12.05.99
EgyptAir Flight 990: "We will never know the truth"
In Cairo, suspicion clouds view of crash

By FARNAZ FASSIHI
Journal Staff Writer

CAIRO, Egypt -- Under the curved archway of a narrow alley, a peddler wearing a long gray Arabic gown pushes a cart of fresh vegetables through the crowd, two young boys chase away a yellow stray cat and a female shopper haggles loudly over a pound of dates.

AP photo/ Enric Marti Sharif El-Batouty, cousin of Flight 990's co-pilot Gameel El-Batouty speaks during an interview in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, Nov. 18. The family of the co-pilot welcomed the wider role for Egyptian authorities in the crash investigations, saying it will finally end suspicions that Gameel el-Batouty downed the plane in a suicidal dive.

Inside a traditional teahouse nearby, the aroma of burning incense and tobacco from the glass water pipes, together with the smell of rich Eastern tea and Turkish coffee, create the illusion of timelessness.

Here, shadows of past glories from an ancient civilization meet the present realities of a developing country.

Three men take puffs on the long stem of their water pipes, which emit a ring of smoke into the misty air.

The hypnotic effect of the apple-scented smoke is disrupted when the conversation shifts to the worst tragedy this nation has seen in recent years.

Talk of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 triggers an eruption of emotional reactions.

``Why is there no news this week?'' asks Mahdouh Fahmy, 41, setting aside his water pipe. The phrase ``In the name of God'' is inscribed in bold pink Arabic letters on the wall behind him.

``They are hiding something and now they will tell us a new lie,'' he said, wagging a finger in the air as he leaned forward to emphasize his point.

``We all know it's terrorist against Egypt -- Khalass (the end),'' continues Abdullah Hassan,67, ``Why listen to more news? Thirty-three of the best military people trained in the United States were killed at once. Does America think we are stupid and illiterate?'' he said, his voice rising with every word.

Hassan points to a copy of an Arabic daily newspaper that is spread atop a cracked metal table nearby to indicate that he is updated with the current events.

The men, on a midday tea and shisheh (water pipe) break from their jobs, engage in a heated debate.

``Suicide? An Egyptian pilot, a Muslim doing suicide? Not in one million years,'' Hassan says.

At the sandwich stand next door, a mother and three daughters wait in line for a quick lunch of falafels.

``We have reached our conclusion that this is a terrorist act and we will never, ever know the truth,'' said Wafa Anwar, 40, the mother.

IT'S BEEN MORE than a month since Egyptair Flight 990, en route to Cairo, plunged into the Atlantic 60 miles off the coast of Nantucket killing all 217 aboard.

Among the passengers were 33 Egyptian military officers who were returning from training seminars in the United States.

In the first days after the crash, Rhode Island was at center stage, hosting both the investigation and the families and friends of victims. Since then, news of the crash has slipped off the front pages in the United States.

But in Egypt, it's still a prime topic of conversation, amid theories of international conspiracy.

To most Egyptians, the riddle of Flight 990 has a simple answer: The United States has the technology and experience to investigate mechanical problems. When the National Transportation Safety Board announced the crash was not a result of aircraft failure, especially one that would involve EgyptAir, the news was readily accepted.

On the other hand, when the foreign media started reporting speculation of suicide on the part of the Muslim pilot, the reaction was that Americans lack the understanding required for interpreting Arabic words in their cultural context.

Add to this a history of resentment against the West for stereotyping Arabs and Muslims, the tendency toward creating conspiracy in the absence of facts and the pride that stems from being a part of an ancient civilization.

The result poses one question for the majority of Egyptians: What else could have caused EgyptAir Flight 990 to plunge into the Atlantic but an act of terrorism against their nation?

``We can't look into much rationality. This is the Egyptian's gut reaction that stems from culture, history and psychology,'' said Barbara Ibrahim, an American resident of Cairo for 30 years who holds a doctorate in sociology.

In this region of the world, intrigue is ingrained in the interactions of daily life. If a guest refuses an offer of a cup of tea, a second and third offering will follow, because the host believes that true intentions are never revealed upon the first account.

