Abdel Latif Boghdadi (politician)
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Abdel Latif Boghdadi or Abd el-Latif el-Baghdadi (20 September 1917 – 9 September 1999) ( ar, عبد اللطيف البغدادي) was an Egyptian politician, senior
air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
officer, and judge. An original member of the Free Officers Movement which overthrew the monarchy in Egypt in the 1952 Revolution, Boghdadi later served as
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-r ...
's vice president. The
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
author Jean Lacouture called Boghdadi "a robust manager" who only lacked "stature comparable to Nasser's." The two leaders had a falling out over Nasser's increasingly socialist and pro-USSR policies and Boghdadi subsequently withdrew from political life in 1964, although he mended ties with Nasser before the latter's death in 1970.


Early life

Boghdadi was born in
El Mansoura Mansoura (' , rural: ) is a city in Egypt, with a population of 960,423. It is the capital of the Dakahlia Governorate. Etymology ''Mansoura'' in Arabic means "victorious". The city is named after the El Mansoura Battle against Louis IX of F ...
on 20 September 1917. He excelled at Egypt's military academy in 1938 and, later on, its
air force academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air for ...
. He rose to the rank of
wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
in the
Egyptian Air Force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīya), is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all mili ...
and was sent by the Egyptian government under Prime Minister
Mustafa el-Nahhas Mostafa el-Nahhas Pasha or Mostafa Nahas ( ar, مصطفى النحاس باشا; June 15, 1879 – August 23, 1965) was an Egyptian politician who served as the Prime Minister for five terms. Early life, education and exile He was born in ...
to fight alongside the
Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; ar, جيش الإنقاذ العربي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the ...
(ALA) at the onset of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
, prior to the arrival of the Egyptian Army.


Free Officers and the revolution

Boghdadi later became one of the original ten members of the Free Officers Movement. During the 1952 revolution led by the Free Officers, Boghdadi commanded jet fighter units to circle around
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
to prevent possible outside interference in the coup against King Farouk. After the Free Officers assumed power,
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-r ...
—the principal leader of the coup and the new
Prime Minister of Egypt The prime minister of Egypt () is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Arabic-language title is "Minister-President of Egypt" and "President of the Government". The Arabic title can also be translated as "President of ...
—made Boghdadi chairman of a special court established to try members of the monarchy, sentencing former general Hussein Sirri Amer and a
Wafd The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930s ...
party leader
Fouad Serageddin Fouad Pasha Serageddin (2 November 1911 – 9 August 2000), was a leader of Egypt's Wafd Party. When President Hosni Mubarak allowed the Wafd to emerge from a prolonged period of dormancy in 1984, Serageddin proved a skilful political operator ...
, among others, to long-term prison sentences. Most sentences were commuted, however. Boghdadi also became a member of the
Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC; ''Majlis Qiyāda ath-Thawra'') was the body established to supervise the Republic of Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan after the Revolution of 1952. It initially selected Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister, ...
(RCC). In 1953, he was appointed inspector-general of the revolution's first political organization, the Liberation Rally. To remove and replace
Muhammad Naguib Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan ( ar, الرئيس اللواء محمد بك نجيب يوسف قطب القشلان, ; 19 February 1901 – 28 August 1984), also known as Mohamed Naguib, was an Egyptian revolutionary, and, along ...
, the
President of Egypt The president of Egypt is the executive head of state of Egypt and the de facto appointer of the official head of government under the Egyptian Constitution of 2014. Under the various iterations of the Constitution of Egypt following the E ...
who had been installed by the Free Officers, with Nasser, Nasser replaced the defence minister, a pro-Naguib officer, with Boghdadi for a brief period from 1953 to 1954. When Naguib was removed from his post and arrested in late 1954, Nasser was still prime minister and transferred Boghdadi to municipal affairs minister. During this time, he was responsible for the construction of the Nile
Corniche A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side and falling away on the other. The word has been absorbed into English from the French term ' or "road on a ledge", originally derived from the Itali ...
road in Cairo, as well as the construction of many other new roads throughout Egypt. For this reason Boghdadi was sometimes referred to sarcastically by his rivals as Abdel ''Rassif'' al-Boghdadi, meaning "pavement" in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
.All the revolution's men
''
Al-Ahram Weekly ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. History and profile ''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-lang ...
''. 24 July 2002.


