unhappy bedfellows

Morsi, Military Clashes Led to Coup

The army had planned for months to take more political control.

By now we’re all aware they weren’t friends, but Egyptian military had apparently drawn up a plan as early as April to take control of the country’s security if street violence escalated. An investigation by the Associated Press has found that throughout Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s year in office, relations with the military had been tense. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, head of Egypt’s military, believed the first civilian president was steering the country toward disaster, and directly defied his orders at least twice while planning for months to take more political control. After clandestinely working with an activist group called Tamarod, which hoped to oust the president, al-Sisi gave Morsi a 48-hour ultimatum and finally enacted the overthrow on July 3.