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Ogilvie-Herald, writing in the British magazine Quest for Suppression and Disinformation nowledge.'’ At the very least, Hawass seems to be quite On a more serious note, the SCA—read Hawass—has ortunate in that no matter what, whether it involve a stranglehold on most of the research occurring in stolen statues or his technical department head being — Egypt and whether and how it gets reported. This is in ined and imprisoned, he remains immune to it all. evidence in the case of Gantenbrink, who broke the Gantenbrink never returned to work inside the Great "rule", and also in the case of Dr Abbas, whose official Pyramid. He even offered the Egyptian authorities the — Giza report has been stopped from publication for a very use of his robot—because only a robot can penetrate ong time. Sources contacted for this article say that he air shaft—and volunteered to train an Egyptian hey, too, have several reports waiting to be published, echnician to operate it, but his suggestions were not but there is always one delay or another. This kind of aken up. reatment, of course, is not science but control, if not a However, Hawass eventually argued that the discovery gag order. Some might argue that there is a serious of the door was extremely interesting and would be backlog, while others might shout cover-up. urther explored. In March 1996, he stated that the door Indeed, why does the SCA place such stringent would be opened in September that year. penalties on the publication of scientific reports without The month was right, but it was on its consent, the penalty often being 7 September 2002 that the door was the denial of access to Egyptian inally opened. The event was archaeological sites? These are the broadcast "live" on Fox TV in America measures of a dictatorship at best, and transmitted to 140 countries via One source went and are far removed from any he National Geographic Channel. scientific approach. e end result was the discovery so far as to argue No one will argue that Egypt alone of...another door, which Hawass that Hawass's is in charge of deciding who digs claimed would be opened soon. 0 when, where and to what extent, even Seven years later, the world still approach Is one of though it is clear, in light of the SCA's spurting the 2002 live broadcast disinformation— tral the cose. Bat once permission Hawass made some intriguing throw- that Hawass has been given, the participating away remarks, For instance, he argued carefull twists scientists and organisers surely at "it was not ‘slaves’ who buil . oe should have the power to decide e pyramids, but ree scientific results when and here to publish vs Egyptians’". Afterwards, he told results, rather than being litera te Arabic newspaper Al that do not gagged by the SCA until it—if Gomhoreya that "[t]he results o conform to the ever—deems it appropriate to e robot's exploration refute the . release the results, and even allegations reiterated by Jews and standard history of then sometimes demanding some western countries that the ews built the pyramids".'* Of course, the exploration of an air shaft does no such thing. Bu an equally serious scientific faux pas is that no one actually claims one of disinformation: that hat the Jews, as slaves, ever buil Hawass carefully twists scientific he pyramids. Roughly speaking, if this were an results that do not conform to the standard history of istorical event, it would have occurred c. 1,000 years ancient Egypt; and that as he exercises sole control and after the building of the pyramids. Practically anyone of makes himself the medium, he can almost some education in the western world is aware of this. | singlehandedly maintain the status quo of Egyptian editorial changes. And all of this occurring without any external overview. One source went so far as to argue that Hawass's approach is ancient Egypt... But one of the leading archaeologists and the protector istory. This "Hawass touch" is clearly in evidence in the of Egypt's heritage is not, it seems. spin in his 2009 Sphinx groundwater report. But then The claim of one journalist contacted for this article, he important question is: why? hat Hawass frequently abuses nationalism, is therefore The answer has already been given: Hawass tries to quite pointedly illustrated by the above example. Other maintain the consensus view of ancient Egyptian journalists and observers have gone further, though, istory. This is why he often singles out Hancock, positing that in their opinion Hawass is anti-Semitic. In Bauval and West. Hawass realises that these are the my opinion, Hawass suffers from a severe case of verbal most vociferous and dangerous parties that can go diarrhoea whenever a camera or a microphone is placed —_ against him, but they are not alone in feeling his wrath. in front of him, leading him to make various Hawass denies findings when they don't fit with his "interesting" statements. agenda, and defames any individual for daring to have a so far as to argue that Hawass's _ approach is one of disinformation— carefully twists scientific results that do not standard history of ancient Egypt... NEXUS ¢ 47 One source went that Hawass conform to the AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com