THE LAST TIME I SAW CAIRO
By Rayburn Hesse
Each of the three trips I made to Cairo over 20 years involved significantly diverse incidents, most notably a 1986 visit which had potentially life-threatening consequences.
The Yom Kippur War
Also known as the October War, this fourth Arab-Israeli conflict in 1973 changed the political and geographic maps of the Middle East. A brief history of the conflict – its run-up and its outcomes – is essential.
Ironically, Anwar Sadat, originally perceived as merely a place-holder after the death of Nasser in 1970, was elevated to the presidency with the powerful backing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which today could again be a powerful player in determining the future course of Egypt. In 1970, Sadat sought to placate the fears of Israel and the US by forcing the Russians – and their large military presence – out of Egypt. The act proved to be a harbinger of things to come – Sadat immediately began building up the Egyptian military, a prelude to the decision by Syria and Egypt to attack Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar which coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The outcome, which initially led to Sadat being hailed as a hero after Egyptian forces crossed the Bar Lev Line, along the Suez Canal, once thought by Israel to be impregnable, ironically led to a peace treaty.
As reported by Wikipedia: “Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Israeli-held Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights respectively, which had been captured and occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War. The conflict led to a near-confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, both of whom initiated massive resupply efforts to their allies during the war. The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian attack across the heavily fortified Suez Canal during the first three days, after which they dug in, settling into a stalemate. The Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made threatening gains against the greatly outnumbered defenders. Within a week, Israel recovered and launched a four-day counter-offensive, driving deep into Syria. To relieve this pressure, the Egyptians went back on the offensive, but were decisively defeated; the Israelis then counterattacked at the seam between two Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal, and advanced southward and westward in over a week of heavy fighting. An October 22 United Nations-brokered ceasefire quickly unraveled, with each side blaming the other for the breach. By 24 October, the Israelis had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of Egypt's Third Army. This development prompted superpower tension, but a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the war. At the conclusion of hostilities, Israeli forces were 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Damascus and 101 kilometres (63 mi) from Cairo.”
When I arrived in November, for discussions unrelated to the war, Egyptian military, diplomatic and even tourism officials were anxious to show me to the Bar Lev Line – where I saw the hulks of destroyed tanks and trucks from both armies. An Egyptian general insisted the site was where they fought the Israelis to a stand-still. War and peace issues were not in my portfolio, but I tried with the best of diplomacy to suggest that Henry Kissinger and the UN stopped the Israelis, who had surrounded the Egyptian Army and were prepared to march on Cairo.
Fortunately, the eminent professor I was in Cairo to meet, and discuss money laundering in the Arab World and across the Sinai in particular, had no such illusions. He knew Cairo could have fallen, and was saved by the truce. The professor was a major voice on such matters in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Ironically, the war set the stage for the Camp David Accords and a peace, however fragile, between Egypt and Israel. The fragility of that peace worries the Israelis and the US as the current demonstrations in Cairo head toward a climax. More irony: Mubarak has been a defender of those accords, which led to Sadat’s assassination. However, there were other factors in that war which had a distinct bearing on the future. Iraq not only loaned fighter jets to Egypt, Iraq provided 18,000 troops. If there were any doubts on the Arab street about US sympathies after the 1967 war, the Yom Kippur war convinced Sadat and the Arab world that the US might put diplomatic pressure on Israel but, when shots were fired, the US would stand with Israel. Another factor in US policy in 1972 which holds true in 2011: the US (and Israel) do not want Egypt to become a fundamentalist state ala Iran – especially a state dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, then and now Egypt’s largest, best organized political party.
Misadventures in 1986
Landing in Cairo on a flight from Nairobi, where we had gone on safari (and conducted diplomatic business), an assistant secretary of State and I looked out on the tarmac, seeing a solid phalanx of Egyptian and other Arab officials, and a red carpet leading up to the stairs which had been rolled up to the airplane. The ASofS, whose ego was broader than the plains of Kalahari, immediately assumed the welcome was for him, and instructed me to wait in the plane while he descended the steps. Down he went, arms extended in a Nixon-like V – until he reached the bottom and saw the confused look on the faces of the greeting party. A stewardess informed me that the reception was for a Saudi prince. I raced down the stairs and grabbed a much embarrassed political appointee and with the help of an Embassy employee steered him to a waiting car. News of the gaffe had circulated throughout the US Embassy before we arrived to meet the Ambassador. (They had also heard about an incident in Nairobi, but that’s another story.)
