Egypt general's paper offers insight into thinking
Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:04pm GMT
* Islamist president changed top army commanders
* New chief of staff trained, like others, in U.S.
* Egypt gets $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid a year
By Edmund Blair
CAIRO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Egypt's new second-in-command of the military has
said that U.S. troops should be withdrawn from the Middle East while any
democratisation in the region should come from within and have religious
legitimacy, according to a paper he wrote in 2005.
Though published before U.S. President Barack Obama was elected, the
document written while newly appointed Chief of Staff Sidki Sobhi was
studying in the United States offers a rare insight into the thinking of a
top officer in the traditionally opaque Egyptian army.
The generals, who for decades stayed in the shadows, were thrust to the fore
when Hosni Mubarak, himself a former air force commander, was toppled in an
uprising last year and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took charge.
An Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, came to office in June and stamped his
authority over the military this week by retiring the country's two top
generals and taking back vital powers they had earlier retained for
themselves.
Though generals held news conference and gave interviews when in charge,
they gave little away in public about their thoughts on broader policy
beyond the transition, such as the crucial relationship with the United
States, which gives Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid a year and trains
many officers.
"I recommend that the permanent withdrawal of the United States military
forces from the Middle East and the Gulf should be a goal of the U.S.
strategy in this region," wrote Sobhi, then a brigadier general studying for
a Master of Strategic Studies Degree at the U.S. War College.
He added in his concluding remarks to the 10,600-word thesis "that the
United States should pursue its strategic goals in the region through
socioeconomic means and the impartial application of international law", in
a reference to what he had earlier described as Washington's "one-sided"
relationship with Israel.
He said the presence of U.S. troops in the region had been used as a
justification for armed struggle by radical Islamists.
Though many in the Middle East object to U.S. soldiers being posted there,
it is unusual to hear the view aired so clearly by a senior figure in the
army of Egypt, a staunch U.S. ally.
Sobhi, 56, was appointed chief of staff, the military's second most senior
post, in the surprise shake-up announced on Sunday by Mursi, whose Muslim
Brotherhood group was routinely hounded and jailed in the past six decades
by Mubarak and other presidents who all hailed from the military.
COMMUNICATION
The army's top officer, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as
Mubarak's defence minister for 20 years and led the military council, was
forced into retirement, replaced by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former
head of intelligence.
Sobhi said there was "a fundamental lack of understanding and communication"
between foreign policy makers from U.S. administrations and governments in
the region, writing before Obama sought to shift U.S. policy by reaching out
to the Arab and Muslim world with a pivotal speech in Cairo in 2009.
The general said one reason was U.S. policy makers worked in a strictly
secular democratic system but: "The Islamic religion is strongly interlinked
to various degrees with the functioning of most Arab governments and their
respective societies."
The process of democratisation "must have and project political, social,
cultural, and religious legitimacy. In other words, this democratisation
process must be of and viewed as having a purely domestic origin," he wrote,
highlighting in italics the words "religious", "viewed" and "purely
domestic".
He said Washington should turn its focus to a "new Marshall Plan", mirroring
the huge package of aid that helped Europe rebuild after World War Two, to
regain its influence.
Sobhi's thesis was posted on a U.S. Department of Defense website, and was
initially highlighted by blogger and analyst Issandr El Amrani.
The dramatic army changes followed a military blunder on Aug. 5 on the Sinai
border with Israel when 16 border guards were killed by militants, giving
Mursi an opening to act amid public anger and - some more junior officers
said - grumbles among some military ranks over the army leadership.
RELIGIOUS ALLEGIANCE?
The generals have shown no sign of challenging Mursi's decision. Tantawi and
former Chief of Staff Sami Enan were both warmly greeted and awarded medals
by the president in a ceremony shown on state television on Tuesday.
One Western diplomat and other observers have suggested the new commanders
may have Islamist sympathies or hold conservative values that may appeal to
the Brotherhood. But others played down such talk, including Robert
Springborg, a professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in California.
Writing in Foreign Policy, he said the main reason for removing Tantawi "was
not Islamist commitment, but accumulated dissatisfaction with the field
marshal's debasement of their institution and its capacities, triggered by
his inept political manoeuvring".
The Western diplomat said some discontent may have prompted the change,
including from U.S.-trained officers imbued with the idea that the army
should stay outside politics.
Sisi's intelligence background, suggesting a deep knowledge of army
personnel, could have made him an attractive ally for Mursi, the diplomat
said. "He is the best person to have on your side. You promoted him, you own
him," he said.
Washington has urged the new commanders and the civilian authorities to work
together on Egypt's democratic transition.
"These new appointees, the new leaders of the military are all people that
we have worked with before and many of whom have trained here in the United
States as well," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Among the other promotions was General Mohamed el-Assar who was appointed
deputy defence minister. He has been in charge of relations with the United
States, one reason that may have helped his promotion as well as the fact
that he spoke out early after Mubarak's ousting against the former
president.
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
------------[ Sent via the dehai-wn mailing list by dehai.org]--------------
Received on Wed Aug 15 2012 - 17:29:14 EDT
