The Ambassador's Dog
Mohammad Salah Al-Hayat - 17/06/08//
The new US ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey, has not presented her credentials to Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, although it has been weeks since her arrival to replace Francis Ricciardone. Scobey is expected to stand at the embassy gate on 2 July to receive guests at an event commemorating America's independence. Although some believe that receiving official delegations counts as "work," especially if it falls on an official occasion, others do not rule out the possibility that Scobey will present her credentials before that date. They do not believe that President Mubarak's busy schedule will prevent Scobey from presenting her credentials or that he will ban the event which causes considerable suffering for Cairo residents as a result security measures and traffic congestion.
Americans residing in Egypt mention Scobey's busy schedule with extremely important official work, which in recent days has required her to exchange official correspondence and communications with official Egyptian agencies, and requiring considerable time and effort.
Scobey has also been sad since her dog died of poisoning in the embassy garden. Compounding her sadness has been her anxiety about the possible reasons behind the American ambassador's dog dying poisoned. Americans in Egypt say that the ambassador's state of extreme anger has forced the embassy's security to cooperate Egyptian authorities in spending considerable time on proving that the incident was not a premeditated attack and that the embassy's security measures, employees and the ambassador's home and household are safe. After all, a successful attempt to murder the ambassador's dog sends a message that it is possible to commit the same crime against Americans working at the ambassador's home or against the ambassador herself.
Since Scobey is still single, she had the time to care for her two dogs, but now that only one is left, she will certainly offer it all her care, especially as she has discussed with her security officials the measures that will guarantee the protection of her other dog to avoid repeating the same scenario.
In fact, the dog's corpse was sent to a specialized agency in Cairo for autopsy to identify the causes of death. A Marine investigations unit has also accompanied the corpse to the US to attend the burial, leaving the ambassador with her other dog to care for, and of course to follow on the investigations that had led to the death of the dog. Some Americans residing in Egypt claim that former ambassador Ricciardone had noticed that the staff caring for the embassy garden used to place poison in small plates around the gates to kill stray cats that used to jump into the garden although he never grew any dogs or cats. It seems these employees resumed their act to spare themselves the effort of chasing stray animals, and it is possible that the ambassador's dog had slipped into the garden where it ate the poison and died. The ambassador, however, seems unconvinced as she believes that it is important to rule out the possibility that this was not a planned crime and that she herself is safe.
Egyptian officials try to find excuses for ambassador's anxiety since she was the target of heavy criticism by the Egyptian press long before she landed in Egypt, mainly as a result of remarks she made in front of a Congress committee on the situation in Egypt which some Egyptians considered interference in Egypt's affairs. Scobey and her team hope to resolve the mystery of the slain dog quickly because her schedule in Egypt is loaded and one of its priorities is improving the bilateral relations that had rapidly deteriorated over the past months as a result of President George Bush's statement at the Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh. These relations should not deteriorate further as a result of the mystery surrounding the death of the ambassador's dog.
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