A de rigueur itinerary called for a meeting with Egyptian narcotics officials. Talks focused on trafficking in drugs through Alexandria and Suez, and money laundering. Couldn’t tour Cairo with DEA in those days without a shopping trip in the El Khaled bazaar and a visit to the City of the Dead. Egyptians, whose ancestors had specialized in spectacular tombs, carried on that tradition, minimalized, with stone mausoleums, some with multiple rooms. The poor, who were legion in Cairo then and now, made homes in the mausoleums, with kerosene heaters, lamps and cookstoves, respectfully vacating on important anniversaries for the deceased lying in the stone coffins (often used as tables). But, these “houses” were also used by drug and other traffickers – with a degree of safety because ANGA officials (the narcotics police) and other enforcement agencies did not enter the city of the dead, treating it as a hallowed, even sacred site.
DEA wanted photographic proof of drug dealing amidst the tombs. The ASofS waxed volubly about my photography on safari , in particular a very long lens I possessed, and volunteered my services. Ergo, I found myself lying prone on top of one “house” with an Egyptian bodyguard, taking photos of a drug deal going down in an open area. Suddenly, a trafficker spied me, and perhaps mistaking that long lens for a weapon, began shouting in Arabic while everyone unlimbered their guns, and were pointing them at me. Two puffs from a silenced weapon erupted in shattered concrete. Trying for a hit, or just to scare us away? I chose not to debate the issue. Shoot a warning shot over their heads, I told my bodyguard; he shook his head, he had left his pistol in their car because he thought I had a gun. An American shooting at Egyptians in a forbidden place? No way, so we jumped to the roof of another tomb, then ran like stripe-assed apes down a corridor to the gate where had left the car, barely outrunning the traffickers who stumbled to a halt when they saw an Army weapons carrier drive up to the gate. The DEA agent cautioned against reporting the incident since I was in fact trespassing.
Leaving Cairo for Alexandria, where drugs and huge caches of money had attracted a large criminal element from many countries, we boarded an EgyptAir flight, sitting in the first two seats behind the bulkhead. Because of certain information in the Egyptian customs computer, the first class stewardess knew my identity and that of the ASofS. After the door was closed, the plane began to taxi – then halted. The stewardess handed me a drink and a cocktail napkin. Following her eyes, I read the message: Mr. Hesse, the man seated behind you has a bomb in his briefcase. Police are coming up through a cargo door. When the light outside the cockpit flashes red, create a disturbance.” When the light flashed, I grabbed the ASofS by the scruff of his collar and pushed him not too gently to the floor. When the bomber leaned over to see the scuffle, police seized his arms and prevented him from pulling the trigger on the explosive device. (I enjoyed putting him down -- hard.)
Later that night, security personnel at the US consulate in Alexandria informed me and Consul General Frances Cook that the bomber was carrying an explosive device to collaborators in Alexandria. He did not know that two American officials were seated in front of him, nor our identities. The next morning, I tried to explain that to the ASofS, but he was convinced he had been targeted by terrorists – and told that to many people back in Washington. Unfortunately, the Challenger exploded on the day we landed at JFK and official Washington took little note of a near-event.
HANG THE BULGARIAN
In the 90s, I chaired the policy committee of the international Financial Action Task Force, and had organized a team of experts to meet with Arab bankers on the proposed changes in banking laws crafted by FATF and endorsed by the G-20 and OECD. I had first met with Arab bankers (actually many of them were products of Citibank’s training in London) just prior to the first Gulf War, and then at a pan-Arab conference in Abu Dhabi. Some officials in the Gulf Cooperation Council, and not a few of our US ambassadors, wanted individual visits, as did the Israelis.
