>> crlie: welcome to the broadcast tight. th president of epthosni mubarak on the e of his ip to washington the first since 20. tomorrow hmeets with president obama at the whitehouse. >>he feeling was there was a great and extreme bias against the religis administrion and that created great concerns ong the muslims, pticularly the lders of muslim countries. but with the obama speech it became cle that he's not, that america isot againsthis. if youomplain of the

interventis of theforces in iran, iould say to you, don't interfere th the home affairs of otherarab countries like lebanon, like hamas and others. sincyou complain of this external or foreig interferen, so don't do it with other countries. are very keen. there should be stabity and no ability unless we havhe -- and with assist also. meeting with the autrity, with the raeli government. >>harlie: the president of egypt sni mubarak and all about theiddle east coming up.

captioning sponsored b rose communitions >> charlie: we arin cairo, in egy for a conversation with the psident of egypt hosni mubarak. it imy nth interview with him. he is onthe eve of a visit washington to meet with esident obama and vice president biden to talk about thmiddle st and other issues. it is hisirst trip to washingtonince 2004. i am pleased to have him back on this proam for a conrsation abt the regio about the

issues he sees, abo his re here in egypt for 28 years. mr. president, thank y. >> thank you. >> charlie: i come to cairo and all of the talks about you. they say is he okay, i he healthy, ds he el good. they say 's experienced tragedy. th say i he ing to run again. would th be the last term for presidenmubarak. u say? >> i'm not looking for, if i'm gog to renew another term or something le this. i'm busy. still i hav two ars. i have the problems that came

with elections. now i' trying r again or not run ain. effort is to complete the program for theeople and i made the program younow in t campaign. anall thetems thathe present wants. this is main concern. not to renew or not to renew. i'm not thinking about that now. >> charlie: when will you decide? >> i would like ask a question. when can you deci when the esident is now? yocan? you c't. we have to see. >> charlie: but they have books now called egypt aft

mubara books. >> it is a large country and w havetability here. we enjoy stability. we have a peanent cotitution. it has been amend for a numr of times. i recall that once you asked in onef your intviews, is th the president being elected only by e parliamenteans some sort of incomple democracy. at the se moment, that momt i was ready t propose amendments to the constition de amended4 articlehat was unpredented. this is in the interestf stability, in the interest of

insuring peoe about future. its not small cotry on which we take decisions jt like that. it is stable cntry and it will rein a stable one after mubarak and ter the man who comes aft mubarak. >> charlie: saking of that, there are those who believe that you would like for your son gamalo come after you. >> this was never raed betwe my son a myself. he started his career in bankin with bankf america in london and en heurned to egypt. and he was against joining th party and it wasonly after a long effort that heoined the party. it i not on my mindo have my

son inherit me. and as well, choice election o the president is on to t population iits entirety. it is th decisionof the population to elect who would represent people. it is n for me to decide that. it is the decision of the people to elect the person who they ust. whoould that perso be? well we have along ti. weave still two years to come. >> charlie: do you think he's ready b president? i will ask him or you can ask him. don't ask me. >> charlie: you will not dissolve parliament. you will not diolve parliament

any time soon. >>here are many rumors. >> charlie: yes, that's why ask. >> and there is freedomf speech. people say that the pairment this -- parlient, this or that except onc a decision by the supreme constitution of the court and t more good opposition you have, the better, the more strong, the stronge our members would be. but rumors are there. mebody may say bere, mebody may say may say after.

i hear these rumorslike any other person. >> charlie: but then why don'you simplyay i ll not dissolvearliament? >> i c't s that i will not dissolve the parliame. there might be some circumstances. i don't have any at th moment but there might be some circumstances that call for the dissolution ofhe parliament. buat the moment there isno single pnt that merits e dissolutioof the rliament. the dissolutio of the parliament becomes imperative only wn theres addressing demand. >> charlie: mr. president, th weekend you go to washington. you will be the monday and tuesday,ou will meet wit the president a the ce president. character-wisewhere the relationship i with the united ates, todaunder president

ama. after the ections and after winning the electionscontacted me and that took place twice. when he went the whitehoe, he contact me. anwhen he came toeliveris speech from cairo he, it was an excellt speech that enshould, assured the arab a muslim countriesnd people and it was a clear and loud message to all arab and muslim countries. befo that, there was some sort of unease a conrnabout the leader administration. but i also met him i rome

ring the g-15 meeting. it was t a long time to ta, t when he visited cairo, we cored all the issues and how to handlthe same. and i did find him and understaing man who wants to sten and to take informed decisions. and he's opened o opinions. i advised him to listen to everybody d after thatyou will make a fl picture about whicyou can take informed decisions. and i'm vy optimistic on th steps to be taken by president obama. is well balanced in all his speeches and address.

