Until today arguments in Egypt rage about whether the removal of President Morsi was a coup d’état or not. For Morsi supporters the argument is clear: Morsi was the first elected president since 1952 and was removed by General al-Sisi on July 3, 2013. For Morsi opponents the argument is equally clear: Morsi was responsible for numerous failures and primarily served the interests of his own Muslim Brotherhood rather than those of all people of Egypt. That resulted in a of large scale popular resistance that led the military to decide that the country needed to be rescued from total chaos. They then removed Morsi in response to the popular will of the people, not expressed in an election, but expressed through millions of signatories followed by even greater numbers demonstrating against Morsi in the street. The claim is that the protestors far exceeded the number of people who had voted for Morsi in the elections of June 2012.
In September 2013 I received a personal paper from presidential advisor, Wael Haddara, who, upon the moment of the removal of President Morsi, was in Canada and decided not to return to Egypt. The paper, titled, “A Brief Critique of the Reasons Advanced to Justify the Egyptian Military Coup of July 2013,” was written on July 8 and was last updated on July 14.
Often polemics arguments are far from fair, presenting slanderous claims. Haddara's text is factual, responding to the many critiques on President Morsi from his personal experiences as presidential advisor. Those personal experiences of someone so close to President Morsi make this paper an important read. Wael Haddara is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and neither of the Freedom and Justice Party. He, however, does sympathize with their beliefs without being part of any organization. He was asked to become presidential advisor because of personal relations with people in the entourage of President Morsi.
The paper of Wael Haddara was not placed on our website until now because of the difficulties we have experienced in restoring our website. We also hope to publish the opinions of an opposing voice, whereby we seek factual arguments rather than claims without references to sources.
