By Philip Whitfield
CAIRO: If your mother says she loves you check it out. That was Dornie’s mantra. Arnold Dornfeld, night news editor of Chicago’s now defunct City News Bureau that inspired The Front Page, left his mark on reporters passing through. Including me.
Introduction
Our true story is about a suicide mission, cross-border assassinations, Egypt’s most wanted captured without a peep, and collusion most high.
As in any absorbing mystery, nothing is as it seems at first glance. Like many a drama, the cops are heroes. One of the most powerful men in the world drops everything to pay his respects. The villains recant. A long-range missile that could eviscerate a capital is defused.
Act I
Scene I: The curtain rises with a femme fatale’s voice wafting across the set. Condoleezza Rice announces military force is a real option for regime change in Iran (BBC TV).
August 18. The spotlight picks out a group wearing military vests and armed with assault rifles, RPGs, roadside bombs and bomb belts crossing into Israel.
The authorities describe the raid by armed Gaza attackers crossing into Israel from Egypt to carry out multiple deadly attacks near the Red Sea resort of Eilat. Eight Israelis are killed and 30 wounded (New York Times).
Scene II: Six Egyptian police officers and undisclosed others die during a shoot-out when Israeli forces chase suspects across the border into Egypt (Egyptian Gazette).
Scene III: Israeli forces strike targets in Gaza. Four days of cross-border violence leave 15 Palestinians dead and 50 wounded (Ma’an, Palestine’s agency).
Act II
Scene I: Two days later. Diplomats scramble to avert a crisis in relations between Egypt and Israel. The Israeli government issues a rare statement of regret for killing Egyptian security officers. Tensions between the two countries reach the worst point in three decades since the Camp David Accords (New York Times).
Scene II: Outraged Egyptians stage huge protests outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo calling for the expulsion of the ambassador (Reuters).
September 9. Hundreds of protesters break through a security wall and dump documents out of embassy windows (Associated Press).
Three people die and more than 1,000 are injured (Guardian).
Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, his family and embassy officials flee on an Israeli military plane (Egyptian State TV).
Scene III: Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr says Israel expresses deep regret and apologies with condolences to the police officers’ families (MENA, Egypt’s official news agency).
Intermission
Diplomats discuss moving on. Attention turns to elections, world economic crisis and to the tragedy of Syria.
Act III
Scene I: Two explosions at an ammunition depot 25 miles away shake Tehran. Revolutionary Guards say a massive explosion at a weapons depot on a military base killed several people (Fars, semi-official Iran news agency).
Scene II: Mossad May Have Bombed Iranian Missile Base. 40 dead and wounded during transfer of explosives at the garrison, which houses Shahab-3 and Zelzal-2 surface-to-surface missiles. Among the dead is the ‘father of Iran’s nuclear program Major General Hassan Moqaddam. (Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, Seattle, USA)
The attack was the handiwork of Israel in collaboration with the Mujahedeen Al-Khalq — an Iranian opposition group (Time Magazine).
Scene III: In the presence of the Ayatollah Khamenei, Mayor Mohammad Qalibaf delivers a eulogy describing General Moqaddam as a martyr (BBC).
These words are an admission that foreign forces killed him. (Prof. Muhammad Sahimi, an Iran news analyst for PBS).
Act IV
Scene I: A special Egyptian force along with APCs surround Mohamed Al-Teehi hiding in a beach hut in El-Arish. They arrest him without any problem. Al-Teehi tops Egypt’s most-wanted list, leading the armed Islamist group Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra (Excommunication and Exodus) (MENA).
Scene II: Authorities say Al-Teehi is the mastermind behind attacks on police stations in the city. Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra is responsible for the pipeline bombings that have disrupted gas supplies to Israel and Jordan (Reuters).
Al Takfir is partly under the leadership of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qaeda (the recently deceased Professor Paul Wilkinson, Director of St Andrews University’s Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence).
Scene III: The curtain rises as the Arab League assemble in Cairo to deliberate what to do next.
Finale
Condoleezza Rice: The Iranian regime is the poster child for state terrorism. It’s time now to deal seriously with that regime. The time for sanctions with the lowest common denominator has passed.
King Abdulla of Jordan: If I were in Bashar Al-Assad’s shoes I’d step down now.
France’s foreign minister Alain Juppe: It’s time to look for more protection for Syrian civilians.
Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague: It’s important that the European Union consider additional measures to stop the unacceptable violence in Syria.
The Arab League’s Nabil Al-Arabi: Mechanisms are being studied to protect Syrian civilians.
Who’s been denied entrance to the dialogue? Syria.
Why? So they can’t hear what the actors are planning next.
Epilogue
Shakespeare: Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Julius Caesar: Cowards die many times before their deaths.
Philip Whitfield is a Cairo commentator.
