Legal Commentary

Have you been wondering why the ?army? is standing by while ?pro-Mubarak forces? are attacking Egyptian protestors? Egyptian law enforcement is not quite as black and white as most news coverage makes it seem.  Over at Jadaliyya, Professor Paul Amar has written a guide to the players.  The highlights (with some added commentary):

 Military:

 The Air Force and the Presidential Guard ? Elite military branches that remain supportive of Mubarak and have tried to disrupt protests.  The head of the Air Force is the new Egyptian PM.

 Lower Ranked Military ? younger soldiers who refused to fire on the Egyptian population.  According to Egyptian military expert Steven Cook, the older generals decided not to order the lower ranked members of the military to fire on protestors because they were afraid their orders would not be followed.  According to Amar, since the 1979 Camp David Accords, the army has become little more than an ?organized interest group of nationalist businessmen.?  Read: the army is corrupt.

Intelligence Services (a.k.a. the ?Mukhabarat?) ? known as the secret police, but actually a branch of the military.  Until last week, these were led by Omar Suleiman, Mubarak?s new VP.  If you are an academic doing research on democracy promotion or human rights in the Arab World, you might worry about having your project shut down by the mukhabarat.  You might also worry about being detained, interrogated, or tortured by them.  According to Amar, if you are Egyptian, you generally have less to worry about from this particular branch of the military.  But according to Owen Sirrs, who wrote a history of the Mukhabarat, they are responsible for crushing dissidents as well. 

 Branches of the Interior Ministry (which is close to Mubarak):

Police ? many police stations behave autonomously, although they?re technically run by the Interior Ministry.  

 State Security Investigations ? branch run by the Interior Ministry and largely concerned with torturing Egyptian dissidents. 

Other (?):

Central Security Services ? According to Amar, this is usually what the media is referring to as ?the police.? According to Amar, this institution is autonomous from the Ministry of the Interior. But in her timely new book, Stanford political science professor Lisa Blaydes describes the CSF as part of the Ministry of the Interior, and explains that Mubarak built up the CSF to balance military power within Egypt. 

Thugs or Gangs ? mercenaries hired by the Interior Ministry and/or the Central Security Services to do their dirty work for as little as 50 Egyptian pounds/day, or $8.50/day.  These are currently being deployed against the protestors; in the past they have been used to intimidate voters and disrupt Egyptian elections.  They have been known to use sexual brutality as a tactic. 

Tourist Police and Traffic Cops ? two largely ineffective, yet omnipresent institutions that haven?t had much of a role in the recent protests as far as I can tell, but worth mentioning only so you can get a sense of the depth of the Egyptian security bureaucracy. 

Neighborhood Watches ? These are the groups mentioned in Dan?s friend?s e-mail.  New, informal organizations of Egyptians that protect their neighborhoods from thugs and looters.  Perhaps a heartening sign of Egyptian civil society at work. 

Confused yet? All of these moving parts will not make for a quick restoration of order, no matter who is technically in charge.  Especially when anyone can rent a camel charge for $8.50/day.