Battling for Egypt's economy

"The decisive battle for the military will be over the constitution," said Mustafa Naggar, a lawmaker and member of the Justice Party. "The army will insist on keeping some privileges ... including keeping their budget secret and [attempting to] form a national security council of army officers to have the final say on political and military affairs."

The army has long straddled two worlds. Every president since the 1952 coup that led to Egypt's independence has been a military man: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Mubarak. When the army seized power after Mubarak's overthrow, the popular slogan was: The army and the people are one hand.

In fact, it was the army and the government that were always one hand.

But the last year has shown that the military has no affinity for being the public face of power. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has clumsily, and at times violently, presided over the nation whose aspirations for wider civil rights ran counterintuitive to the military's inherent rigidness. As the ruling generals prepare to return to the barracks, however, they are laying down markers.

The army will be "hard-pressed to defend the lines it has drawn in the face of a contentious political arena and energized Egyptian public," Robert Springborg, a professor in the department of national security affairs at the U.S. Navy's Naval Postgraduate School, wrote recently in the Egyptian Independent news website. "Demands will intensify for scrutiny of its budget, its internal management, and for it to at least share responsibility for making national security policies."

Much of the military's fate may rest on how astute and patient the Brotherhood is in coming months. Too much time spent reining in the army could distract the Islamists from the nation's pronounced economic and social problems.

The Brotherhood has been waiting 84 years for this moment and doesn't want to jeopardize it with a protracted and risky fight with the army.

A central aim of the Islamists is to draft a constitution that gives more power to the parliament. Such a tilt would siphon authority from the president, which could gradually weaken the military.

There is also talk that the Brotherhood, which had said it would not run a presidential candidate from its ranks, might break that promise amid concern that some front-runner candidates may not support the group's agenda. Such a move could upset relations between the Islamists and the generals.

But so far there have been no signs of weakening from an army that, as it exits the public stage, takes with it a tight grip on the nation.

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jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

Amro Hassan in The Times' Cairo bureau contributed to this report.