Army 'never planned to overthrow President'

Egyptian Air Force Commander Reda Hafez Cairo – Akram Ali Egyptian Air Force Commander Reda Hafez revealed that he and the members of the Military Council had not been informed of Morsi's decision to sack them. In an interview on al-Hayat, he said that he didn't receive any indication or sign from President Morsi that he was about to fire them.
When he was informed by Muhab Mamish about the decision, he immediately declared: "We are soldiers and we have to obey the orders of the President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces."
He also claimed that he had never thought of trying to overthrow Morsi.
Hafez denied rumours of previous agreements between the members of the Supreme Council and the President Morsi on the members ‘retirement, stating that the same members were informed about the decision only through the media.
He also revealed that he felt, prior to January 25, that a revolution was going to start as a result of the overspread lawlessness and negligence. In this regard, he claimed that there was no intention from the Council to harm people.
He noted that the military and civil life are ruled by laws and that anyone bypassing the line dividing the two has undoubtedly to be held accountable, according to both legal systems.
Hafez stated that he, together with the other military personnel, believes that political manoeuverings differ from military ones and that the Military Council had committed injustice when it found itself in the midst of political games. Despite this, the Council has sought with all its efforts to protect Egypt from falling into a bloodshed like the one occurring in Syria.
Talking about the planes that flew over Tahrir Square during the 18 days of the revolution, he stated ‘ we were in a middle of a revolution and we had no idea what neighbouring countries could do. We had to protect our sky’.
Hafez finally denied the use of artillery in Tahrir Square for the purpose of intimidating and threatening protesters, saying: "We employed ordinary F-16. If we had wanted to harm the people we could have done so 4 kilometres away from the protest without people seeing us."
Rumours have spread about the Military Council’s intention, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Sami Hafez Anan and Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman, to overthrow President Morsi by exploiting the demonstration of August 25.