On August 12, 2012, President Morsi of Egypt ended the military hegemony over Egypt which began with the Nasser coup of 60 years ago. The Nasser coup ended the monarchy in Egypt; the Morsi soft coup began the Second Egyptian Republic on a sound footing. The action by Morsi, by which he ousted Field Marshall Tantawi from his post as Defense Minister, and General Anan from his post as Chief of Staff, marked the real return of Egypt to civilian rule.
Since the Nasser coup, the armed forces have controlled the destiny of Egypt in every walk of national life. Decisions on war and peace, foreign policy and development, agricultural reform and industrial transformation, were dictated from above. Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, in succession, held unchallenged sway over Egypt. Meaningful opposition, in any form, did not exist. The word of the President (El-Rais) was the final word, and the successive constitutions were no more than words on paper. Two of the great institutions of Egypt, the judiciary and Al-Azhar became mere government departments. A big chunk of the economy, perhaps 30% of the GDP, became the preserve of the armed forces. Accountability and oversight with regard to the armed forces were non-existing.
Since the fall of Mubarak on February 11, 2011, Field Marshall Tantawi, as head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), ruled Egypt. With the election of Mohamed Morsi in June, 2012, as President of Egypt, the SCAF, on June 30, nominally turned over its powers to the Morsi regime. However, prior to the election of Morsi, the SCAF dissolved Parliament, arrogated to itself powers which normally would have devolved upon the President, and insulated the military budget and the armed forces economic preserve from civilian oversight. Egypt's new President was expected to be largely a mere figure head.
But Morsi had other plans. He ordered the dissolved Parliament into a brief session for the purpose of bestowing upon him legislative powers, pending elections for a new Parliament. And he, in the manner of non-confrontational challenges, gave the Constituent Assembly brief deadlines for the completion of drafting Egypt's new constitution. His choice of a Prime Minister (Dr. Qandeel was so anointed) signaled his preference for a technocratic administration and for some distancing from the Muslim Brotherhood where he had his political upbringing. At the table of the Qandeel Cabinet, Tantawi sat as Defense Minister, but not for long.
Then came the tragic events of the Sinai massacre of August 5, in which 16 Egyptian soldiers lost their lives. But the massacre also gave Morsi the chance to cut the power of the military down to size.
The Sinai massacre was a huge embarrassment to the military and to the intelligence. Morsi wasted no time to rid Egypt of the last vestiges of the Nasser Coup of 1952 through those forced retirements. Even before the dismissal of Tantawi and Anan and other top military brass from their posts, the voices of the millions had arisen in Tahrir Square: "Down Down with the Military." Keen on affording the old military guard a soft landing, Morsi invited both Tantawi and Anan to serve in his Presidential Council, and gave them the highest decorations for services rendered to Egypt.
Reactions to the soft coup were immediate and positive. The replacements of the retired military top brass came from the ranks of a younger generation. The post of Defense Minister was given to General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Huge crowds went to public squares to demonstrate in favor of having the military establishment accountable to civilian rule. To those masses supporting Morsi's decisions, the Sinai massacre was attributed to a military which was distracted by its undue involvement in political affairs.
The soft coup had other far reaching ramifications: the constitutional amendments which had been put into effect by SCAF were abolished. The Minister of Justice, Ahmed Makki provided a legal justification. He said: "The President's decision in this regard draws its legitimacy from the sovereignty of the people who chose him to be President. He shall exercise legislative powers until a new Parliament is elected. The Presidential executive decrees shall be subject to review by the new Parliament."
Minister Makki also declared another important measure to insure judicial independence. His declaration in that respect was to transfer Judicial Inspection from his own ministry to the Egyptian Supreme Judicial Council. The Egyptian judicial establishment was gleeful. The soft coup expressed itself in other various ways. The January 25 Revolution seemed to have found its true path which began in Tahrir Square, Cairo, which is bounded on one side by the great Egyptian Museum. From the windows of that historic Museum, the mummies of the great Pharaohs of Egypt seemed to look upon the youth of the New Egypt smiling.
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