who will be President." Nonetheless, U.S. officials who have dealt with Mubarak rate him highly. He has been "carefully tutored," says one, with emphasis. Notes a Washington analyst: "A lot of Egyptian politicians have fallen by the wayside during the Sadat era, but Mubarak has come out on top."

The most telling compliment to Mubarak's abilities came from Sadat himself.

Mubarak chaired Cabinet meetings in Sadat's absence, held sweeping authority on national security matters and conducted important diplomatic missions abroad. "I know he will approve," Mubarak used to say, when he would authorize an action. "I will tell him about it later." The ultimate approval is now Mubarak's. qed

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