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Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/06/06/see_great_obstacles/
Egypt Proving Slow to Reform Despite Promises
(Boston Globe) Paul Schemm - Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, President Hosni Mubarak promised to begin a dialogue with opposition parties and overhaul legislation restricting civil society. But nine months after that pledge, ''the sense of optimism that was felt in the country has just vanished and reversed," said Muhammad Sayyed Said, deputy director of the Cairo-based Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. When Mubarak visited the U.S. in mid-April, he told President Bush that reform was at the core of his country's policies, but afterward he began emphasizing the need for gradual rather than swift change, or chaos could ensue.