Had some foreboding about staying too long in the Middle East. The Israelis wanted a meeting in Jerusalem; always welcomed a return to the King David hotel. But, their attorney general wanted me to meet with some Palestinians. We had one meeting in East Jerusalem, in an Israeli office compound surrounded by walls topped with concertina wire. An invitation was extended for a meeting later that night in the Old City; I advised the Embassy in Tel Aviv of the meeting. About midnight, I walked the narrow streets of the Old City, crossing the Via Dolorosa walked by Jesus Christ enroute to his Crucifixion. The meeting was low-key and only of middling consequence; it gave some Palestinians an opportunity to vent their complaints against Israel and the US. Next morning, while having breakfast, a courier brought me a note from the Embassy, reminding me of the intifada and advising that I should not hold the meeting (which had been held the night before). Good thing there was no specific threat against my life; they would have had to pin it on a casket. Embassy protocol: Too little, too late.
On to Cairo where among others I met with another Egyptian general – at a very sumptuous country club reserved for general officers. I had a great deal of respect for the ANGA, the oldest anti-narcotics police force in the world. In my FATF capacity, and as chief of financial intelligence for State, I was concerned about money laundering through Israel – its right of return was letting money flow over its borders; an Israeli-backed criminal consortium was trying to buy a bank in Switzerland as well as a bank facility in Israel. The general and I discussed money movements, then he informed me confidentially that they had captured five drug smugglers on the Gaza border, three Egyptians, an Israeli, and a Bulgarian, whom they would try and probably hang. I responded by saying that US policy does not condone hanging for drug trafficking, policies which were formulated well above my pay grade. Moreover, I said I could not comment officially on an Egyptian judicial decision because I had no authority to do so. However, off the record, I suggested that if they were to hang this quartet, the Israeli should be the last to be hung. If they hung the Jew first, the Israelis would raise hell, calling it a political execution, which would stir up the international crowd opposing capital punishment, including the Pope, repercussions Egypt did not need. So, I said very unofficially, if you are determined to hang these smugglers, don’t hang the Jew first. As I said to him, such political decisions are vested in others in the US, not in me, and I thought that ended the conversation. Alas, a few days later, another Egyptian police official said the general told his colleagues that I had agreed that Egypt should hang the Bulgarian.
Took some artistic movement to quiet that episode down – and correct the record. My ardent plea for understanding could have been set to music. (PS: a small group of my confederates and I did block the proposed sale of that bank in Israel and its Swiss outliers, but the details are secret.)
The Nile and Egyptian Ancestry
Google Egypt and you quickly realize the Nile River is Egypt’s heartland – a narrow green swath which flows from its headwaters in the south, through fertile lands on both banks, to Alexandria. The vast majority of the land of Egypt is desert. I rode out into the desert on a camel named Whiskey.
Yet, powerful armies emerged from this slice of land and forged great empires. The detritus of empire that remains is still awe-inspiring, not just in size but because the great stoneworks were created more than 3,000 years ago – without the modern equipment, especially cranes creating tall buildings shaped around steel skeletons which shape today’s Cairo skyline. Consult an encyclopedia which offers diagrams depicting the creation of the Sphinx and the three great pyramids at Giza, which I entered. Marvel at the ruins in Luxor and Thebes, the ancient capitals, especially the sound and light show at Luxor. Then cross the Nile and tour the Valley of Kings. The elaborately decorated tunnels and rooms which one finds in the tombs of Ramses, Horemheb, Akhenaton are but a prelude to the tomb of Tutankhamen, the boy king. Let your mind wander, think of the months and years needed to create and lavishly decorate this home for the after-life, and contemplate the wonder of Howard Carter, who found Tut’s tomb after years of searching, then realized when he opened the final door to the burial chamber that he was breathing the same air which was last breathed by priests and workmen 3,000 years before. (See section on Valley of the Kings)
There is another side of Luxor. On my first visit, I could see Egyptian (and Iraqi) jet fighters beneath their hard stands, and elements of the Army everywhere, still riding in Russian trucks. Indeed, the primary vehicles on the streets were Russian-made Ladas. On the Nile, fishermen and cargo haulers still relied on ancient dhows, which had plied these waters during the time of the pharaohs.
