#tantawi

I really should have mentioned ages ago that the new Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsy, who everybody thought would be a wispy figurehead, suddenly pulled out a bunch of sneak-attack ninja honey badger shit a few days ago (or last week? By now? I suck).

The catalyst: "a group" (nobody seems to specify how many) of Islamic extremists and Bedouin attacked the Egyptian guards in the Sinai near the Israeli border, then managed to get barely through the Israeli border before being toasted by the IDF. (The Islamists' grievance would be about the Israeli "occupation," the Bedouin's about the Egyptian and Israeli states' constant interference with their lands and general negligence of their interests.) It's worth noting that in order to do this, they ambushed the Egyptian security personnel while they were in the middle of breaking their Ramadan fast. Apparently, Murad Mouwafi, the head of intelligence, had actually gotten wind of this planned attack and did nothing about it because he didn't believe Muslims would attack Muslims at such a holy time (which is both a headdesk and actually really sad). 

This, of course, led to a big to-do, since Egypt has been one of the only Israel-friendly states in the region. Understand, this doesn't mean Egyptians are Israel-friendly; it means that the state leaders decided that the US's side of the broad regional divide was the side to be on, so they made a treaty with Israel and have been delivering it natural gas for a long time. Post-revolution, the future of that relationship has been...much more uncertain, especially with an Ikhwan president.

Mursi made the usual statements; we will catch these criminals, get to the bottom of it, etc. etc. BUT THEN--Well, I'll let this article do the talking:

With a bold decree canceling the June 17 Supplementary Constitutional Declaration that limited his powers just before his inauguration--as well as a spate of new senior appointments eliminating senior leaders of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and promoting more junior SCAF members--President Mohammed Morsi appears to be using last week's Sinai crisis as an opportunity to implement a broader plan. [...]

Morsi has now sacked Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Minister of Defense since 1991 and de facto president since Mubarak's departure, and Chief of Staff Sami Enan (often seen as almost equal to Tantawi in power), giving them medals for service and making them presidential advisors.  Morsi also replaced the heads of the air force and navy.

I cannot begin to tell you how unexpected and badass this is. Tantawi was the de facto head of state during the interim period; he ran SCAF. Most people I know took his reappointment as Minister of Defense as a sign of his continued influence and Morsy's weakness. And then mere weeks later, BAM. 

Secondly, Morsy essentially reversed a number of declarations SCAF had made just prior to the elections that aggregated a great deal of power to themselves. (See the same article for more detail.) Now, this is good, in that it weakens SCAF's overbearing influence, but whether it ultimately works out well depends a great deal on what he does with these powers. If he devolves them to Parliament (whenever THAT mess gets worked out) and the constituent assembly that's meant to be writing the new constitution, then this is basically an A+ gold star, as far as I'm concerned. But that remains to be seen.

You guys, I did NOT see this coming and I LOVE IT. Partly because anything that takes the military down a notch is good, but honestly? I love politics. My favorite scenes in Game of Thrones are when Varys and Lord Baelish (and whoever else--they have revolving partners) are dancing around each other, saying all sorts of things without saying anything at all. And this? This is going to be GREAT politics. This is MUCH more interesting than Morsy the figurehead. I'm basically rubbing my hands.

By Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh, NY Times, August 13, 2012 CAIRO--In his purge of Egypt's top generals, President Mohamed Morsi leaned on the support of a junior officer corps that blamed the old guard for a litany of problems within the military and for involving the armed forces too deeply in the country's politics after the uprising that ousted Mr. Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview, one ranking officer said the military had grown increasingly demoralized because of meager salaries, cronyism, shoddy equipment, a lack of promotion opportunities and growing confusion over the role of its leaders.

Those complaints crystallized last week after gunmen killed 16 soldiers in the northern Sinai Peninsula, causing embarrassment throughout the ranks. "The military didn't change," said the officer, a unit commander who was not authorized to speak to reporters and requested anonymity. "Give me equipment to work. You can't give me ruined cars, a hundred soldiers and ask me to secure 30 square kilometers in the desert."

The changing of the guard left an uncertain landscape. The balance of power has apparently shifted to Mr. Morsi, with the powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which had been running the country since the revolution last year, unsettled but still firmly in place. On Monday, a day after the generals' ouster, there were no signs that the military was mobilizing in protest.

That led many analysts to suspect that the president had reached an accommodation with a new generation of military leaders who were seeking to restore the armed forces' credibility, enhance their own positions, and preserve the military's privileged and protected place in society.

On Sunday, Mr. Morsi forcibly retired the country's defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and the army chief of staff, Sami Hafez Enan. The heads of the air force, navy and air defense were also forced into retirement. Since the purge, Egyptians have desperately sought clues about whether the shake-up would begin a new period of conflict between the military and Mr. Morsi, a former leader in the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Changing those leaders was smart for Morsi," the officer said. "He waited for the right timing, when the country had already taken steps along the right path."

