Obituary: Field Marshal Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala (1930-2008) One of the most respected military figures in Egypt, Field Marshal Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala disappeared from the political scene in the early 1990s. The sudden ending of what was by all accounts a brilliant career gave rise to a flurry of speculation and rumours. President Hosni Mubarak attended Abu Ghazala's funeral last Sunday, alongside senior officials and military commanders, some of whom worked closely with Abu Ghazala when he was minister of defence and war production, later deputy prime minister and then assistant to the president. A cannon wagon drawn by black horses carried the coffin behind which walked hundreds of officers and soldiers from the Egyptian armed forces. Abu Ghazala was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in the jaw last year and received treatment in France. President Mubarak called him often and advised him to travel again to continue the treatment. A brilliant military commander, Abu Ghazala was one of the heroes of the 1973 War. Under his leadership the Armed Forces subsequently undertook many public projects involving construction and food production. During the many years of my work as a military reporter, I had the chance to learn first hand just how respected he was among army personnel. Known to his friends by his first name, Tharwat, Abu Ghazala was born on 15 January 1930 in the village of Qubur Al-Omara, later renamed Zuhur, near Al-Dilingat in Beheira governorate. He was a scion of the powerful Awlad Ali tribe which dwells mostly on the Egyptian-Libyan border. After finishing high school in Damanhur he joined the Military College, graduating on 1 February 1949 and joining the artillery corps immediately afterwards. As a young officer Abu Ghazala lived in Hilmiyat Al-Zaytun, on a narrow street behind the Sheikh Bekhit Mosque. There he built himself a three-storey house, occupying the top floor. He stayed in this modest dwelling until he became a general. His neighbours still talk proudly of the "general" who lived the life of a common man. He used to play football with the soldiers in his barracks. He is known to have fought for better housing and healthcare for army personnel. "Sweat in training saves blood in battle," he used to tell his men. Abu Ghazala was in the Soviet Union between 1957 and 1961, where he earned an artillery commander diploma from the Stalin Academy. He then worked as a teacher in the artillery institute, and was its head during the 1967 War. On 27 June 1967 he was appointed head of military intelligence and, later the same year, became military attaché in the US. During his stay in the US he obtained an honours diploma from the US War Academy, the first non-American to do so. During the 1973 War Abu Ghazala commanded the second army artillery and later was promoted to chief of staff. On 15 May 1980 he became commander of the chiefs of staff and was promoted to lieutenant general. On 1 October 1981 the second congress of the National Democratic Party (NDP) appointed him to the NDP Political Bureau. A few days later he became minister of defence and military production. In April 1982 Abu Ghazala became field marshal. On 1 September he was named deputy prime minister and minister of defence and war production in the new government. In September 1985 he was appointed deputy prime minister and, once more, defence minister, this time under Ali Lutfi. In November 1986 he would retain the posts in the first and then the second government of Atef Sidqi. He was named assistant to the president in April 1989. As head of military production Abu Ghazala oversaw military factories as well as the Arab Industrialisation Organisation. He established Factory 99 to assemble the Abrams M1A1 tank. During the Afghanistan conflict and the Iraq- Iran war Egypt's military exports soared, topping $1 billion in 1984. President Anwar El-Sadat was sitting between Abu Ghazala and then vice-president Mubarak in October 1981 when Sadat was assassinated. Following the assassination parliamentary speaker Sofi Abu Taleb became transitional president and the search for a successor started in earnest. The two frontrunners for the post were Mubarak and Abu Ghazala. Then Prime Minister Fouad Mohieddin wanted to know what Abu Ghazala thought should happen. "We have two candidates, you and Mubarak, which one is it going to be?" he asked. Without a moment of hesitation Abu Ghazala said Mubarak. The transition went smoothly, with Mubarak becoming president and Abu Ghazala acting as number two till the late 1980s, when he was removed from centre stage. The most likely explanation for Abu Ghazala's removal appeared in the Western press in June 1988. To this day Egyptian sources decline to comment on the story. According to Western reports US authorities in California arrested an Egyptian-American rocket scientist named Abdel-Qader Helmi. He was charged with attempting to export banned material to Egypt for use in the Badr 2000 programme. Helmi was said to be acting on Abu Ghazala's orders. An Egyptian officer was arrested in Baltimore in connection with the same case. He was charged with loading an Egyptian military aircraft with carbon phenolic cloth, a material that is used in missile nose cones and helps to elude radar. A year later, Helmi pleaded guilty to the charge of the illegal exporting of 420 pounds of the banned material. The Egyptian government claimed diplomatic immunity for the officer involved in the case. Helmi, though, received 46 months in prison and a fine of $350,000. His assets of $1 million, said to have been paid by Egyptian intelligence officers, were confiscated. James Hoffman, an American implicated in the same case, received 41 months in prison and a fine of $7,500. The judge presiding over the case described it as an "intricate conspiracy" conducted by Egypt with Iraqi financial backing. Abu Ghazala was dismissed immediately after a US court asked to question him. In April 1989 he left the Defence Ministry to become assistant to the president, a job that carried no executive powers. Six months later US officials reported that Cairo had ended cooperation with Iraq and Argentina over developing missile technology. The affair didn't affect US military and economic assistance to Egypt, estimated at $2 billion a year. On February 1993 Abu Ghazala resigned his position as assistant to the president and retired from public life. Fluent in English, Russian and French, Abu Ghazala wrote several books on military history. These include The Art of War (a four volume study of Operation Desert Storm) and The Guns Roared at Noon, about the 1973 War. He also translated After the Storm, War and Counter War, a book about the use of mathematics in modern warfare, as well as penning an erudite introduction to Richard Nixon's Victory without War. Abu Ghazala is survived by his wife, Ashgan, and five sons. By Galal Nassar
