Ibrahim El Rafai "Pre-1973" |
Ironically huge percentage of the army that fought in 1967 from officers and commanders were the ones who fought in 1973 and brought to us victory. Saad El-Shazly was a commander in 1967. Ibrahim El-Rafae fought at the Yemen war which was a black mark in our history that no one dares to speak about and he died as a true hero in 1973 after legendary achievements. It was actually the same army that underwent some re-orientation process from inside.
In those 6 years you can’t say it was the Nasser’s army because the same Nasser army defeated in 1967 made undeniable achievements during the war of attrition.
These commanders whether Saad El Shazly or Ibrahim El Rafae are part of the Egyptian army just like Ibrahim Pasha and Ahmed Orabi.
There is nothing called that this is not the army that fought in 1973 to the end ..etc
The revolution does not mean we will disband the army in order to build one from scratch with revolutionary thoughts that please some activists and the new Egypt will not be built through a military coup with a revolutionary leader as some people really pray for.
We will not turn in to another Muabrak and erase the old victories , we will not do this.
I will raise the bar and say that next January 25th I want to celebrate botht the martyrs' revolution in 2011 and the police martyrs in 1951.
I do not need to speak on how the majority of people in Egypt look to the army and how they trust it "Of course this is the silent majority everybody mocked and is mocking from Mubarak to some eliter Tahrir protesters in one of the biggest insults to Democracy"
Before the revolution , during my university years from couple of years ago I told my friend that I love to celebrate 1973 war anniversary while listening to patriotic songs and she made that sign that means I was crazy. I was not crazy because I believe if I were not doing this October war ritual , I would not have gone to join the protesters on January 28th.
By the way I remember that I saw the members of Ibrahim Rafai's unit at Tahrir square during the 18 days sit in.
The 1967 army and 1973 were similar with the exception of their true motivational driving force. In the latter, the army was motivated by their need to erase the shame they brought to themselves in 67 and the need to liberate occupied Egyptian land. The 1967 army had no motivation other than empty patriotic slogans and the glorification of Nasser's persona.
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