Whether or not Mr. Morsi struck a bargain with the younger officers, he might have enhanced his credibility with political forces outside the Brotherhood who had clamored for an end to military rule. At the same time, he could gain a degree of loyalty from a cast of officers who owe their new prominence to him.

Since the uprising, the military's status has been the subject of a tug of war between the Brotherhood, which is the country's most powerful political party, and the armed forces, represented by Field Marshal Tantawi and the military council.

That struggle grew more confrontational as the Brotherhood and Mr. Morsi closed in on the presidency before the elections this spring, devolving into a fight over political authority that threatened to further polarize an already divided nation.

Emad Shahin, a political science professor at the American University of Cairo, said: "The negotiation process over the last year and a half was not working. It's not producing results." He said the younger generation of military leaders, recognizing that fact, might have welcomed the change in leadership.

They included Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, whom Mr. Morsi named as Field Marshal Tantawi's replacement. "I see tons of reasons why Sisi should cooperate," Mr. Shahin said, including a need to rehabilitate the military's image. "If I were in Sisi's shoes, I would say, 'Maybe if we remove these stubborn generals, something will happen.' "

The killings of the soldiers provided another reason for the young officers to act. "This is definitely a failure of the military institution to uphold its responsibility," Mr. Shahin said.

The opaque nature of Egypt's military made it hard to determine precisely what sort of debates had taken place. Some said it was possible that a faction within the supreme council, including General Sisi, was willing to settle for far less than the broad powers that Field Marshal Tantawi and his allies had sought for themselves.

It remains to be seen whether a new formula will greatly alter the dynamic between Egypt's military and civilian authorities. "Is this going to be another partition of the military and civilian spheres, with a new group in charge of the military sphere?" asked Robert Springborg, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and an expert on the Egyptian military.

"Is the Brotherhood taking control of the military? Or is it the beginning of democratic control?" he said.

And while Mr. Springborg said it was still unclear whether the initiative had come from Mr. Morsi or the young officers, there had been longstanding calls for change within the military. "There was widespread disaffection on professional grounds with Tantawi and company," he said.

Performance was not rewarded, Mr. Springborg said, explaining that officers would be sent for training, before being sidelined. "The assumption was that the military was for show," he said. "Soldiers would say: 'They didn't want us to do our jobs. They didn't let us fly the planes, or drive the tanks.' "

The unit commander said soldiers were poorly compensated and saddled with failing equipment. Dissatisfaction with the military's leaders for staying too long grew. "For the field marshal and Enan, it's enough, really," he said. "We want development. We want fresh blood. We don't want ministers to remain in their positions for 30 or 40 years any more."

Mr. Morsi was left no choice but to remove Field Marshal Tantawi, according to the unit commander. "If you asked anybody who's ruling the country, the answer would have been the field marshal," he said.

That does not mean the commander and his fellow officers are any more comfortable with the new president.

"The truth is," he said, "we're worried because he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood. We're worried that this could be a step to win the loyalty of the new leaders, in preparation for another step in the future."

Still, the president picked wisely, he said, bringing in "respectable people" who "understand the nature of our work."

Powerful head of armed forces and chief of army staff dismissed and top commanders retired in shock announcement.

aljazeera:

The Egyptian president has ordered the powerful head of the army and defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, into retirement and cancelled constitutional amendments issued by the military restricting presidential powers.

Mohamed Morsi announced through a spokesman on Sunday the dismissal of Tantawi and his appointment as a presidential adviser.

According to state television, Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi would replace Tantawi as defence minister and the general commander of the army.

Morsi also sent into retirement the chief of army staff, Sami Anan, and appointed him as a presidential adviser.

Lieutenant-General Sidki Sayed Ahmed was named as Anan's replacement.

Morsi further appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice-president. All decisions are effective immediately.

The latest moves are seen as escalating the power struggle between Morsi, who took office on June 30, and the military.

Tantawi was the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled the country after Hosni Mubarak was toppled as president in February 2011.

He was defence minister for nearly two decades under Mubarak.

Brotherhood-military tensions

Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, and his Islamist allies did not hide their displeasure with the amendments issued by the military in mid-June curtailing the president's role and granting the army massive powers, including legislative control.

Earlier this week, Morsi sacked the head of the intelligence service. 

Besides Tantawi and Anan, Morsi also ordered the retirement of the commanders of the navy, air defence and air force.

The retired navy commander, Lieutenant-General Mohan Mameesh, was named as chairman of the Suez Canal, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and a major source of revenues for the country.

Al Jazeera's correspondent, Sherine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said the president's spokesperson made the surprising announcement on state television."There will be a lot of questions asked, especially if Morsi is able to do this," she said.

"In the coming hours, we will find out how this decision came about. All of this has happened very fast, and it was unexpected."

kids at an elementary school in Dashour, Egypt playing "revolution". they're chanting "the people demand the downfall of the field marshall (tantawi)"