Der Spiegel has this on Mohammed ElBaradei:
01/30/2011
.....
If there is an opponent to President Mubarak, it is Mohammed ElBaradei, 68. Ironically, he too is a product of the Egyptian elite, born as the son of an influential and affluent family of lawyers, raised in Cairo and educated to work in the diplomatic service. As head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, and he was subsequently awarded the Greatest Nile Collar, the highest Egyptian civilian decoration.
ElBaradei, a shy intellectual, golf player and opera lover, is everything but a revolutionary or tribune of the people, and he wields no official position of power in Egypt. And yet he could be the right man at the right time. He is relatively uninhibited, holding open discussions with the Muslim Brotherhood and, despite all differences, calling the Islamists "a legitimate movement." Moreover, he is not tainted by the suspicion of being an agent of the West or a corrupt recipient of US funds. In fact, as head of the IAEA ElBaradei quarreled openly with the Bush administration, and his phone was even tapped by the CIA.
ElBaradei had intended to withdraw into private life after the end of his third term at the IAEA in 2009. But when he returned to Cairo to an enthusiastic reception in February of last year and subsequently traveled around Egypt, he became infected by the enthusiasm of dissatisfied Egyptians. He believed that a challenger to the president did not stand a fair chance. Andy yet, as he told SPIEGEL, he wanted to serve as a "catalyst for change" in Egypt. The regime reacted to his remarks with a smear campaign culminating with the publication of photos of his bikini-clad daughter.
ElBaradei collected thousands of supporters on the Internet, but then he disappointed the movement when he left the country -- as he had planned to do -- to write his memoirs in the south of France and give lectures in the United States. In light of the protests, he decided to return home last Thursday and brought himself into play as a possible transitional president. "If (people) want me to lead the transition, I won't let them down," he said.
He joined the protestors on Friday. "People broke the culture of fear and, once you break the culture of fear, there is no going back," he said. "(The authorities) have been charging people, detaining people, but that will backfire ... use of violence will backfire badly." He had previously already sharpened his criticism of the West, and had expressed strong words for US Secretary of State Clinton, who, while calling for civil rights for the Egyptians, had also characterized the Mubarak regime as "stable." "I was stunned to hear Secretary Clinton saying the Egyptian government is stable," ElBaradei said. "And I ask myself at what price is stability. Is it on the basis of 29 years of martial law? Is it on the basis of rigged elections?"
.....
This is the man who George W. Bush despised because of his repeated warnings that the documents that Bush was using to lie to the American people about Iraq and yellowcake uranium as the reason to invade Iraq, were forgeries.
There is no denying this man's character.
Perhaps he is the right man at the right time.
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