paicularly within the context of violee particularly in arab and ir, the concerns the arab and muslim couries. once again, i think the obama cairo speh was an excellent piece of work. >> crlie: it creat new opportunitie >> doyou mean new opportunits at peace, yes. >> crlie: what did it accomplish, the eech? >> you know of course thepeech and yo listened to, it assured thmuslim world because before that the feeling was thathere was a great and extreme bia against the muslim people by the leader's adnistration. d that created greatoncerns among the muslimsparticularly the leaders of the countries.

but wit the obama speech, it came clear that he is not against islam, that america is not against islam. this is quite important. souch so that --anted to conferhe doctorate to obama but the time was so short that he cldn't do that time. >> charlie: there is always ti. doou sense that he is about to launch his inittive for the middle east? >> presint obama is clecting formation and he sent geoe mitche a number of times d he confred with us during each time we explained o position and each time heomes to cairo.

he visited syria, heisited saudirabia, other countries and this is to gras the issues which is a good thing. it's ch tter than takg a decision without lieningo the country's concern. it might damage thes cntries, might as wl damage t putation of and imageof the united stes. and this is what happened. ere was the decision t go to iraq. and thadespite the fact there was no mass destructionweapons. and going to afghanistan as well. russia stayed eight years i afghanistan. however, russia did not achiev anything and th russians

admitted tha fact. there was agentleman from the russian position camto me and said they stayed with all kinds of weaponsor eight years in afghanistan without achieving a thg. so, so, and wa until we see whthe americans achieve. and i often repeated thatbut the u.s. administration was adamant on something decided apriory. >>harlie: do you think that they should get out of afghanistan. >> if i ca sayhe following. in iraq, there is a grn of stabity but that will take time. the situation in iraq is not an

ea one and i told everybody. when mr. bushaid that i would invite democracy into ira i said i wish you could do. every population has its own natu, culture, stoms and hiory. you can not come and make se carbon cy of each populaon as that of the americapeople. even the country and the peoples in this region are diffent. >> charlie: y impression was yowere never comfortable with e bush administratn. >> that's why did not visit the united statesince the year 2004. i didn't visit the united states since 0 ere are ctain rumors that i

not visiting america o i was t visiting ameca because of sues related to political. >> charlie: do you thinkthe bush adnistration was right to promotdemocracy in the rion in the way tha it did. >>o. look, we doot aept pressures in politics or in theory, domestic politics from any administration wh respect to all governments. weo notcceptressures -- reform has to bhome grown. d it is what the people demand. this is one issue. but to accept pressure from an administration or another, thi pressure mht be against the terest of the pple. i responded to the demandsf

the people >> charlie: do u believe president obama has a different attitude a idea publicly about democracy and reform than president bush. hahe sd so to you? >> i can't say exaly that. but i think thatpresident obama understands well what was de by the previous administrati. democracy is there in egt. we have frdoms that were not there befor we have an electionf the presidt, we have freedom o e press, we hav about 600 daies and weeklies that was taken. d th power of the rliament

to ev do away with e government. we a doing reforms based on the demds of the pple and i think president obama does understand this very well. >> charlie: it is saidhat he will notublicly dcuss human righ. he does not wa it to b an issue but that he will bring it upn private. look, pleas humarights is immediately political one. human rights are not only politil, you haveocial rights, yo have the right to health, you have the right to job, there are many other rights. and we are doing well on these frts. but what we are not absolutel

perfect and nobody perfect. we haveuman rights commission, we have supeision of tha and he or she that would not abid by law isrought to the bookefore a court of law. we have a strong supervision on the administrative sid administrative supervisionnd there have been many sentences against people who have brched hun rigs. it is not immediately a concept, it is social and it is as one. >> charlie: much is written about th fact that in the election, theost -- the last election in which there w more candidates, th since then you have moved away and that you have craed down o e muslim

brotherhd. >> let someby read the egyptian constitution to yound the amendments we have introded therein. these people who i'm talking about cannot form thatolitical party. because our constitution maintains andtipulateshat a political body sll never be based on a religious basi they cannot form tha andhis is part and parcel of the constitution as amended by the people. but the muslim brotherhoodre there as indiduals, mp's, we ha about 80 of them.

