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60 Minutes: Was Ashraf Marwan Israel's Greatest Spy Or Was He A Double Agent?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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But General Farkash doesn't blame Marwan; he's convinced that the plans were so secret, Marwan didn't find out until the last minute. He believes Marwan's warning gave the Israelis just enough time to mobilize the reserves and ultimately save the state of Israel.
"Our army is based on 80 percent reserve forces. And he gave us the most important piece of information to bring the government of Israel and to force us, to "force us" I call it, to call the reserve forces," Gen. Farkash said.
The reserves arrived in time in time for the Israelis to turn back the Syrian army on the Golan Heights, after sustaining heavy casualties.
But the Sinai was a different story. Marwan had told the Israelis that the war would begin at 6 p.m. It actually began four hours earlier.
The Egyptians were able to break through the Israeli defenses, cross the Suez Canal and take back part of the land it had lost six years earlier. And according to the Egyptians, Marwan's deception was crucial.
"He gave us a number of hours before the Israelis started to mobilize and come to the front. And that was enough for us to cross the Suez Canal. That is the greatest achievement," Dr. Said told Kroft.
"So, we're talking about four, five, six hours extra," Kroft remarked.
"Every hour here counts. And that was enough to make the difference," Said replied.
After three weeks of fighting, a truce was declared, with the Egyptians still controlling the Suez and part of the Sinai. Six years later, in 1979, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat would reclaim all of it for Egypt by signing an historic peace treaty with Israelis.
For his part in the war, Sadat secretly awarded Marwan Egypt's highest medal.
"He was able to hold conflicting loyalties at the same time. And that was his genius - that's what made him a perfect spy," Howard Blum said.
After the war, Marwan made a fortune selling Egyptian arms to Arab countries, and reportedly forged intelligence ties to the CIA, the British, the Libyans and the Italians.
But his role in the Yom Kippur War remained a secret until a few years ago, when some of the details began to appear in print. Marwan told friends he was concerned about his safety.
In June of 2007, the mysterious Egyptian met a mysterious end, when he fell or was thrown from the balcony of his fifth floor apartment in the Saint James district of London, not far from Buckingham Palace. Initially the death was ruled a suicide, but today Scotland Yard is investigating it as a murder.
"You think somebody threw him off the balcony? Or forced him to jump?" Kroft asked Marwan's son Gamal.
"I'm not sure what happened but what I'm sure is that he was definitely killed, 100 percent," Gamal Marwan replied.
He says his father was lame and too weak to hoist himself over the railing. And witnesses have reported seeing two dark-complected men on the balcony moments before his plunge. Missing from the apartment was the unfinished manuscript of Marwan's memoir.
"The day my father was murdered, the book vanished. And all the tapes that my father dictated vanished as well," Gamal Marwan said.
Asked if his father was an Israeli agent, Marwan told Kroft, "Definitely not"
"You're sure of that?" Kroft asked.
"Positive. My father was a patriot," Marwan said.
"Did you talk to your father about this?" Kroft asked.
"I asked him, 'What's going on?' Okay? And, he said, 'You know what? I'm a soldier. And in war, you have to do certain things as a soldier.' Didn't make much sense at the time. Makes a lot of sense today," he replied.
Asked who would have a motive to kill his father, Gamal Marwan told Kroft, "You know, my father's main job was Egypt. And the main concept is to fool the Israelis and win the war. God knows. They have the highest motive."
When Kroft asked Aharon Levran whether he thought the Israelis killed Marwan, he told Kroft, "Never on Sunday, never. It can't be. Why should they kill him? It's only a good reason for the Egyptians to do it once they discovered that he - wasn't so good for them."
A few days after his death, the body of the man the Israelis claim as their greatest spy ever was flown to Egypt for a hero's funeral. Thousands of people turned out, including President Mubarak's son and high-ranking members of the Egyptian intelligence establishment.
President Mubarak himself issued a statement saying that Marwan was patriotic and loyal to his country, but the time was not ripe to unveil those acts.
So in the end, who did Ashraf Marwan really betray? And who finally killed him? If the truth wasn't buried with him, it is most likely buried somewhere in a top secret vault.
"It's in a lot of people's interest that we, that the world, never knows the answer to who killed Ashraf Marwan," Howard Blum said.
"Because?" Kroft asked.
"Because the damage he did and the deals that were made, I think intelligence communities all throughout the world, want to keep secret," Blum replied.
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