Tantawi, eating his words
Issandr El AmraniFrom the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, in a report on Wikileaks US Embassy cable reports on Pakistan:
The dismissive attitude towards Pakistan is, however, not limited to Western governments. In a cable dated December 21, 2009, Egyptian Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi told US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair that Egypt encountered the same suspicions from Pakistan as the US did. Pakistanis, he said, “don’t trust Egyptians either.” He went on to say that “while the Pakistanis were ‘difficult’… Egypt was still trying to ‘work with them.’” According to the cable, Mr Tantawi, who has previously served as the Egyptian Defence Attache to Pakistan, also pointedly noted that “any country where the military became engaged in ‘internal affairs’ was ‘doomed to have lots of problems.’”
Priceless.
Tantawi's history as Egyptian Defense Attaché in Pakistan in the 1980s — probably as a major conduit in the Saudi and US-led effort to send mujaheddin to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan — deserves a closer investigation. The relationships Tantawi must have developed with key actors in that semi-covert war (which Egypt backed, with even al-Ahram carrying advertisements to "join the jihad" in Afghanistan) such as Prince Bandar. Hence the long-held rumor that not only Tantawi has close relations with the al-Sauds, but also that he is a religious conservative whose views would not be out of sync with the Muslim Brothers.
Reader Comments (4)
Very very interesting - you know the 70s and 80s were a time when the Pakistan army got religion, esp under Gen Zia and had to pass a piety test to get promoted as officers and had prayers in the mess halls and so on - supposedly to increase their fighting spirit and commitment to the "ideology of Pakistan" - would make sense that Tantawi saw a lot of that, wonder what he made of it.
Well, but the military was also known for its hostility towards over-religiousity within in its ranks in the Mubarak-era - of which Tantawi was a corner-stone. I simply can't buy that argument Tantawi and the council are giving an advantageous position to the brotherhood because of mere religiousity. I actually smell a much more rotten deal about that than just mere religiousity or personal conservativeness of the council members.
It is a great concern that Tantawi may plan to emulate the Pakistani model, i.e., making the military a separate entity, quasi-government, a state within the state, a "fourth" branch of government.
Moe - I agree with you. But people like Tantawi could even hold the same religious views as the Brotherhood and still see them as a threat. The current alliance between the military and Brotherhood is tactical and shallow: it's basically an understanding that the MB will help the peace and the military will not oppose them forming a party. This could all change quickly.