Wednesday 8 August 2012

Egypt’s Intelligence Chief Ordered to Retire

Local Editor

Retired Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Muwafi

Egypt's President Mohammad Morsi Wednesday ordered spy chief Murad Muwafi to retire in a shuffle of military and intelligence ranks extending to the head of the Republican Guard and the governor of North Sinai.
The decision comes several days after a deadly ambush in Sinai killed 16 soldiers, prompting an unprecedented military crackdown in the peninsula, but Morsi's spokesman did not say whether the attack had prompted the changes.

Morsi also ordered Defence Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to find a new head for the military police, his spokesman Yassir Ali said in a televised statement.

Morsi appointed Mohammad Rafaat Abdel Wahad Shehata as the interim head of General Intelligence.
Earlier on Wednesday, Muwafi, himself a former governor of North Sinai, issued a rare public statement saying that his agency had forewarning of the weekend attack that killed the soldiers.
But he said the intelligence did not specify where the attack would take place and he had passed it on to the "relevant authorities," adding that his powerful agency's role was only to collect information.
The shuffle extended to Abdel Wahab Mabruk, the governor of North Sinai where the attack took place.

Morsi is likely to have reached the decisions with the military, which ruled the country between Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February 2011 and Morsi's inauguration as his successor in June.

Egypt’s Intelligence Services Promotes Naiveté

By Sarah El Sirgany - Wed, 2012-08-08 18:31- Labyrinth

The head of the Egyptian Intelligence reportedly said that he had information about a possible attack in Sinai beforehand, but didn’t think a Muslim would attack a fellow Muslim in Ramadan during iftar.

This came two days after an attack on an army unit near the Egypt-Gaza border killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.

Morad Mowafy, head of the General Intelligence Services (GIS), said he sent this information to the concerned authorities, stressing that his job is limited to gathering information.

The statement, which so far has not been denied by the GIS, marks a new low for Egypt’s government. Not only does it show extreme incompetence and a blatant attempt to avoid blame, but it also comes from an assumption that Egyptians would believe it and sympathize with presumed GIS gullibility.
This naïve sensationalism is expected to lead Egyptians to deflect their anger solely towards a cowardly enemy, but not to question the efficiency of this once revered intelligence service.

Mr. Mowafy simply expects us to be stupid.

Egyptians are not stupid. Reactions to the army’s retaliatory assault on militant strongholds in Sinai on Wednesday revolve around a main theme: if authorities knew about such places why didn’t they raid them before Sunday’s attack?

This question is raised, while there are concerns of random arrests and killings, typical of security crackdowns in Sinai.

But that’s not the only theme discussed today. The fatal attack is being used by rival political groups to serve their own goals, each interpreting it in a different way. Mowafy’s statement is already finding its supporters. Despite scathing cynicism that was spurred by Mowafy’s statement, some have volunteered justifications doused in self-righteous patriotism, simply because this statement would undermine rivals.

Egyptians are not stupid. They simply make a conscious decision to peddle the version of the story that best fits their convictions. This is why Mowafy and other officials will continue to make equally unintelligent statements, with the valid expectation that some Egyptians will enthusiastically cheer them on.

Update: On Wednesday afternoon, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi gave orders to dismiss Mowafy from his position as head of the GIS, along with dismissing the head of the military police, the North Sinai governor and the head of the republican guard.