The first arrow aimed at the reputation of the Egyptian military was shot on October 6, 1981. During celebrations marking the 8th anniversary of the October War victory, ex-president Sadat, the hero of the October War in 1973, was assassinated by Jamat Islamiyya. The nation was taken by surprise when Sadat's assassins were given presidential pardons. That surprise turned into genuine shock on October 6, 2012 as the country witnessed an act of un-poetic justice. Sadat's assassins were given front row seats in the VIP gallery at Cairo Stadium where celebrations were held, marking the 39th anniversary of the October War victory. The Egyptian military suffered more stinging insults when Sadat's successor, former president Hosni Mubarak, who was also a war hero, was put in jail for allegedly refusing to prevent the police from killing demonstrators during the January uprising two years ago. The anti-Mubarak uprising erupted on January 25, the same date on which the police were sacrificed in battles against British paratroopers and tanks in Ismailia more than 65 years ago. Image of the war hero being stretched out on a wheeled bed in the dock of a Criminal Court was broadcast by television channels across the world. Another war hero, Air Marshal Ahmed Shafiq, was insulted and had his reputation and military career mutilated. The air marshal, whose chest is heavily decorated with medals and trappings for his patriotic role in the October War, was inundated by a deluge of scandalous accusations to dump him in jail. Shafiq lost, by the narrowest of margins, to President Mohamed Morsi in the presidential elections in May 2012. Realising that the January Revolution unleashed a heated hunt for October War heroes and veterans, Shafiq flew to Dubai in the UAE. Other suspects of corruption cases known as Shafiq's case, are none other than fighter pilots, who have, for 39 years, been trying to come to terms with physical and psychological injuries they sustained during the October War. The deliberate insult to the history and the reputation of the Egyptian military expanded and laid on the heads of army generals in SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), who were assigned on the evening of January 28, 2011 by the former president to keep order and prevent the nation from sliding into more tragic mayhem. Carried along by slogans coined sinisterly by certain political and Islamist powers, youngsters marred the weeks-long October War festivities in 2011 by attacking army soldiers, who were guarding the state-owned television building, known as the Maspero Building, on the Nile. An undisclosed number of soldiers were killed by gunshots and petrol bombs; likewise, several protesters were killed at the outbreak of panic and bloody confrontation. Hours after the so-called Maspero battle subsided, voices from different directions howled threats, calling for the scalp – or at least the detention – of SCAF's members and their head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Despite insults raining on their heads, SCAF's members pledged that they would restrain themselves to prevent the shedding of blood. Tantawi urged the agitated protesters to calm down. He issued warnings of a conspiracy aimed at dragging the army's feet into a blood bath. The Egyptian military paid an expensive price for its self-restraint and wise management of a peaceful transitional period. In the heat of the revolution (in August 2012 and only a month after the successor of former president Hosni Mubarak was inaugurated) 16 Egyptian soldiers were assassinated. The bloody attack coincided with the sunset meal, which breaks a day-long fast in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Although different stories sought to unravel the mystery behind the bloody attack, one substantial analysis indicated that the killing of the soldiers in Rafah was the price the Egyptian military paid for its safe and wise management of the chaotic transitional period after president Hosni Mubarak had stepped down on February 11, 2011. Arrows aimed at the reputation and history of the Egyptian military increased two days ago after Minister of Defence, Gen Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, ignored calls seeking the re-deployment of the army in the country to oversee a second transitional period. In his refusal to the suspicious appeals, Gen el-Sissi said that the army would by no means intervene in political brawls in society. “The Egyptian army knows what its chief national priorities are; and where, how and when it should accomplish them," the Minister of Defence said. Those wishing to tarnish the Egyptian military's reputation responded quickly. Three policemen and four soldiers were captured and taken hostage in North Sinai, east of the coastal city of el-Arish. Preliminary reports associated the identity of the kidnappers with militants belonging to Salafist Jihadist (holy warriors) and Takfir groups. Demands submitted by the abductors substantiated stories about their identity. They demanded the release of their relatives (accomplices) from a Cairo jail. The abduction of the seven soldiers will not be the last. The army should brace itself for paying more expensive prices for its stubborn refusal to walk down the trap and bite the bait.
