Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala (; 15 January 1930 – 6 September 2008) was

Defense Minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-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 Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

when the president was assassinated.

Early life and education

He was born in Zuhur Al Omara village, El Delengat,

Beheira Governorate Beheira ( ', , "the governorate of the Lake") is a coastal governorates of Egypt, governorate in northern Egypt. Located in the northern part of the country in the Nile Delta, its capital is Damanhur. Overview Beheira Governorate enjoys an impo ...

, on 15 January 1930. 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 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National ...

in the U.S., thus being the first non-American to receive such an award. Besides his native Arabic, Abu Ghazala was also fluent in English, French and Russian.

Career

He was the Second Army's artillery commander during the October War of 1973. After the war he was appointed commander of the

Artillery Corps Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

. Between 1976 and 1979, he served as his country’s military attaché to Washington, and it was during his sojourn there that he developed a close relationship with American officials and a reputation for being partial to the US There he was the first non-American military to receive a diploma of honor from the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Carlisle Barracks Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army facility located in Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle post office address and with a portion in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The site of the U.S. Army War College, it is the nation's second-oldest active military ...

. Upon returning to Cairo in 1979, Abu Ghazala was named director of

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces on 15 May 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,

appointed Abu Ghazala minister of defense and military production. 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 The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Ci ...

during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. The CIA bought the weapons and passed them through

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's ISI to the Afghan rebel groups. Items included .303 ammo for

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifles,

limpet mine A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver m ...

s, and urban terrorist devices like bicycle bombs. There were also a number of rockets that some believe was the

Katyusha Katyusha () is a diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina or Yekaterina, the Russian form of Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in c ...

Condor-II and removal

The Vector is a cancelled tripartite program between

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

to develop a two-stage solid and liquid propellant missile with a range of . This missile was called Vector in Egypt, Condor-II in Argentina, and

Badr-2000 The Badr-2000 was an Iraqi high technology two-stage solid-propelled Medium-range ballistic missile that was based on the Argentinian Condor-II ballistic missile. The Iraqis invested a lot of money in the production of the missile, however Ir ...

in Iraq. To do this, Abu Ghazala established an office within Egypt's defense ministry called "Ballistic Missile Egypt" (BME), Argentina, with assistance from MBB worked through a consortium of many European missile suppliers called "Consen". In 1989, erstwhile Egyptian 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 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

removed him from office after diplomatic pressure that he was involved in smuggling carbon-carbon and other technologies relevant to strap-down inertial systems, which could've been used to protect the missile's

re-entry vehicle Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

during descent, from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, henceforth violating U.S. export laws. Abdelkader Helmy, an

Egyptian-American Egyptian Americans () are Americans of partial or full Egyptian ancestry. The 2016 US Census estimated the number of people with Egyptian ancestry at 256,000, most of whom are from Egypt's Christian Orthodox Coptic minority. Egyptian Americans m ...

propulsion expert with U.S security clearance, agreed to procure the technologies for Egypt. Finally, On 14 June 1988, approximately 430 pounds of carbon-carbon were shipped to an

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

warehouse and readied for onward delivery to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. An Egyptian Air Force

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

would depart Baltimore Washington International Airport on 24 June, 1988, and the carbon-carbon was destined to be put on the flight. Altogether, Colonel Hussam Khairat (a military attaché to Austria and a go-between who had liaison with Consen.), Helmy, his wife, and James Huffman (Helmy's procurement agent) were detained. Helmy was charged with

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

. An American court had ordered a wiretap of Helmy's office a year earlier as evidence of his activities mounted. Shortly after Mubarak's visit to the United States in early April 1989, for within days of his return to Cairo, Mubarak ousted Abu Ghazala from his post and appointed him to the position of personal advisor to the president.

2005 elections

In 2005, Abu Ghazala was briefly rumored to be a presidential candidate for the powerful but illegal

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

. 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 advocacies. Field Marshal Abu Ghazala wrote his first book titled "The Cannons Were Launched by Noon .. the Egyptian Artillery during the Ramadan War", in which he demonstrated the role of the Egyptian artillery corps during the October War and gleaned some information about his views and his military doctrine towards Israel.

Death

Abu Ghazala died on 6 September 2008 at El-Galla Military Hospital in

Heliopolis, Cairo Heliopolis (, ', , "New Egypt") was an early 20th century suburb outside Cairo, Egypt, which has since merged with Cairo and is administratively divided into the districts of Masr El Gedida and El Nozha in the Eastern Area. Named after ...

at the age of 78, from throat cancer.Joffe, Lawrence, September 2008
Obituary: Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala
''The Guardian''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Ghazala, Abd Al Halim 1930 births 2008 deaths Field marshals of Egypt Egyptian Muslims Free Officers Movement (Egypt) Egyptian generals Deaths from cancer in Egypt Deaths from esophageal cancer Defence ministers of Egypt People from Beheira Governorate Egyptian people of the Yom Kippur War 20th-century Egyptian military personnel Egyptian Military Academy alumni Directors of the Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance (Egypt) Chiefs of the General Staff (Egypt)