Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

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Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

Post by DJKeefy »

The head of Egypt’s armed forces, General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, has once again proven himself a master of political timing.

Just as people were beginning to despair at the vicious cycle of violence and political stalemate, wondering whether the state was truly capable of firmly standing against vandalism and outright terrorism instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood, Sisi chose to address the nation on Wednesday.

His immediate audience were the families of fresh military graduates, middle-class parents, the vanguard of conservative values. They are the ones most affected by the chaos on the streets and are fearful of the uncertain future facing the new state. General Sisi managed to allay the growing fears and banish the spectre of a failed, leaderless Egypt.

His messaging was concise, precise, forceful yet spoken from the heart (not once did he look at his written notes). The content was also strong, with phrases ike: the army will not permit a descent into chaos, democracy is the power of the people, and so on.

Most importantly, however, he asked for a show of popular support on Friday to grant the army a mandate to "confront possible violence and terrorism." It is the first public hint of an imminent security crackdown on the Brotherhood, and its alleged affiliates in terrorist cells in the Sinai Peninsula. I expect people to respond to the general's request and take to the streets on Friday because they are fed up of being bothered by the Brotherhood's militias on the streets of Cairo, the Delta and other governorates.

If they do, it will indeed be the green light General Sisi needs for his supposed war on terror. The army believes that its primary enemy from within is now the Muslim Brotherhood, who show no sign of giving up and agreeing to negotiations or national reconciliation. Neither the Ikhwan, nor their affiliates and allies, were ever genuinely interested in national dialogue after 3 July because they realised that with Morsy gone, their collective Islamic project was history. There is no future for political Islam in Egypt, at least for decades to come. This is why the Islamists will never give up without a fight.

On Wednesday, General Sisi seemed to signal that he is ready to bring it to them. Politically, he has put his neck on the line in a gamble that will probably pay off when people take to the streets Friday. With the Ikhwan’s show of violence since Morsy's ouster, it seems as if the army - strategically at least - has no choice but to attack the Brotherhood and attempt to uproot its alleged militias and armed cells in the Sinai.

Many people worry that this will mean more violence and strife. But deep down, we all probably realise that there is no way out of the current national crisis without violence. The Brotherhood has left no room for negotiations or peaceful reconciliation. Instead, once again, they will reunite the country behind the military in a war on terror - of their own making. And the military will have no choice but to fight back.

The intriguing factor in all this is the future role General Sisi will play in politics. After yesterday, it's hard to imagine him retreating to the shadows of the Egyptian political scene.

All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Egypt Independent.

Source: http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/op ... r%E2%80%9D


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Re: Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

Post by Hafiz »

So his message is - its going to get much worse and it will all be the fault of the Brotherhood. Oh the brotherhood are terrorists. How does that go - they were in government for a year and were never accused of terrorism, they were suppressed and jailed for 60 years and no-one could nail terror on them. Hmm obviously they have changed and it took the wise Sisi to point this important thing out to us. We must be grateful.

For people who couldn't organize anything in government the army expects the brotherhood to be really organized in 'opposition'

Phrases like 'there may be no way out of the national crisis without violence" and the brotherhood have left no room don't sound like the words of those who fear or want to avoid violence - they sound like the words of those threatening violence.

The middle classes are those most affected by the chaos. Really! That really shows that Sisi understands the country.

The brotherhood has terrorist cells in Sinai. Well that's very fresh news. If you wanted an effective terror cell why would you establish it in Sinai. You win in Sinai, you win in (only) Sinai.

Quote: "army - strategically at least - has no choice but to attack the Brotherhood and attempt to uproot its alleged militias and armed cells in the Sinai.". No doubt on intentions here.

Quote 'war on terror' which terror, where is it, who has been attacked by terrorists. Before anyone goes on about the terror in Sinai this banditry has been going for years and was, for the first time, called terror only in the past few weeks. Before that it was always bandits.

As usual the Independent fails the drool test and its more exact version the slaver probe. However in this case, a journalist drooling whilst interviewing might be unfortunate, to spray it on your readers is pure carelessness and might also explain some of the slippery content.

Dina Hamdy is a funny little thing. She has appeared at the misnomered Independent only in the past few days to write slavering journalism and all of it about Sisi. You would think that such a job would go to a senior journalist, and maybe she is a senior journalist just one that has never published before.

For those with a conspiratorial mind the Dina Hamdy which is closest to a journalist on Linkedin was a senior political analyst at british embassy, cairo, Head of Commercial Information Centre at US embassy in cairo, Journalist at Alwatan Newspaper which is all a bit confusing and a bit of a worry. Maybe someone's identity has been stolen because no analyst, journalist or supplier of US commercial information would risk being associated with this vomit and incitement to violence.
Last edited by Hafiz on Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

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No Comment.......:cool:
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Re: Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

Post by carrie »

I always believed that the Muslim Brotherhood were behind the attack on tourists at Hapchepsut Temple, was this not a terrorist attack? Surely this is why there was such an outcry in Luxor when Mosi tried to install the last Governor.
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Re: Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

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carrie wrote:I always believed that the Muslim Brotherhood were behind the attack on tourists at Hapchepsut Temple, was this not a terrorist attack? Surely this is why there was such an outcry in Luxor when Mosi tried to install the last Governor.
Add to that the unrest in Middle Egypt that shut down the Long Nile Cruise for nearly 20 years, and various atrocities in Sinai.

I hope that firm government or military action will take control of the country so that citizens can start rebuilding their lives and tourists can feel safe. I suspect that this will take years rather than months, but I will return to the Nile Valley as soon as the FCO says that it is safe. In 2011 I was on one of the first flights into Luxor in February, to show my support for my friends.
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Re: Opinion: Egypt's “war on terror” by Dina Hamdy

Post by Hafiz »

Why did you believe the brotherhood was involved? Do you know something I don't know?

At the time JI claimed responsibility and were pursued by the army/police.

If the brotherhood was involved, Mubarak would have broadcast it from the roof. Even if they weren't involved he would have put it about to smear his political enemies if he thought this could be believed. He did neither. There were no arrests of brotherhood members for this crime and this was at a time when pretty much anyone could be rounded up and 'fitted up'.

The brotherhood has never been scheduled as a terrorist organization by any western democracy and that includes the brotherhood in all its forms: Turkey, Tunisia, Libya etc. At no stage in the past 2 1/2 years has the State Department expressed any concerns about the bona fides or history of the Egyptian brotherhood. On the other side of the ledger it does seem they were implicated in the assassination of Sadat (surely not a bad thing) and maybe an attempt on Mubarak. I draw a distinction between terror and 2 assassinations. It is also true that the brotherhood in Gaza, Hamas, is regarded as a terrorist organization but so was its secular Fatah nd both operate in Palestine where even the best would be tempted to take up arms.

I've said in another post that Algeria was a case of a civil way following a military coup against an Islamist government. 250,000 were killed in over a decade with, by far, the greatest killings of Islamist. An example you might say of brotherhood terrorism. Well you would be wrong. The brotherhood refused to recognize the coup but refused to take up arms - even though the military were brutal in dealing with people who shared their religious positions.

There are lots of myths out there and some of them are about the English. If you have beliefs about others outside your culture and background I hope they are based on evidence. The evidence as I see it is that not all forms of conservative Islam believe in violence just as not all English are arrogant and treat Egyptians with colonial disdain.
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