Yesterday, Deb and I stopped at Cairo's Unknown Soldier Memorial that former Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat had commissioned in 1974 to honor the lives that died in the "October War". On October 6, 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur; the holiest day in Judaism. The war lasted only 20 days, but cost high casualties for all three countries. Egypt alone lost 15,000 soldiers. Anwar El Sadat was assassinated in 1981 after serving only 11 years in office. He was killed by Islamic fundamentalists who opposed the peace treaty he signed in 1979 with Israel, which consequently led to Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League that same year. Egypt would not be reinstated back to the Arab League for another 10 years. When Anwar El Sadat died, he was buried at the Unknown Soldier Memorial that he built, which ironically is directly across the place that he was assassinated. Today, Egyptians still have mixed sentiment for their 3rd president. Love him or hate him, they now refer to the memorial site as Anwar El Sadat's Tomb. The open air pyramid design was unique, and adjacent gardens were beautiful.
