Talk:Abdel Hakim Amer/Archives/2013/July

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Amer had two brothers; one was the leader of the Egyptian Parliament and the other, Abdel Moneim, was the eldest brother He had been Nasser's Cultural representative in Europe and was a highly respected man both in the east and the West. He lived and worked from Bonn and spent his time travelling promoting egyptian culture and caring for their students studying abroad. He was totally non political.

When Hakim Amer was arrested he was accused of leading a coup against Nasser while he was out of the country at a conference in the Sudan following the 67 war. Nasser had resigned when they lost the 67 war but the public had demanded his return; the arab world marched on Cairo to persuade him not to desert them. Nasser agreed to stay in place but did not bring back the previous military government that had been in place with him, claiming he would bring them back in time. That government included Hakim Amer, his oldest friend from his youth. They had studied together at the military academy. He was the vice president and head of the armed forces and had been the governor of Syria during the UAR years.

His two brothers knew nothing of Hakim's arrest when it happened; but they were approached by high ranking officers advising them that Hakim had gone to the family's country estate and wished them to join him there for their safety. They immediately agreed to be driven to meet him. But when they got there they found his body riddled with bullets and they were arrested on the spot and imprisoned in the Citadel in Cairo, where they remained until the following year. Their families were kept in complete ignorance of where they were. However Abdel Moneim was so popular that even his jailers did everything to help him that they could. They arranged to smuggle letters out to his wife for him and her replies to them and food for him. So that unknown to anybody he was able to keep up the correspondence and allay his family's fear about his fate. But he was never allowed to tell them where he was.

I requested that the source for this material be provided. He or she then posted at User talk:Dbiv:

I know Hakim Amer's fate to be fact as I knew one of the brothers personally and travelled to see him after the 6 day war. His name was Abdel Moneim the elder brother who had been a close friend of the family for years. I arrived in Cairo the day he was released from the Citadel and he related the whole story of what had happened to them and their incaceration.

The official version was a cover up in order to allow Nasser to remain in power without the stain of having been involved in killing one of his closest friends hanging over him at a very sensitive time politically. Nobody knows if Nasser ordered his removal or not. He always claimed he didn;t. But when he came back to power he didn;t bring the others back with him which they resented. Nasser's aim at the time was to bring in a more secular government and get rid of the control the Army held over the country. He arrested the Amers, Chams Badran who was the Minister for War and one other commander.

Hakim Amer had in fact disobeyed orders which came from Cairo the week end of the attack by Israel. During the build up to the 6 day war the Egyptian army was encamped for several weeks in the Sinai.

Nothing was happening and at week ends the officers used to leave their posts and go home,crossing over the Canal, leaving a very low key command in situ. Nasser personally travelled into the Sinai for talks with Hakim Amer and told him they had reliable information that the Israelis might attack that week end and to be sure that they were all under high alert for it. Hakim Amer had differing information and didn;t believe the Israelis would attack on the Sabbath. He allowed his officers to go home that Friday and he left and went home as well. That is what the Israelis were waiting for. When they attacked on the first morning they swept through Sinai because there were no egyptian officers in place to command the troops; Hakim Amer was caught in the cross fire of bombing on his way back to his post. This is why they lost so swiftly and why Nasser didn;t want them back in power and later had them arrested. On the first morning of the war, Israeli Jets were flying over Cairo and they all knew the war was lost by midday on the first day. History may write different things but the truth comes down to the actions of individuals and their motives.

In the absense of any reference, and in accordance with Wikipedia's policy of no original research, I have removed the material from the article and placed it here.-gadfium 18:00, 10 February 2006 (UTC)