Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala
Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala (15 January 1930 – 6 July 2008) (محمد عبد الحليم أبو غزاله) was Defense Minister of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to Anwar Sadat when the president was assassinated.
Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala | |
|---|---|
 Abu Ghazala on 29 March 1982 | |
| Minister of Defence of Egypt | |
| In office 4 March 1981 – 15 April 1989 | |
| President | Anwar Sadat Hosni Mubarak |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Badawi |
| Succeeded by | Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 January 1930 El Delengat, Beheira, Egypt |
| Died | 6 September 2008 (aged 78) El-Galaa' Military Hospital, Egypt |
| Political party | Independent |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Egypt |
| Branch/service | Army |
| Years of service | 1949 – 1989 |
| Rank |  Field Marshal |
| Unit | Artillery |
| Commands | Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces |
| Battles/wars | Suez Crisis Six-Day War Yom Kippur War |
Early life and education
He was born in Zuhur Al Omara Village, Dilingat, Behera governorate, in january 15th 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 fluent in English, French and Russian.[3]
Career
Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala did not participate in the Six-Day War of 1967 as he was serving in the Western Desert.
He was the Second Army's artillery commander during the October War of 1973.[4] After the war he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Artillery Corps. Two years after the October War of 1975, Sadat appointed him as a military attache in Washington on June 27, 1976. There he was the first non-American military to receive a diploma of honor from the Command and General Staff College at Carlisle Barracks. Abu Ghazaleh returned to Cairo three years later as Director of Military Intelligence on May 15, 1979. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces on May 15, 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]
Project T and removal
The project T is part of the tri-national program with Argentina, and Iraq to develop a two-stage solid and liquid propellant missile with a range of 900 kilometres (560 mi). This program was referred to in Argentina as the Condor 2, and in Iraq as the Badr 2000.
The Project T missile is a Scud-B variant, whose payload was probably reduced in order to extend its range.[7]
Egyptian president Mubarak removed him from office due to claims that he was involved in a missile-parts illegal import scandal from the United States, by violating U.S. export laws.[8] The USA did not allow exporting certain materials used for making missile heads to the Egyptian military. So the Egyptian intelligence under Abu Ghazala's commands managed to import those materials indirectly though Germany in a highly complicated undercover intelligence mission, until the FBI found out about the mission and issued arrest warrants for the involved Egyptian Intelligence officers and an involved Egyptian missile scientist.
2005 elections
In 2005, Abu Ghazala was briefly rumored to be a presidential candidate for the powerful but illegal Muslim Brotherhood.[9] 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 ideological backgrounds.
Field Marshal Abu Ghazaleh wrote his first book under the name “The cannons were launched at noon .. the Egyptian artillery through the Ramadan War”, in which he explained the role of the Egyptian artillery in the October War and revealed his views and his military doctrine towards Israel.[4]
Death
Abu Ghazala died on 6 September 2008 at El-Galla Military Hospital in Cairo at the age of 78, from throat cancer.[10]
References
- "Abu Ghazala, Abdel Halim". Rulers. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- "الأخبار - وفاة المشير أبو غزالة وزير الدفاع المصري السابق عربي". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/30/egypt
- "Milestones". Time. 16 March 1981. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History, George Crile III, 2003, Grove/Atlantic.
- Jane's Defence Weekly, and AMI International's "Missile System of the World"
- Stevenson, Richard W. (25 October 1988). "Egyptian Minister Named in Missile-Parts Scheme". The New York Times. p. 25.
- Namatalla, A., Newsreel, Egypt Today, August 2005. URL:"Egypt Today". Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
- Joffe, Lawrence, September 2008. Obituary: Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala The Guardian.
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