In a broader sense, to the eyes of an average Egyptian, nothing is what it appears to be, from the run-down shabby buildings that house marble-floored luxury apartments, furnished with French velvet and gold furniture, to the political scene of the country and the region.

For the masses, the 1952 revolution, which overthrew the monarchy of King Farouk and resulted in the creation of the Republic of Egypt, did not deliver its early promise of economic prosperity and international recognition.

Today, with a population of 62 million and a growth rate of 1.2 million people a year, the unemployment rate is approaching 30 percent, according to the CIA world fact book.

Fifty-five percent of Egyptians are rural residents and 66 percent are illiterate, according to the country's 1996 census data.

``As with every revolution, the middle class has disappeared, the rich got richer and the poor, poorer,'' said Maher Asal, a 49-year-old American-trained architect, lounging in the exclusive Gezira Country Club.

Economic frustrations and a lack of aspiration for the majority have resulted in what experts call ``heightened religiosity'' in the country.

``These people are the margins of society. Modernization and development has left them aside,'' explained Enid Hill, chairwoman of the political science department at the American University of Cairo.``You can't live with this kind of alienation and the Islamic movement incorporates them into an alternative form of community. Then their life means something.''

THE STRONG FAITH and Islamic values observed by Egyptians was yet another reason to denounce with such rigorous intensity the suggestion that a Muslim Egyptian of the highest clan, a pilot, could commit suicide.

A Muslim is prohibited by the Koran from taking his own life; suicide is considered a sin and, culturally, a disgrace.

In a society where most people invest more heavily in social relations than individual success, any act that would bestow public shame on a person and the honor of the family name is regarded as the worst affront one can suffer.

``There is not anger against humanity and society here that you see in the West, where someone randomly walks into a McDonald's and [shoots] children and then kills himself. These things just do not happen here,'' said Nadine Boctor, 42, who recently moved back to Cairo from a decade of living in Canada.

Egypt receives $1.2 billion annually -- equal to 10 percent of its gross national product -- in economic and military aid from the United States, making it the second-largest recipient of foreign aid after Israel.

In return, Egypt is considered the number-one ally of the United States in the Arab world and a key player in the Middle East peace process.

The course of politics in the region has led Egyptians of all political persuasions to believe that their country and all Third-World countries are manipulated and exploited for purposes that may be secret at the time but become apparent later.

Among examples Egyptians cite are the Iran-Contra scandal and the Arab-Israel peace process, in which the Arabs feel that the terms of negotiations often favor Israel.

On the flip side of feeling powerless about their political fate, Egyptians place much more emphasis on the importance of Middle East affairs in American foreign policy than is the case in reality. This leads to a public opinion that the West is never without an agenda in its dealings with the region.

``There is no real understanding of their true place in the emerging global world order where the Arabs are mostly marginalized'' explained Ibrahim.

These perceptions, whether true or false, are heartfelt and create a foundation for conspiracy theories involving the United States and Israel, in the absence of factual information.

THE STORY of Egyptair has a familiar ring to the ears of Cairo residents. They compare the mystery of the crash to the deaths of princess Diana and her Egyptian boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayad, in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997.

``Everyone was convinced that the British monarchy killed them,'' said Yasmine El Rashidi, an American-trained journalist for Al Ahram, an English-language weekly newspaper. ``We have an obsession with conspiracy. Every disaster they can't find answers for is a result of outside meddling and conspiracy.''

Reports in the Western media, based on leaks from officials in Washington suggesting that the copilot of Flight 990, Gamil al-Batouty, had brought down the plane in an act of suicide because he was heard uttering an Arabic prayer, only heightened the paranoia in this country.

``These leaks were an attempt to compromise the whole overall process of the investigation,'' said Nabil Osman, the chairman of the State Information Service, and the official spokesman for the Egyptian government. ``These leaks were erroneous in content and in intent both and this led to a reaction.

``Now as it stands, the idea of suicide is completely out of the window, there is no trace of it whatsoever, this is ridiculous,'' Osman said emotionally.

