CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak came to power amid crisis three decades ago, a re

assuring symbol of stability for many Egyptians as well as for Western leaders s
eeking a solid ally in the Middle East. Today, crisis again envelops Egypt, and
Mubarak is widely seen as the root of the problem.
In the span of his presidency, Mubarak, a former pilot and air force general wit
h a combative, stubborn streak, took tentative steps toward democratic reform bu
t then pulled back toward the authoritarianism that, coupled with poverty and a
culture of corruption, helped drive Egyptian protesters into the streets.
The prospect that Mubarak was grooming his son, Gamal, to succeed him left many
Egyptians feeling that they were trapped in the past, deprived of the opportunit
y for change and renewal. Then, the uprising in Tunisia delivered an electrifyin
g message: an old order can be ousted.
Mubarak, 82, announced in a televised address Tuesday that he will not seek anot
her term, but rejected demands that he step down immediately. The halfway conces
sion, an end to his rule months down the road, was derided by protesters massed
in Cairo's main downtown square.
It was a stark departure from the praise Mubarak had once won for keeping Egypt
free of the grip of Islamic extremism, and solidly allying with the West amid wa
ve after wave of Mideast crises.
His ascent to power, he was sitting on a military viewing stand next to his pred
ecessor, Anwar Sadat, when he was assassinated by Islamic militants, recalls the
welcome legacy of his early years.
On the whole, his serious, cautious image reassured many Egyptians, including so
me of those who shout for his downfall in street protests. Even after looters ro
amed major Egyptian cities following deadly clashes between protesters and secur
ity forces, Mubarak sought to portray himself, and the military forces at his co
mmand, as the only obstacle to outright anarchy.
His political credibility, however, suffered irreparable damage. And that vulner
ability, at least in hindsight, goes back decades. He lacked the charisma of his
two legendary predecessors - the peacemaker Sadat and the great Arab nationalis
t, Gamal Abdel Nasser and constantly served in their shadows.
He also struggled constantly with the problems that have bedeviled much of the A
rab world through modern history: economic stagnation, choking corruption, the P
alestinian-Israeli conflict and fighting Islamic militancy at the expense of per
sonal freedoms.
As the years went by, Mubarak also became more aloof, carefully choreographing h
is public appearances, and his authoritarian governing style appeared increasing
ly out of sync with a world focused on economic and political openness.
Resentment toward his regime built especially in recent years, as new press free
doms exposed brutal police tactics, and a spate of economic reforms trickled dow
n to only a handful of Egyptians. He moved toward democratic reform in 2005 by l
aunching the country's first contested presidential election, but retrenched sha
rply when opponents made gains - jailing both his main secular opponent, Ayman N
our, and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Yet it was his young son's quick rise through the ruling party that caused the m
ost domestic anxiety in recent years, in a country scornful of the prospect of a
hereditary succession.
More seriously for the West, Mubarak oversaw the wane of Egypt's regional influe
nce in recent years as the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and their patron,
Iran, gained momentum and followers.
Yet throughout, Mubarak remained a strong ally of the United States, carving out
a niche as a key negotiator on the Palestinian crisis, and bolstered by billion
s in U.S. aid because of his country's ties to Israel.
``It is a very tough job,'' Mubarak once told a television interviewer. ``All yo
u seem to do is wake up to trouble and sleep to trouble.''
Mubarak was serving as Sadat's vice president when Muslim extremists gunned down
the president in 1981, killing the world's best hope for Arab moderation.
Egypt's parliament designated Mubarak the sole presidential candidate the next d
ay and he was elected head of state on Oct. 13, 1981, with 98.5 percent of the v
ote.
Early on, Mubarak strongly put down the Muslim militant insurgency whose strengt
h had been underestimated, and whose ranks had produced Sadat's assassins and so
me of the future leaders of al-Qaida.
Later in the 1990s, he fought back hard again against another resurgence of Musl
im militants who attacked both foreign tourists and ordinary Egyptians.
Mubarak engineered Egypt's return to the Arab fold after nearly a decade out in
the cold over its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and carved himself a role as a
major mediator in the Arab-Israeli peace process.
He also made moves that promised he would open up society and that won him consi
derable popularity at home, including freeing 1,500 politicians, journalists and
clerics jailed during Sadat's last months in office.
But hopes for broader reform dimmed as, over the years, Mubarak was re-elected i
n staged, one-man referendums in which he routinely won more than 90 percent app
roval.
Mubarak had never appointed a vice president as the constitution required, thoug
h he did so last week in an effort to appease protesters demanding his ouster.
In early 2005, the Egyptian president, under pressure both at home and by the Ge
orge W. Bush administration, surprised his country by saying he would change the
constitution to allow Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections.
The vote was held that September and Mubarak defeated 10 other candidates amid c
harges of voter fraud and intimidation. In follow-up parliamentary elections, ho
wever, the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's main opposition group, stunned the
government with a strong showing.
Perhaps because of that, Mubarak's regime began sharply pulling back: postponing
planned local elections; jailing the activist Nour; and launching its harshest
campaign of arrests in a decade against the Brotherhood.
Throughout, Mubarak remained uniformly hostile to the Brotherhood, contending it
had no place in Egypt's secular government. But the group retains broad support
among the poor and has vowed to continue fighting for change.
Mohammed Hosni Mubarak was born on May 4, 1928, in the village of Kafr el-Moseil
ha in the Nile delta province of Menoufia. His family, like Sadat's and Nasser's
, was lower middle class.
After joining the air force in 1950, Mubarak moved up the ranks as a bomber pilo
t and instructor and then in leadership positions. He earned nationwide fame as
commander of the air force during the 1973 Middle East war.
Mubarak, in military uniform and sitting on Sadat's right, escaped with only a m
inor hand injury on Oct. 6, 1981, when the group of Muslim extremists charged a
Cairo reviewing stand during a military parade, killing Sadat and seven others.
Seven days later, Mubarak was president.