Ashley Webster Describes His Experience in Egypt; Also, Why Imus Could Never Be a Reporter

Just back from more than two weeks in Egypt, where his firsthand reports of the uprising and eventual revolution were stirring, to say the least, Ashley Webster appeared with Imus in studio today to say now what he couldn’t say then. 
 
There were a few moments where Webster, a Fox Business Network reporter, and his crew felt directly threatened. On first arriving in Egypt, he recalled driving in a car and being suddenly descended on by a crowd.
 
“It was literally a movie moment—angry mobs hammering on the windows because they’d seen a camera,” he said. “Paranoia runs deep in this country, and they thought we were taking pictured for the government. All it takes is one person to say that, and it becomes fact.”
 
They shouted at their driver in their best Egyptian to floor it, but he was more interested in arguing with the crowd. “Eventually he managed to back up,” Webster said. “I hope he didn’t hit someone.”
 
On the night of the first day of clashes in and around Tahrir Square, Webster and his crew barricaded themselves in their room by stacking equipment up against the door, turning off the lights, and staying quiet. “We had the crowd of the regime supporters outside, they knew all the western journalists were in there,” Webster said. “They had petrol bombs—Molotov cocktails—and we thought, well, they might try to smoke us out, set the building on fire, and we’d have to come out.”
 
Then an Al-Jazeera report came through that protesters had stormed the hotel lobby; though it turned out to be erroneous, Webster, who was unarmed, slept fitfully that night.
 
“We could never really make out who was friend or foe, even the army, who basically stood by and watched it all,” he said. Eventually the army moved a tank to the hotel and set up a checkpoint, but the government didn’t help the situation. “The Mubarak regime was going on state television and saying we were the foreign agents, and we were responsible for the chaos, and we were acting on behalf of foreign governments.”
 
As for what they subsisted on, Webster said, “I’d like to say we survived on bread, water, and crumbs for days. But we ordered room service.”
 
The goal of Webster being in Egypt, however, was to report what he saw, and to interpret the mood of the crowd in the streets, which he said changed daily. “When we first got there, the anti-regime folks had taken up the square,” he said. “They were nice, they were fine, they were happy. They were happy to see us, because they wanted to get their word out, and they knew state television wasn’t going to show any of it.”
 
Sentiments could change, however, with little notice, like when Webster, his producer Yvette, and his cameraman Frank tried explaining to a crowd that they couldn’t take certain pictures because they were doing a phone report. Suddenly surrounded—again—by a mob, Webster had to quickly decide whether to escape with a plainclothes police officer or a member of the Egyptian Army.
 
“I said, ‘Let’s go with the Army,’” Webster said. “He proceeded to take us down this dark alley, and I said to Frank and Yvette, ‘This is it. This could be it. We have no clue where we’re going.’ Thank God, he was leading us to safety.”
 
The general feeling toward America shifted throughout the 18 days of demonstrations, Webster said, as the Obama administration waffled in its positions. “You just couldn’t tell who was on your side and who wasn’t, and who was at least not hostile toward you,” Webster said of the Egyptian people. Overall, all they knew about Fox was that a television movie channel in Egypt bears that name. “I said, ‘Yeah! Fox movies!’” Webster said. “And then they were very friendly.”
 
Once Mubarak officially stepped down and the Army took control of Egypt, Webster said, “It was the party to end all parties.” As for what happens next, Webster thinks it remains very much in the balance. “I’d like to see the people get what they want, but it could be hijacked, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “The longer this vacuum goes on, the longer that potential exists.”
 
Should the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood step in, against the will of the people, and take advantage of the situation—as Webster said they already did during the uprising by handing out water and food to the protesters—Webster suspects the people who started this revolution won’t hesitate to reappear.
 
“If it doesn’t go the way they want it, they’ll be back in the Square, and they will continue to fight for it,” he said.
 
In the end, Webster felt good, despite all the danger, about providing firsthand accounts of an historic moment. “It wasn’t about us,” he said. “It was about what we were witnessing.”
 
Which is pretty much why Imus could never be a reporter.
 
-Julie Kanfer