U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who is known for his controversial foreign policy views, believes the ouster of former Egyptian autocratic president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 “was a mistake.”
Mubarak was toppled following a popular 18-day uprising, widely known in Egypt as the January revolution, with the Egyptian army assuming control until presidential elections in the summer of 2012 brought the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi to power.
Morsi himself was ousted a year later after mass protests against his rule. Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected as the president in June 2014.
“He also viewed the 2011 ousting of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian dictator, as a mistake,” the Telegraph quoted Ben Carson as saying in an interview.
“Mr Mubarak wasn’t nearly as bad as the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi.”
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, also implied that his view does not necessarily mean that he supports Sisi.
“I am not saying that any of them are saints by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.
Carson ignited controversy last week when he compared Syrian refugees to “rabid dogs.”
He is one of the leading contenders for the Republican nomination in the November 2016 presidential election.
Source: Ahram Online