In Cairo, Sadat talked of peace but his generals still talked about a fifth war against Israel. When I returned from Luxor, I asked a general how they could think of war while asking the arms dealers of the world for more weapons, when they could not feed their people. In Luxor, I wandered the streets and photographed children with distended stomachs, suffering from malnutrition. Then and now, the mighty Nile-nourished farm land does not produced enough food – and the US continues to provide billions in foodstuff. The gulf between haves and have nots is wider today than the Nile.
A resurgent Egypt’s GDP increased by 7.9% last year, but underlying the turmoil in the Tahrir Square is the reality of unemployment, especially among youth, the continuing disparity between rich and poor, despite the emergence of an ever-prosperous business class. And, just as in 1973, there is endemic poverty and corruption. The military, then and now, is the only stabilizing force. Whomever succeeds Mubarak will need the support of the military , for social, political and economic reasons.
Valley of the Kings
Before visiting Egypt, I bought several books on Ancient Egypt, so that I would have a fuller appreciation of what I was seeing. The renowned Temple of Amon Re at Karnak, for example, was actually constructed over 20 centuries, and includes temples erected by Thutmose (I thru III), Ramses (I through III), Amonhotep, Seti II, and an obelisk for Queen Hatshepsut. Her temple, away from Karnak, is considered to be a masterpiece of design and construction which has survived well over the years.
An understanding of the roles the various gods played in the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms is available in the decorations of the tombs. Eg, in the tomb of Ramses VI, all of the deities and representations of the pharaoh, his court, and animals are depicted underneath an arch-like painting of Nut, the sky goddess, who is shown devouring the sun each night, then giving birth to the sun next morning.
Your knowledge is expanded by being able to identify the various gods. Hathor, the goddess of love and childbirth, has a human body but wears a pair of cows horns. Anubis, the guardian of the tombs and judge of the dead, has a human body but a jackals head. Khnum also had a human body but a ram’s head. Osiris was always portrayed as a man, who was slain by his evil brother but resurrected by his wife, Isis, who roamed the earth to find all the parts of his dismembered body. Their son, Horus, vanquished Seth, and became ruler of the earth. Every pharaoh afterwards was called Horus; when he died, he became Osiris and ruled the underworld, and the next son became Horus.
The north and south of Egypt were reunited during the Middle Kingdom, and those pharaohs are shown with the double crown – adorned by a vulture and cobra, the respective symbols of north and south.
To say that one has seen Egypt, a visitor must journey down the Nile to see the temple of Abu Simbel, which was raised to its current level when a dam was created at Aswan, a major feat of engineering. Then back down the Nile to Luxor, Thebes, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. The most famous of the tombs is that of King Tut – essentially because virtually all royal tombs had been robbed by 1,000 BC – except his – which was discovered in 1929 by Howard Carter. Tut, who became pharaoh in 1361 BC and died at age 19, entered the after-life with more than 2,000 objects depicting life, war, love, animals, and death. Much of what is known about Egyptian life, art, practices, etc. has come through study of the artifacts buried with Tut. The Treasure Trove, much of it on display in the Egyptian museum in Cairo (when not on display around the world in a travelling exhibit), begins with the mummy, the only one still encased in its original shrine. The mummified king was locked away at the center of a series of cases, each fitting inside the next – four outer shrines of gilded wood, a sculptured stone sarcophagus, then three gold inlaid coffins, the final coffin of solid gold weighing 242 pounds. I photographed one of the gold coffins which was left inside the Valley Tomb, and saw the others at the Museum.
In Cairo, after one visits Giza, perhaps climbing inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, one should plan a day at the Museum. Most visitors look at the incredible mummy of Ramses II, the great builder.
But, there is much more to study. Ancient Egyptians mastered many arts and sciences, pioneering in the study of astrology, medicine, law and agriculture. They perfected a form of mathematics which used addition and subtraction to perform multiplication and division. While they worshipped many gods or deities, the Egyptians did not subscribe to the evolution theories espoused later by Darwin et al; they believed in a universe created by their gods. The learned in Memphis, who pondered creation concluded that the world was created by Ptah, the god of Memphis. Thus, they postulated that there was an articulate intelligence and will behind Creation.