``They are looking into mechanics and whether it is mechanical due to bad manufacturing or mechanical due to human fault,'' said Osman.

IN THE CROWDED streets of Cairo, a city of 18 million people, traffic is at a standstill regularly and the honking of horns sings a background melody in the warm desert climate.

At the corner of every other block on Corniche Road, which stretches along the Nile River and cuts through the buzzing downtown area, a blue and white square sign hangs from metal light poles.

The sign depicts a white falcon on a sky blue background. Above it reads, ``Mesr al-Tayaran,'' or EgyptAir.

In the United States, an airline logo represents a private business, perhaps evoking thoughts of what the best deal of the week may be. In Egypt, where the government owns the airline, the falcon is a reminder of national glory and pride.

The falcon, which was kept in palaces by the sultans of the East, symbolizes power and superiority in this region. It's regarded as a strong bird that can endure the hardships of a desert life.

Naturally, pilots who are entrusted with the country's glorious bird of the modern era, the aircraft, are equally looked upon as men of honor.

``We are the elite in Cairo. To attack one of us is like attacking national pride, we are government employees of the highest rank," said Walid Morad, the chairman of the Egyptian Pilots Association and an EgyptAir pilot, in his luxury apartment in an upscale suburb of Cairo.

Egyptair often recruits its pilots from the air force, said Morad, adding that each candidate's personal, criminal and physical background is thoroughly researched to ensure perfection.

Morad and his wife and two children, who attend private American schools and are chauffeured around, speak flawless English. They have traveled to most countries in the world and comment on art and culture in New York City, which is a favorite spot.

Morad's wife asks the live-in maid to prepare tea and flips through the TV satellite channels for an entertaining show. Their 8-year old son and 11-year-old daughter go off to play computer games. The phone rings and husband and wife both reach for their cellular phones.

A similar scene takes place at the apartment of Walid al-Batouty, the nephew of the accused copilot. Walid, who went to high school in the United States, dismisses the possibility of his uncle being associated with an Islamic extremist group that may have taken the plane down in an act of martyrdom.

``I think my uncle's mission was to break the American stereotyping of Arabs; you think we are still on camels, that we are either terrorists or secularists. That to have a balanced, modern Arab Muslim is not possible,'' Walid adds.

At one o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday, Walid, who is an Egyptologist, has not left home for work yet. The morning was spent surfing the Internet, defending his uncle on the phone to foreign journalists and taking care of other personal matters. Engulfed in the relaxed pace that governs Egypt when it comes to punctuality, he is in no particular rush either.

Arriving late for appointments, canceling events on the spur of the moment and taking one's time to deliver a task are allcommon.

The Western obsession to find clear and definite reasons for everything in supersonic time by using the latest technology, is absent from the Egyptian mentality.

Here, the answer to every question has only one answer: `` Insha-allah ,'' or simply, ``God willingly.''

``Americans have this illusion that they can conquer and control everything, while the Egyptians believe God has a plan that they don't understand, which often leads to a sense of resignation in the face of a tragedy,'' said Ibrahim, the American sociologist in Egypt.

IN RETROSPECT, suggestions that in a matter of less than a week, the United States could come up with explanations for such a complicated mystery as a plane crash, especially explanations that blamed an Egyptian, are incomprehensible.

The majority of the victim's families interviewed in Cairo said they have shut off the flow of information regarding the crash to grieve in private with the support of other family members.

The only source of official information comes through a hot line established by Egyptair for the families, but victims' relatives do not aggressively pursue even that channel.

Since victims' families returned from their vigil in Newport, only one conference call has been scheduled that put families in Egypt in direct contact with NTSB officials, according to Shahra Khali, who lost her uncle, Madgy Geish, 50, in the crash.

``My uncle's wife and two children have completely stopped listening to any news about the crash,'' said Khali.

``What difference does it make,'' she asked. ``At the end they will find some political explanation that won't be the truth. Do we know to this day who killed JFK? This is the same. They seek comfort in God.''