I visited Egypt during the Mubarak years. It worked. Tourists were plentiful, hotels were full, the hotel ships on the Nile were busy, as were the fellucas.
Thousands of special "Tourism Police" protected the various sites, and many thousand more Egyptians staffed the hotels, the shops in the bazaar, the restaurants, the tour buses, and served as guides in a dozen languages to the tombs and temples of the ancient pharaohs.
The streets of Cairo were literally jammed with cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes. Sometimes seven lanes of cars would jam into four lanes of pavement. In short, Egypt was busy, and being busy it made a living, and was happy.
Except that much of Egypt was probably only Islamic in the same way Italy is Roman Catholic: culturally rather than religiously. This didn't suit the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks an Islamic "revival."
The Muslim Brotherhood did a poor job of running the country, being more involved with doctrinal and personal purity and trying to gain a permanent lock on power. Now the military gets another chance.
------------0------------
In former British colonies and protectorates, it is often the military that commands the greatest public respect and approval. The military is the institution in society viewed as less corrupt. This is true in India, Pakistan, Egypt, and perhaps others as well. It argues that the British Army did a great job of leaving behind good values.
