Former intelligence officer turned presidential hopeful Lt General Hossam Khairallah discusses Mubarak, the Army, the revolution and more in this exclusive interview with Ahram Online
Lieutenant General Ahmad Hossam Khairallah is no stranger to politics. His grandfather, General Mohammad Hamed Khairallah was a police chief before the 1952 revolution and escorted King Farouk in his last trip out of Egypt aboard the Al-Mahrousa ('the protected'); his mission being to bring the royal yacht back to the country. His father, Kamal Khairallah was deputy interior minister and governor of Aswan.
Khairallah started out as a paratrooper for 12 years, rising to the rank of major and fighting in both the Yemeni war in the 1960s and October war in 1973, before joining the General Intelligence Services (GIS) in 1976. In 2006 he became chief of the Information and Estimation Unit. He retired in 2006.
As well as being president of a sports club, Khairallah is a veteran environmentalist. He represented Egypt in several international conferences related to the environment, as well as in Middle East talks and Egyptian-US dialogue.
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