Role in Suez Crisis

When Israeli forces backed by
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and
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fighter planes drove out Egyptian forces from the
Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...
and the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...
—which had been nationalised by Nasser—in 1956, the commander of the Egyptian armed forces,
Abdel Hakim Amer Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer ( arz, محمد عبد الحكيم عامر, ; 11 December 1919 – 13 September 1967) was an Egyptian military officer and politician. Amer served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and played a leading role in the m ...
, panicked and suggested surrendering. Nasser refused and put Boghdadi in charge of organising Egyptian resistance along the canal. After the Suez War, he was appointed general administrator for the reconstruction of the canal area and according to author
Said Aburish Said Aburish (full name Saʿīd Muḥammad Khalīl ʾAbū Rīsh) ( ar, سعيد محمد خليل أبو الريش; 1 May 1935 – 29 August 2012), was a Palestinian journalist and writer. Aburish was born in al-Eizariya (also known as "Bethany") ...
, "performed admirably." He was also made minister of communications and, along with
Zakaria Mohieddine Zakaria Mohieddin (5 July 1918 – 15 May 2012) ( ar, زكريا محيي الدين, ) was an Egyptian military officer, politician, Prime Minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence ...
and Amer, was placed on a committee that screened the candidates of the newly established 350-member National Assembly. Boghdadi was elected as Speaker of the First National Assembly.


Resignation and aftermath

Boghdadi accompanied Nasser on his trip to
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
on 24 February 1958, after the unification of
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and Egypt to form the
United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...
(UAR). His role in the new republic was, along with Amer, vice president of the Egypt province. In the early 1960s Boghdadi held the additional post of planning minister,Pace, Eric
Abdel-Latif Baghdadi, 81, Partner in Egypt's 1952 Coup
''
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''. 11 January 1999.
and minister responsible for finance. In 1962, shortly after the UAR's collapse, Nasser adopted a more
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
(USSR)-style economic system for Egypt to which Boghdadi disapproved. He was utterly opposed to the extensive socialist measures and the new system altogether. He announced his resignation, claiming Nasser's behaviour amounted to a loss of direction. Boghdadi also preferred closer relations with the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, rather than the USSR. In 1963 Boghdadi warned Nasser about Amer—whose relationship with Nasser was particularly close, but eroding at the time—wiretapping his and Nasser's telephones, a situation which he blamed Nasser for allowing. Boghdadi submitted his resignation again on 16 May 1964, after disagreeing with Nasser's decision to send Egyptian troops to
North Yemen North Yemen may refer to: * Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (1918–1962) * Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a ...
to support Nasser's partisans in the
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. He referred to the war as "Nasser's
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
." Boghdadi also wanted a more circumspect policy of "Egypt first." In response to his resignation, Nasser put Boghdadi's brother Saad under house arrest and prevented his brother-in-law from travelling to the
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to complete his doctorate. Nasser also claimed Boghdadi was implicated in illegal
Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( '), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic studies, Islamic scholar and scho ...
activities.


Later life and death

As a result of the fallout, Boghdadi withdrew from political life, although the rift between him and Nasser was reconciled before 1970. In his memoirs, Boghdadi states that Nasser had planned to appoint him as vice president immediately before his death in September 1970, in order to prevent then Vice President
Anwar el-Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...
's succession to power. According to Nasser's close associates, Nasser requested Boghdadi rejoin the government and become his second-in-command because he considered Sadat a liability. Due to Boghdadi's previous resignation concerning the close relationship to the USSR, he asked Nasser about the nature of the new Egypt-Soviet informal alliance (which came about as a result of Egypt's decisive loss in the 1967
Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...
with
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
). They both agreed that Boghdadi visit the USSR alone to ensure there were no differences in perception of what the new relationship between the two countries meant. In 1972, during Sadat's presidency, Boghdadi and nine other prominent former members of the Egyptian government sent a note to Sadat, criticising his government for "over-dependence on the Soviet Union." Boghdadi opposed Sadat's peace treaty with Israel in 1978, as did all the other then-living former RCC members. On 8 September 1999 Boghdadi was hospitalised with complications from
liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...
. He was pronounced dead at the age of 81 the next day. A state funeral for Boghdadi was held on 10 September in a Cairo suburb. The ceremonies were attended by Egypt's then president,
Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...
, and other high-ranking government figures. Mubarak issued a statement saying that Boghdadi had "served his country with devotion".


List of published works

* * *''Abdel Latif Boghdadi: Diaries''. (1982). Cairo: el-Maktab al-Masri al-Hadith.


References


Bibliography

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Boghdadi, Abdel Latif 1917 births 1999 deaths Free Officers Movement (Egypt) Egyptian Air Force personnel Vice-presidents of Egypt Defence Ministers of Egypt Finance Ministers of Egypt Municipal Affairs Ministers of Egypt Communications Ministers of Egypt People from Mansoura, Egypt Arab Socialist Union (Egypt) politicians Deaths from liver cancer Planning ministers of Egypt Egyptian people of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War