Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala

Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala
Abu Ghazala in 1986
Minister of Defence of Egypt
In office
4 March 1981 – 15 April 1989
PresidentAnwar Sadat
Hosni Mubarak
Prime Minister
Preceded byAhmed Badawi
Succeeded byYoussef Sabri Abu Taleb
Personal details
Born(1930-01-15)15 January 1930
Zuhur Al Omara, El Delengat, Beheira, Egypt
Died6 September 2008(2008-09-06) (aged 78)
Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt
Political partyIndependent
Military service
Allegiance Egypt
Branch/service Egyptian Army
Years of service1949–1989
Rank Field Marshal
UnitArtillery
CommandsCommander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Battles/warsSuez Crisis
War of Attrition
Yom Kippur War

Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala (Arabic: محمد عبد الحليم أبو غزالة; 15 January 1930 – 6 September 2008) was Defense Minister of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to Anwar Sadat when the president was assassinated.

Early life and education

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He was born in Zuhur Al Omara village, El Delengat, Beheira Governorate, on 15 January 1930.[1] His family descended from "Awlad Aly" tribe. After completing his secondary education, he joined the Egyptian Royal Military Academy, then he received the battalion command diploma from Stalin Academy in the Soviet Union in 1949. He also graduated from Nasser Academy for higher military education (Cairo 1961). On the civilian studies side, he received a bachelor's degree from the faculty of commerce, Cairo University. Abu Ghazala received the diploma of honor from the National War College in the U.S., thus being the first non-American to receive such an award.[2]

Besides his native Arabic, Abu Ghazala was also fluent in English, French and Russian.[3]

Career

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He was the Second Army's artillery commander during the October War of 1973.[4] After the war he was appointed commander of the Artillery Corps.

Between 1976 and 1979, he served as his country’s military attaché to Washington, and it was during his sojourn there that he developed a close relationship with American officials and a reputation for being partial to the US There he was the first non-American military to receive a diploma of honor from the Command and General Staff College at Carlisle Barracks.

Upon returning to Cairo in 1979, Abu Ghazala was named director of military intelligence. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces on 15 May 1980, and he was promoted two days later.

When the Minister of Defense and military production, Ahmad Badawi, died along with 12 senior officers in a helicopter crash on 2 March 1981, Anwar Sadat appointed Abu Ghazala minister of defense and military production.[5]

Shortly after Anwar Sadat was killed, he obtained the rank of Field Marshal in 1982.

He was also involved with Gust Avrakotos and Charlie Wilson in supplying weapons to the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War. The CIA bought the weapons and passed them through Pakistan's ISI to the Afghan rebel groups. Items included .303 ammo for Lee–Enfield rifles, limpet mines, and urban terrorist devices like bicycle bombs. There were also a number of rockets that some believe was the Katyusha.[6]

Condor-II and removal

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The Vector is a cancelled tripartite program between Egypt, Argentina, and Iraq to develop a two-stage solid and liquid propellant missile with a range of 800–5,000 kilometres (500–3,110 mi). This missile was called Vector in Egypt, Condor-II in Argentina, and Badr-2000 in Iraq.[7][8]

To do this, Abu Ghazala established an office within Egypt's defense ministry called "Ballistic Missile Egypt" (BME), Argentina, with assistance from MBB worked through a consortium of many European missile suppliers called "Consen".[9]

In 1989, erstwhile Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak removed him from office after diplomatic pressure that he was involved in smuggling carbon-carbon and other technologies relevant to strap-down inertial systems, which could've been used to protect the missile's re-entry vehicle during descent, from the United States, henceforth violating U.S. export laws.[10] Abdelkader Helmy, an Egyptian-American propulsion expert with U.S security clearance, agreed to procure the technologies for Egypt. Finally, On 14 June 1988, approximately 430 pounds of carbon-carbon were shipped to an Ohio warehouse and readied for onward delivery to Baltimore. An Egyptian Air Force C-130 would depart Baltimore Washington International Airport on 24 June, 1988, and the carbon-carbon was destined to be put on the flight. Altogether, Colonel Hussam Khairat (a military attaché to Austria and a go-between who had liaison with Consen.), Helmy, his wife, and James Huffman (Helmy's procurement agent) were detained. Helmy was charged with money laundering and conspiracy. An American court had ordered a wiretap of Helmy's office a year earlier as evidence of his activities mounted. [11][12][13][14]

Shortly after Mubarak's visit to the United States in early April 1989, for within days of his return to Cairo, Mubarak ousted Abu Ghazala from his post and appointed him to the position of personal advisor to the president.[15]

2005 elections

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In 2005, Abu Ghazala was briefly rumored to be a presidential candidate for the powerful but illegal Muslim Brotherhood.[16] He finally did not run, and the Muslim Brotherhood did not field a candidate in the first contested Egyptian presidential elections. The Muslim Brotherhood offered him to run as their presidential candidate, but he refused due to their different advocacies.

Field Marshal Abu Ghazala wrote his first book titled "The Cannons Were Launched by Noon .. the Egyptian Artillery during the Ramadan War", in which he demonstrated the role of the Egyptian artillery corps during the October War and gleaned some information about his views and his military doctrine towards Israel.[4]

Death

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Abu Ghazala died on 6 September 2008 at El-Galla Military Hospital in Heliopolis, Cairo at the age of 78, from throat cancer.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Abu Ghazala, Abdel Halim". Rulers. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  2. ^ "الأخبار - وفاة المشير أبو غزالة وزير الدفاع المصري السابق عربي". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Obituary: Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala". The Guardian. 29 September 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Google Translate". translate.google.com.
  5. ^ "Milestones". Time. 16 March 1981. Archived from the original on 15 October 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  6. ^ Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History, George Crile III, 2003, Grove/Atlantic.
  7. ^ "Iraqi BADR-2000 missile project". www.b14643.de. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Condor 1". 22 October 2003. Archived from the original on 22 October 2003. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  9. ^ Potter, William C.; Jencks, Harlan W. (6 September 2019). The International Missile Bazaar: The New Suppliers' Network. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-30257-8.
  10. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (25 October 1988). "Egyptian Minister Named in Missile-Parts Scheme". The New York Times. p. 25.
  11. ^ Potter, William C.; Jencks, Harlan W. (6 September 2019). The International Missile Bazaar: The New Suppliers' Network. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-30257-8.
  12. ^ Sirrs, Owen L. (24 January 2007). Nasser and the Missile Age in the Middle East. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-20051-1.
  13. ^ "Iraqi BADR-2000 missile project". www.b14643.de. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  14. ^ "Egypt's quiet weapons build-up". NBC News. 17 March 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Egypt's quiet weapons build-up". NBC News. 17 March 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  16. ^ Namatalla, A., Newsreel, Egypt Today, August 2005. URL:"Egypt Today". Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  17. ^ Joffe, Lawrence, September 2008. Obituary: Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala The Guardian.
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