A teachable moment in ME politics

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Progress - Need to work their way up from rape.

[Dr Strangelove]

This might be relevant:

Egypt President Mursi sacks officials after Sinai attacks Military spokesmen said the initial operation against militants in Sinai had been a "success" Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has sacked the country's intelligence chief and the governor of the country's North Sinai province.

Hours earlier, the Egyptian military launched an offensive in the region against suspected Islamist militants which it says has killed 20 people.

The campaign comes after militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the area on Sunday.

On Wednesday, more attacks followed on checkpoints in the town of al-Arish.

Those attacks left a number of people wounded and the military offensive was launched hours later.

The sacking of the country's intelligence chief was announced in a statement on state-run TV.

"Gen Mohamed Murad Mowafi is given retirement starting from today," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said.

Gen Mowafi had been quoted in Egyptian media as saying that the intelligence services had received warning of Sunday's attack.

However, he said they had only passed the matter on to the relevant authorities, saying that the intelligence services' job was only to collect information.

Mr Mursi has appointed an acting intelligence chief, Gen Mohamed Raafat Abdel-Wahed.

He also dismissed the commander of the presidential guard, as well as several other top security officials.

Sunday's attack was the the deadliest and most brazen against Egyptian troops in the Sinai region for decades, and Mr Mursi had faced criticism for not taking decisive action in response.
SINAI:

Huge desert peninsula of about 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq miles) with a population of only a few hundred thousand
Distinct identity from rest of Egypt; populated by native Bedouin and a substantial minority of Palestinian extraction
Of great strategic importance, linking Egypt to the Middle East, and site of Egyptian border with Israel and only non-Israeli border with Gaza
Under Israeli occupation from 1967 to 1982, it remains under special security regime mandated by 1979 peace treaty, which significantly restricts Egypt's freedom of military action and requires deployment of multinational peacekeeping force
There has been a surge in jihadist activity in the past decade, but analysts say discriminatory treatment by Cairo underpins local unrest


Wednesday's military offensive in Sinai killed 20 people in the village of Touma, according to military officials, while the Sheikh Zuwaid area to the west was also hit.

Military spokesmen said the initial operation had been a "success" and that it was ongoing.

This is the first time Egypt has fired missiles in Sinai since the 1973 war with Israel, when it attempted to recapture the Sinai peninsula, security officials told Associated Press.

Egyptian military presence in Sinai is limited and requires Israeli approval under the terms of the 1979 peace treaty between the nations which returned Sinai to Egyptian control.

State news agency Mena said that during the air raids, hours after the al-Arish checkpoints were attacked, "terrorists" had used rockets and rocket-propelled grenades to try to shoot down the military aircraft "but they failed".

Tensions are very high in the area, where Islamist extremists are said to have gained a foothold in recent months, taking advantage of the security vacuum left after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year, reports the BBC's Yolande Knell in Sinai.

The Egyptian soldiers killed in Sunday's attack were buried on Tuesday in a funeral marked by angry calls for vengeance.

Some protesters chanted slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood, and according to witnesses, tried to assault Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

Both Israeli and Egyptian officials blamed Sunday's attack on Islamist militants

So one reason that Egypt is so "incompetent" at policing the Sinai is that Israel requires prior notification of Egyptian military operations in the Sinai peninsula.
The Egyptian government, headed by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is now undertaking operations against the terrorists.
You might also consider that the Egyptian military still pretty much rules Egypt. If you recall the ruling military council has barred the Egyptian legislature from convening due to its domination by Muslim Brotherhood. It's that military council though which has failed to maintain security in the Sinai. The result of this incident may be the decline the power of the military council.

[Dr Strangelove]

Spam!

[MOBIUS]

And mobby flies off the handle

What, by turning the mirror on you and outing you for precisely the sort of thing you're accusing me of? Nice try numbnuts...

[C0ckney]

look zevico, those dastardly egypitans encouraging militants in the sinai again. they only sentenced them to death, the leniency! it's tantamount to ordering an attack on israel. i'd better call barry right away so that he write an article to tell you what to think.

A court in Egypt has sentenced 14 members of a militant Islamist group to death for attacks in the town of al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula last year.

Several policemen and soldiers were killed in the attacks, which targeted a police station and a bank.

The sentences must be approved by Egypt's most senior Muslim cleric.

[Dr Strangelove]

The incident seems to have been the downfall of the military ruling council.