The terrorist bombing in the historic Muslim Quarter of Cairo on April 7, 2005, which killed two French nationals and one American, once again drew attention to the radical Islamists battling Egypt's virtual dictatorship headed by President Hosni Mubarak. This most recent attack will certainly undermine a recovering tourism industry, the country's largest money maker. Despite these tensions that hung thick everywhere in the country during my two-week stay in November and December 2004, I found Egyptians to be extremely friendly to me, an American. This pleasantly surprised me, given the religious-tinted violence in Iraq overshadowing current events. Many smiling young soldiers and I used pigeon English to swap criticisms of our current commanders in chief. The photographs I am providing, however, do not focus on Egypt’s most pressing problems. These ills include the control of public discourse by conservative Islamists, the organized and pervasive oppression of women under a conservative and patrilineal Islamic society, the lack of population control largely because of religious views espoused by Islam, extreme poverty and the lack of economic opportunity, and the rapid degradation of the environment due to population pressures on the fragile Nile Valley, which forms the nation’s breadbasket.

Instead of documenting these problems, I am presenting some nice moments, mostly of special places. I will leave the debate about Egypt’s gloomy future to the think tanks, U.S. and international policy-makers, Middle East correspondents, and Egyptians themselves. For my part, I did not find much room for opitimism. I truly wish the Egyptian people the best correcting the course of the nation.

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