Amin Huweidi, the first official in Egypt to head both the General Intelligence Service and the War Ministry at the same time during the Nasser years in the 1960s, passed away last week after a month-long battle with illness.
Huweidi served as Egypt’s ambassador to Iraq for almost three years (1963-1965) during one of the richest high tides in the drive for Arab unity. He was minister of war and chief of General Intelligence following the defeat in the June 1967 Six Day War, in which capacity he contributed both to overhauling this formidable bureau and exposing many of its weak points and shortcomings in handling the conflict with Israel.
When Anwar al-Sadat came to power in 1970, Huweidi was arrested with other Nasserite officials in May 1971 in what came to be dubbed as Sadat’s “correction movement”.
Huweidi was among the few who spoke of their memoirs after leaving the intelligence agency, writing more than 25 books in Arabic and English about the Middle East. He was also a regular columnist in several Egyptian newspapers, including Al-Ahram Weekly.