>> crlie: do you fear the musl brotherhood? do you worry that they are clo to hamas, they areclose to other islamic ... >> i know that they have se coacts with them. they have coacts with hamas. they have contts with hezbollah. these are wellnown and they have contacts with many organizations. they have contts with international gros based in gene but we can't ctain this. >> charlie: you're not worried. >> wdo not fear such things. >> charlie: the main bject between you and presiden obama wille peace in t middle

east. israel and paltine. tell where tha is. tell me what egypt's role is. your own general has met wi hama with kata, he's t with israel. haveou me major progress. >> we share boundari with paleinians, we share boundaries with jordan, share boundaries with the west bank. the stility of this par of the world need the stabili of therab region. bu failing to solve this issue with thestability of the globe. we arerying to solve the problem between hamas an the authorities inthe west bank because this isquite important. we should fl the gap here. we shouldridge the gap becau

unle we reconcile their differens,there will n be stability there, there will not be stability wre the violence curred. we are dng our best t bring about stabili withouthich and without solving this issue. the facts on t ground will be very very chalnging. >> charlie: are you maki an progress? >> sure, have made progress. bu i will take me. you know, since w are dealing with hamas and the paleinian authority does take time. and th process is some sort of external intervention. for instance, we we just about

to facilitate delivery of the priser chalet. >> charlie: with hamas -- >> we were about to sure his release and solve this problem but externalnterventions outside interventions interfered in th bu we are working on that end cooperation with the german >> charlie: it i said that the israelis, you have suggeed this, that the israelis made extra demands andprevented you d egypt from gaining conol ofhe prisonerso that you could return him in exchange r palestinians. th the problem w that you haa deal and israel de additional demands.

is that true? >> you have a good deal ofroof in what y sa. had agreed on at ast a number of the prisoners. but atne point in time,srael added certain terms and conditions that peded progress. that is in addition to external interventions. so we are doing an effort and the germans a willing to joi nds and we do welcome the in orr to secur that. the deal was to take care o chaletnd release a number of prisoners and when thi is done we will hand er chalet over. we are still following this intelligence organizion's working onhat and w still have hope to conude this on a

good note. >> crlie: do you think it's likely to happen soon? >> ian't say that ctainly. because aling with others takes time. for instance when we are doing some reconciliatn at the 1h ur, you'll find a n fference, you'll find new termsand conditns. d we received hamas degations, we received the -- and e process is on and we still have great hope we will conclude tsuccessfully successfuy. >> charlie: iis also said you wanted toring together hamas andthers and tha syria prevented you from havg a conference. >> i don't mention any country

in particular by name. but know that there are certain inrventions by other countries. i cannot say, i cannot say that syria is the one that impeded ings, you know that. i know, you know and i know that. it is clear the contacts with iran are clear andhere are constant contacts between them, hamasnd gaza. you might have heard aut the demonstrationshat were sted in tehran a coupl days back ago. they say no gaza, n lebanon. we are, we can spi ourlood

for the sake of tehran. no gaza,o gaza. and no lebanon referring to hezbollah. bu we coul sacrifice their lives for the sake of death. but they don't ca about gaza, th don't care about lebanon this wou give you the bottom line ofhat's going on. charlie: do you believe iran plays a destabilizing role? >> iould likeo tell y something about in. an and t internal problems

we have of the cntry, there is some interferee of other countries, from forei countries, not from iran that pushed theranians toold these demonstrations and t strikes and all these things. i suppose there issome part interfering with ira in the meantime, however, until iran, i say to iran,f you complain of th interventions against the forces of ir, i will say to you, don't interre with the home affairs of other arab countries. likeebanon, like hamas and others. since you complain of this external or reign interferen, so don't dot th other countries. >> charlie: there is this idea inhis region, the middle

st and the gf that egypt and iran are compeng to be the dominant regional force. egypt, iran. >> first, i would not compare ourselves to iran. iran is not an arab country to start with. >> arlie: in the rion. >> so in the arab countries, they are ying, they are attempting. but ourffort is known. they are ting to dominate certain abs but ey willot succeed in this. we are capable, w are not competinwith them and our role well-known in th region. wever we will not compete with

the region. ems to be tt people a thinking, he somewishful thinking sayinthis. >> charlie do you think israel will all iran to have a nuclear weapon? >> only before -- and the defense -- israel. l of them aregainst weapons in iran. r understanding is the whe gion should be free of all forms or typesof -- wheth it's ira or israel. this doesn't mean iran will ce with something and others

also. this will be a problem. >> charlie: it is also said at you are urging president obam to urge israel not to use, not to engage in a strike against iran. i would like to say something. this issue of the capability of iran, if it goes onward and it ppened that military force of this is against the whole gion. against usof military per. at's why i say thi should be so acable and commend an. icallthat they have sufcient flexibility to negotiate wit reesentatives of america to resolvthis issue i order that

no military actions woulde brought about. we want to stop almilitary tivity. >> charl: there is some debate in america as to whether the obama adminisation is correct in reengagin reengaging withran. should they? >> so i thinknegotiations betwn iran and usa is much better a solution they can achieve someonclusions without chsing the military rce. >> charlie let me come back to arab,alestinian and israeli palestinian. the arab initiative is considered to be a bgaining potion. >> the arab inittive is very clear.

