Anita Arnand

He's born in 1918 in a small village in the Nile Delta.

He's dark-skinned.

And this is important because it is still a society where, you know, the lighter-skinned people are the ones with the power, and being dark-skinned carried a social stigma.

So he's regarded, really, in Cairo politics as a provincial outsider, sort of a yokel.

But when he inherits the presidency from Nasser in 1970, he's had years in prison.

He's had years in opposition to think about what he would do if he was in charge of Egypt, what Egypt needs to maintain that position that it did have under Nasser of being the colossus.

of the Middle East.

What he decides is the most daring strategic analysis of any Arab leader of his generation, that Egypt cannot afford to remain at war with Israel.

It's a striking thing.

People haven't dared to say it or even think it.

The economy is wrecked.

His army

Humiliated twice in a decade.

The Air Force destroyed.

Sinai gone.

And now you've got the Soviets who are there thick on the ground, dragging their feet about sending their most sophisticated weapons to Egypt.

So he realizes that if he's going to get any of this back, to restore the honor, you know, do something about this humiliation, he needs to get Sinai back and he can't get Sinai back without America.

So getting America requires sort of demonstrating to Washington that there is a status quo in the Middle East.

It hits them in the exchequer because every time they mobilize, it's not cheap.

You know, tens of millions of dollars.