In Cairo, Street Fights Move to Hospital Wards

Reading Ben Hubbard's account of the aftermath of street battles last night in Cairo, it appears that Egypt is in for a long, grinding, violent conflict:

Dr. Abu Aisha said the hardest part was the continuation of street fights in the sprawling hospital’s wards. 

“There were dead and wounded from both sides, and they wanted to finish each other off, so they beat each other inside the hospital,” he said. “There is no agreement and everyone is sticking to their views and we can’t come up with a plan to move the country forward.”

In the surgery ward, Muhammad Ibrahim, 20, recalled seeing someone shot dead next to him and then watching his twin brother, Ahmed, collapse after being shot twice in the abdomen in a clash with pro-Morsi marchers. 

“We want there to be stability — not people getting shot every day,” Mr. Ibrahim said. “We’ll let anyone rule as long as there is stability.” 

He said both he and his brother had voted for Mr. Morsi, hoping that he would use Islam to improve life for Egyptians, but they had given up on him when life got worse for the general population. He reserved judgment on Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, leader of the armed forces, who described the military’s intervention into politics as a step toward healing the country. 

“We’ll see if he does anything good or if he’ll say he’s with the people and do nothing, like the others who came before,” Mr. Ibrahim said.

The quick installation of  ElBaradei as Prime Minister is proof that the SCAF is interested in currying favor with Obama. Franklin Lamb has a piece on the Counterpunch web site this weekend which tells of ElBaradei's good relations with the Obama administration and his energetic lobbying for Morsi's ouster; it also mentions that ElBaradei has pledged fealty to Israel. The Moon of Alabama blog thinks that ElBaradei is basically decent -- I tend to agree -- but that Egypt's problems are too numerous and too large, and that he will burn out in no more than two years. I think if ElBaradei is still around in two years then the SCAF will have successfully pulled off its coup. I think at this point that's looking overly optimistic.

We'll see what happens with the Muslim Brotherhood's sit-in in front of the Republican Guard officers' club in Nasr City. Morsi, it is believed, is being held there. If the military cracks down, then soon talk of peaceful resistance will give way to jihad, and the suicide bombers can't be far behind.