The 28th of October 2014 Washington Post’s editorial was a most welcome development since the newspaper correctly concluded, “Mr. Sissi has instituted the most repressive regime Egypt has known in more than a half-century.” The Post editorial even went further alleging al-Sissi atrocious actions are being undertaken “in the name of defeating Islamic extremism.” Thus, it is becoming clearin many corners including the Post in DC that under the catchall “war on terrorism”, al-Sissi, the Egyptian military and a small elite circle have used the claims of “fighting terrorism” as an effective instrument to the Egyptian terrorize people in the name of defending them from the “evil” scourge of heedless and senseless violence.
The facts about the situation in the Sinai Desert are not clear and all the information is filtered through the Egyptian government and Interior Ministry’s paid journalists as well as a strong network of thugs who control and dictate the terms on the street. The approach and strategy pursued by al-Sissi and the Egyptian military is reminiscent of similar circumstances deployed in Latin America during the 1980s which made it possible for government organized death squads to terrorize people into submission. I would not be surprised that some of the individuals who were involved in Latin America’s campaign are on the seen in Cairo providing consultation and “advice” on how to conduct a successful death and terror campaign against a civilian population that sought democratic change.
Death squads in Latin America trained by the Israeli Mossed and funded by the US were unleashed in a massive covert operationintended to terrorize framers, school teachers, workers, religious leaders, journalists and anyone opposing the military dictatorships installed and aligned with America’s interests in the region. At the time Communism was the bogyman threatening civilization itself and only death and terror can bring its “evil empire” to an end. The strategy caused thousands of deaths, produced massive casualties, disrupted economies, increased poverty and more dependence on the US military and economic support. In Latin America, military coups were the norm and dictatorships more preferable and easier to manage or manipulate than democracy.
For clarity purposes, al-Sissi led a military coup against a democratically elected government, disbanded the elected parliament, “suspended” the constitution and then moved to recreate an oppressive security state. Don’t let the carefully crafted al-Sissi coronation as president fool you for the presidential “election” was held without freedom and an already imprisoned opposition. Al-Sissi’s is presiding over a tyranny sanctioned by a totally flawed election process. Presently, the newly crafted security state under al-Sissi has already jailed more than 20,000 political prisoners, caused the death of at least two thousand civilians, and deployed the military all over the country including universities, coupled with total control of the press and reintroduction of the despised state of emergency.
The evidence coming out of the Sinai desert is not convincing and the level and intensity of reported “terrorist” attacks don’t add-up altogether. While not discounting the possible presence of terrorists in the Sinai desert; however the area is not as open or unregulated as the Egyptian government lead us to believe. Moreover, the Israeli security structure that has kept a close eye in the area and can hardly let any serious military threat develop on the Egyptian side of the border. In addition, the heavy focus on Gaza as the purported source of support for Sinai terrorist cells is laughable to even be considered legitimate but it does allow for the demonization and furthering the siege on Gaza; an Egyptian and Israeli goal for some years. Could it be that al-Sissi’s Sinai campaign is a pay back for Israel’s support and lobby efforts on his behalf and helping silence criticism in the US and Europe after the coup!
Mere days after the reported attacks on soldiers in Sinai, al-Sissi’s military moved to create an isolation region and a buffer zone between Egyptian’s Rafah and Gaza purportedly to prevent “terrorists” from coming in and out of the country. The plan calls for creating a 500-meter deep buffer zone by clearing 680 houses, trees and destroying tunnels the Egyptian government asserts are being used to smuggle arms from Gaza to militants in Sinai. What of interest in this development is how much it mirrors the same request that Israel made of Mubarak in 2004 and then was pursued in early 2007 by creating a subterraneansteal wall to prevent Palestinians from getting supplies that are not subject to “Israel’s diet program” for Gaza’s population.
As to the Egyptian Interior Ministry, it has considerable blood and intrigues on its hands to have any credibility on matters of security and public safety. As a matter of fact and public record, the 2011 bombing of the Alexandria church, which first was assigned to “Muslim terrorists,” was discovered that the Interior Minister was behind it and a number of Ministry operatives were implicated in the attack. The Ministry with Mubarak’s men at the helm hoped to stoke Christian-Muslim tensions in the country and then offer the military and interior ministry “police officers” or more like government thugs as a protection for both parties. We are certain that the Interior Ministry is good at fomenting and stoking religious and sectarian tensions in order to step-in the middle as a mediator to stop the supposed violence which they unleashed on both groups in the first place.
Under the guise of fighting Islamic terrorism, al-Sissi and the Egyptian military left no one from the opposition standing to mount a real challenge. Just as al-Sissi outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, the secular and liberal April 6 movement was also banned and the its leaders sent to jail by this tyrannical regime. The Post in the editorial rightly judged that the new measures “will . . . increase chaos and create a better environment for terrorism,” rather than bring it to an end; maybe it is exactly what al-Sissi and the military want so they can unleash violence across the country. Al-Sissi claim of fighting terrorism is being advanced in an attempt to consolidate power in Egypt by terrorizing the Egyptian people into submission while continuing to seek military and economic aid from the United States and Europe. The Post was correct in calling, “Instead of trying to free up aid that would be spent on tanks and fighter planes useless for fighting terrorism, the administration should be defending what remains of Egypt’s democratic opposition and civil society from Mr. Sissi.” The time has come for beginning to lay the ground for an international human rights and justice based effort to bring this tyranny to an end; the sooner the better for Egyptian and the region as a whole. The first step in this effort is cutting all military and economic aid to the “elected” dictator and his henchmen.
