Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Nasr, the deputy defense minister for financial affairs and a member of the ruling military council tried to defend the military’s economic establishment today in a press conference.
His views are quite stunning in their simplicity, bluntness and ignorance: (a) The army doesn't trust the people's elected representatives (the parliament), (b) The army doesn't believe in transparency and neither trust the central auditing agency to audit their finances (the civilians) and (c) The army built and own the economic empire (it's not owned by Egypt, it's owned by the army).
Below is an excerpt taken from his press conference:
“We will fight for our projects, and it is a battle we won’t give up on. We have sweated for 30 years, and we won’t leave this for anyone to destroy. We will not allow anyone, whoever they may be, to come near the projects of the armed forces. This is a sincere and honest effort for which we pay taxes. Whoever targets it would be targeting Egyptian national security. The military is not convinced it should accept the leadership of civilians and the parliament in the past few months has not shown it can be trusted with discussing such important issues as arms or the military budget.”Image: Mohammed Abed-AFP-Getty Images)
