Egypt Defense Minister General Al-Sisi on Morsi's Ouster: The People Felt Terrified and Imprisoned

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Egyptian Minister of Defense Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, which aired on Channel 1, Egyptian TV on July 14, 2013:

Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi: As we have said before, we are an honorable national army, whose toughness derives from our honor. We are not engaged in any conspiracies or deception. We simply could not remain indifferent watching most Egyptians scared and terrified, feeling like prisoners with no one to set them free.

I spoke with former president [Morsi] back in November [2012]. Listen carefully. We met at the Police Officers' Club, and I asked [Morsi] to call for dialogue. We did not want to lead this dialogue, but we were afraid that the dispute among the senior officials would trickle down until it reached the Egyptian people in its entirety, resulting in a major rift among the Egyptians.

No one with the country's best interest in mind would approve a siege on the Supreme Court, which is an important legal and constitutional platform in this country. No one should dare lay siege to the Media Production City. No! There is a great national army here. As you remember, I've said that the Egyptian army is a patriotic army.

When it comes to the people's freedom to elect their leaders – no one can claim he is more religious than the others, and say: It is the shari'a, or else... Absolutely not. If you succeed as a leader, it is your success, and if you fail as a leader, it is your failure. But you don't dare say that [you represent] religion, and the others combat religion. You are confusing things. Religion is all about kindness, ideas, and knowledge.

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