if israehas some of the problems between tm and the pastinian and two states are established, israel wh a palestine, two states, i think arabs can have normalelations with israel. >> charlie: settlements have to stop. >> i have anotheroint of view. and insteadof stoppingore settlements and we heard this ny times. at i can sa that we have to consider thewhole issue holistically on the final resolution i want to he some temporary or final solutions. i said forgeboutemporary cause the peoples will think that this is thefinal step.

myoint of vie is that, i say the finalolution. so we he an agreed for final resolution. if we can do this with palestinians, i think this uld be a ve good te. >> charlie: nd what' necessary to it? what has to happeno make the agreement? to cate palestian ste that israel feels securit so that they will not be hamas or soone else the west bk able to lob missiles to the iseli international airport. >> how to come this agreement, were working on this resoluti between hamas

and palestinians. if we can come to a conclusion, especially if it interferes, we can coince the authority to sitith israeli prime ministers. that's the optimum solution. >> crlie: what progress have you made to get $5 blion reconstruction going togaza? >> no on has received any money so far. we had a conrence and we agreed on $5 billion but until now, who is goingo receive this amount of mon.

so one should take it and spend it so we nee a committee to agree o a committ using these funds. it not to be given to hamas or to be given to the authority as well. >> chaie: you believethat until has and fatah can agree, there can be no peace. >> this is correct and we a working on this. and we observed laborious efforts we tedto overcome with hamas. if we reach this point ibelieve after that wil gouch easier.

>>harlie: benjamin netanyahu is talking about what. >> aboutetting togetherand lving these problems. final border lines or temporary onesnd there is some sort of agreement between netanyahu and barack alsoagreed that we come to the final solution a implementation on stages. it should be of course a very tough negotiation but this is better. >>harlie: i have asked you this before. do you believe benmin netanyahu, the prime mister of israel is prared to see a state of palestine? is he ready? >> you ask m i want youto understa, i and the israeli press say th father of netanyahsay i will not allow a

state. i think you should have a palestiniastate but this might be something tha these inrgence without the establishment of palestians, no stability would be achieved and would be ctinued with this violce. and e region wi never be calm, i think. now it is the right time that w should achieve a resolution. netanyahu, when he formed his vernment and had apoval, en he d the minister of trad he told me thisgovernment will be a government for peace. >> charlie: is he prepared to take a rk f peace? >> i think he suld take a risk >> charlie: andhat risk are

yo prepad to take? >> yes >> charlie: what are you prepared to giveo create, contribute to peace between the palestinia and the israelis? >> we are working on thi we are very keenhere should be stability and no stability unless we have thealestinians, the inner problems and sociation with them. and assist als as garding the meeting between e authority, with the israeli govnment. or did you mean something else. >> charlie: no, i djtd. i meant exactly that. there are some whouggests that there ought toe a sian track. go to damascus, that'shere you start because tyave

influence th hamas. >> i d't wanto talk about sya. by the fact some problems th them but it is an arab state. but we cannot stop. they can impe, maybehrough interference by iran because they had political offers in damascus. but e people, looking for peace,ven people in gaza, they want peace. and if thepeople wante to have peace, nothing can stop when the are military attac on gaza many people were killed and many buildingwere destructed and wereo much impacted with the

rder lines with us. and people wantto livend i called the mister of defense and called fo stopping this. wenvited the ime minister of france, and they were with us. d this was stopped, thisas to stop because peopleant to live in peace. >> charlie: wh role is cutt playing? cutter, th emir where al jazeeraomes from. >>on't t me into trouble. >> charlie: te me what you think. tter. >> cutter canlay a good role. >> charlie: are they playing a good role. are the playing. >> if they wa. >> chare: but ey're t now? >> i cannot say forure because ere was nothing clear before me to decide. >> charlie: they want to play

a role. >> okay,hey play a role. they can play a good role for the sake peace. we want peace, you didi did, anyone which is no the pot, t peace is what matters. >> charlie: when your frien present obama came to cairo and made the famous speech he talked about democrat z peace, women he talked out economic development and he talked about extremism. where is the battle today beeen the sources of extresm and the forces of moderation? >> i think this question you could have asked it t the