And in the reign of Amonhotep, the Egyptians believed that there was a single deity, more powerful than all, even the pharaoh.
No discussion of Ancient Egypt would be complete without reference to heiroglyphics, a form of writing which permeates all writing and adorns every temple, shrine, obelisk etc. Thanks to the Rosetta Stone, we now can translate the symbols. I took a small guidebook which offered English translations of the most popular symbols.
A great civilization came into fulfillment along the Nile, and was conquered again and again. The Great Library at Alexandria, which legend says held a copy of every written document in the known world, was sacked and looted. Museums across the world, notably the British museum of antiquity, hold many of the artifacts. Still, there is much to see and learn from this ancient culture – for an inquiring visitor.
Anglo-American Culture on the Nile
British influences on Cairo’s culture, business and nightlife, were prominent before WWII and for many years afterward. On my first visit, I joined several expatriates on the veranda overlooking the Nile at historic Shepheard’s hotel, which, like Raffles in Singapore, was where you met for a British version of Happy Hour – in this case, gin and tonic –and where the spies congregated during WW II. The British still had auto races from Alexandria to Cairo. One would think there were races within the city, but that was just the pell mell nature of Cairo traffic – which had not changed over the decades of my visits. Alarming to some, the Egyptians, especially the poor, would cling to outside rails or climb on top of public buses; they still do. In the Fifties, camels and donkeys plied the streets.
During my first visit, the Egyptians were especially glad to welcome Yankee dollars – the Russians were notoriously bad tippers. I rented a Mercedes with driver and guide for $10 a day. Made the obligatory stops after Giza at the El Khaled bazaar (where my guide got a cut on everything I bought). Today, Cairo has major new hotels, many with casinos which attract many Chinese, Japanese, Thai and other business men, who are notorious gamblers.
Just as you see them today in the demonstrations, wearing jeans, polo shirts and sandals, they were notable on my first visit because they wore traditional Arab garb – except for hotel clerks, guides and higher levels of officialdom.
I entered Cairo the first time fresh from a safari in Kenya, wearing a safari “uniform” – safari suit jacket and pants from Ambercrombie and Fitch, ankle-high Wellington boots from London (still have them), and an Alan Quartermain “great hunter” wide brim hat. The next two visits, I wore what came to be known as “the State Department uniform” – dark suit in the evening, blazer and slacks in the day.
Postscript
One dimension which has not changed from 1973 to 2011 – the numbing presence of the poor. They sweat in Cairo’s sweltering heat, and they freeze at night when the sun goes down, always hungry, seldom with good medical care, inured to a life of poverty which engulfs them and their children.
Egyptians want freedom – freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of opportunity, freedom of educational and professional advancement, and freedom from tyranny and corruption. I heard those voices in 1973, and I hear them now.
The prescription has not changed –true progress has to come from within. The United States, indeed the Western World, Israel, Russia and all observers cannot direct events in the Square or within the presidential palace. There is a profound dilemma which has affected US policy since before the Yom Kippur war – we want to see regime change, in Egypt and elsewhere. But, we learned a lesson after the CIA restored the Shah of Iran to the Peacock Throne – we alienated the Arab street.
What policymakers fear is what lies out there in the dark – we don’t know that a successor regime would be any better – for the Egyptian people or US interests -- than the regimes currently in power in Cairo and elsewhere. Mubarak has been the most pro-Western of Arab rulers, and the US has overlooked the many abuses of his dictatorship to keep our Middle Eastern footprint indelible.
We have a long history of suborning principle. Dates back to Versailles. We didn’t agree with France and Britain on the creation of Iraq and the dissolution of Messopotamia, and we knew their policy was founded on the demands of BP and Elf, their petroleum conglomerates. But, we concurred after the US was assured a share of the oil.
Egypt is on the cusp of change – it has the potential to be the fountainhead for a democratic surge throughout the Arab world – or the prospect of a continuing autocracy wedded to the principles of anti-American leagues like the Muslim Brotherhood (which maintains it does not want power).
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