When asked why the Egyptian President Mubarak had not made more changes in his cabinet, Bashir remarked, "Because their tombs weren't ready."
Bashir wrote a critique of Mubarak's under-performing economic policies titled "I Support You but I Do Not Endorse You" in a September 1992 issue of Al Wafd newspaper.
His first wife was Sana Hasan, who eventually moved to Israel and wrote Enemy in the Promised Land (1988) which described her experiences there; they later divorced.
His second wife was long-time intimate, Laila Ibrahim Basmy, whom he married barely a month before his death.
Another version of Bashir's 'flag' quip is: “'When the chips are down, there is only one real place in the entire area – Egypt,' a Cairo diplomat once declared.