Egypt Should Get Over Its Irrational Denial That An ISIS Bomb Blew Up The Russian Airliner

But Egypt, irrationally, has remained in denial on this. As the New York Times commented earlier this week, “”Mr. Sisi [the President of Egypt] and his supporters have shut down any discussion of possible terrorism, and rallied patriotic passions about the idea, portraying Western alarms as a plot against Egypt.”

In other words, to the Egyptians, the problem is not that ISIS blew up the plane in a devastating act of terrorism. Even Russia’s throwing in the towel, and agreeing with the West, does not suffice to persuade them.

It is significant that the Russians clearly held out as long as possible, and then some, before confirming what the West knew.  (Russia’s reasons apparently included first, that it did not like to admit that Islamic terrorists could inflict such a terrible blow on it. Second, the Russian confirmation affects that country’s strategy in Syria, forcing it to take on ISIS more rather than just bolster Assad.)  Then, bluntly, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Alexander V. Bortnikov, said an “improvised explosive device” blew up the plane. The Russian investigation, he said, “found traces of a foreign-made explosive substance. During the flight, a homemade device with the power of 1.5 kg of TNT was detonated.”

Egypt’s paranoid stance, on just how the plane was downed, is amazing. Several days ago, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted an editorial titled, “Intentional Defamation.” It says “the Muslim Brotherhood and the Western capitals that support it are doing their best to undermine Egypt, wreck its economy, destroy its tourism, and generate the discontent they hope will bring down its government and bring it back under Muslim Brotherhood rule.” The editorial was written by Galal al-Nassar, the editor in chief of the state-run Al-Ahram Weekly. The piece does not mention any competing explanation about the downing the plane, but derides the explanation of a terrorist bomb as “premature conclusions,” “fabricated tales,” and “defamation campaigns.”  Note that the editorial does not say it is ISIS inflicting this harm.  It is the Western capitals (and, said elsewhere, the Western media) doing this.

It is possible that the Egyptian government may finally be budging in the wake of the Russian announcement. A statement from the Interior Ministry today included the possibility of a “terrorist attack.” That is a bit of progress, but it still falls far short of catching up with what the rest of the world knows.

The Egyptian irrationality could be dismissed as just a way of coping with the shock of the terrible effect this will have on tourismand, hence, on the Egyptian economy which desperately needs tourism refugees. One can only feel intense sympathy for Egypt about this, and some nations cope with such shocks by such beliefs.

But at some point, Egypt has to get real. Its position will empower its blame-ducking officials to be non-transparent about investigating the attack. In particular, the Egyptian government, in the name of fending off Western criticism, might now seek to play down how its security weaknesses let this heinous attack occur, in particular, and how the Egyptian government is not crushing ISIS in the Sinai, as Egypt claims.

For example, the editorial posted by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says “Fabricated tales are now all over the Western media: . . . tales of employees who take bribes to skirt security procedures, etc.”

“Fabricated tales”?  Get real.The Associated Press published a powerful piece on November 7 pointing out security flaws at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, based on seven officials as sources. Seven different officials. The article says on this particular point: “One of the officials, involved in security for planes, also pointed to bribe-taking by poorly paid policemen monitoring X-ray machines. ‘I can’t tell you how many times I have caught a bag full of drugs or weapons that they have let through for 10 euros or whatever.’”

From a different perspective, we have seen, just now, ISIS attack in Paris, in Beirut, and in Turkey. Outside of Egypt, we see, tragically, how the downing of Metrojet is a piece of the whole of ISIS’s new campaign. When Egypt recognizes this, it can more realistically take full part in the international counter-campaign which we all devoutly hope will deal with this common scourge.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2015/11/17/metrojet-bomb-egypt/

Photo: The Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt was brought down by a homemade bomb placed on board in a “terrorist” act, the head of Russia’s FSB security service said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)