previous administrion. the preous administration, t potics that we have which i mbating terrorism which wa applied tens of times. and the forces incrsed. so wha happened in iraq, iraq was distracted, afghantan. it was difficult toontrol afghanistan. i'm saying you frankly, afghanistan is very mountainous area. we used to dealwiththem before how to hdle them. you see the clans and the tribes. yosee the head of tribes. you try to talk to the peopl doome development for them. you can save you expense to

tack. the russians had sa tha th were eight years bombing ghanistan and they have no access. i think the optil solution is to have developmentn afghanistan and discussing maers with theeadsfribes and clans,his might save you a lot of bloodsh that's happened. >>harlie: is the role of women in the mal -- middle st going to change, isit changingn egypt? the role of women. >> don't you knowthat therole woman has chand? we amended the constitution for the sake of wens one of the main points fo women in the parliament we have, i ink the exact number of parliament women. we have women in alexandra the first time, the president is a

woman. we have femal ministers and profsors and deans of differencolleges. now won is woingin the political field. we have a lot ofthem. so the role of woman has changed racally especiallyin our couny in egypt. and the constitution gives the right foromen to ctain cab nu f running for election in the parliament. >> charlie: let me make - there are a number of points i want to make here. one,ou've had emergcy rule since 1981. emergency rule. you should be confident enou, confidenenough in your leadership not to have to. >> you will not grasp fully the emergency rule. it has been there sce the ys of theritish occupation and it

used to becalled marshall law. we confide our recourse to the emergency l to terrorist crimes. otherwise it is the rule of law underhe courts of law. but do not believe what you say. we have demonstrations. if you go tothe letter of the emgency law, nobody would go to the ministration. d this ergency law was agreed upon byhe majority. >> charlie: uts it still necessary. >> it s presented in the parliament mighte the muslim brotherhd. we have two choices.

either to sue a role to combat imperialism which will be a permant law, itas refused because nobody want a permanent law. d the second choice is emergey rules tha will be us exclively for terrorists crimes. r instance to close down a newspaper or to contain or limit freedo of movement. any otherrgument is missing. >> charlie: do you believe the muslim brotherhood i good forgypt? >> good or bad. as long as they not commit any terroristrimes, i don't care. >> chaie: you don care.

>> historys there to read. >> charlie: the historof egypfor the last 28 years is theistory of one man, hni mubarak. that's the histo of egypt. what iyour legacy. what are you proud of. what wil theysaybout you when you lea? >> is that i have been working in public service for 60 years. i took part, i sawaction. iebuilt theountry after miliry action. we revamped the entire infrastructure of egypt. we are improving education, we are expanding edution. we are buildin and doing many

her things. >> charlie: would ept be safe if you left. >> very safe. egypt is a large countr egypt has a constitution a the constitution ss clear the role of eh and everybody and nobod can viate the conitution. but if egypt were one man as you say or as its said, wouldn't have done anything. i work with the head of institutions, wi the help of e parliament much -- the parliament. it is strong now. itan bring downgovernment losi th votef confidence. it canhange the bget the way they decide, the way the parliant decides. we have amded 34 artics in theonstitution. this is unprecedented. >> charlie: mr. preside,

with respe, many people say th there will not be a leader egypt who is not acceptable to thermy. as you hav been. as anwar sadat wa as naser was. all of the sam tradition the free offices tradion. that has not changed in egypt. you know that, i kn that. it mig change aftwards, this mighthange afterwards. nobody knowsho willucceed. weave elections. when the time comes for election, the pple will ve. naser was anfficer. i stayed in the armed forces until i reaed the highes

rank. and i sawction. and i was decorated at the hiest level. it i not mine is goi to become preside. i served as ce president doing lots of efforts for sixears as vi president. th, then i took overs president. >> chaie: that's my point that there is no one goi to become presidentf egypt who is no acceptable to the milita. >> no, no. i don agree to this stament. >> charlie many people in their rht, the economist magazi that there is a new futu forhe arab world. egypt is the leaders o the ara world along wi saudi arabia and other counies. tell me h you see that. the future for the arab world. becauseome say, you know, that

egyp and others e more morn, more engauged, more entrepreneurial d me free. that's the future. >> mor free >> charlie: ore free. >> this is ght, there is a valid statement. yes, there is a big awakening i the arab regio there are new genations and there is new blood in the plic service and theres quite a change under going in the ab world. >> chaie: thank you. >> thank you. >> charlie: from the pridential palace in cro, thepresident of egypt, sni mubara the thank you for joining us. we will see you tomorw night as the president eages

morrow morning with the presidt of the united states. see you tomoow night.

captioning sponsored by rose communication captiod by media acss group at access.wgbh.org captioning sponsored by rose communicaons captned by media cess group at wgbh