ABSTRACT
As expected, the local press provided us with the customary dose of rhetoric and justifications in the aftermath of the attack. A divergent voice was heard, however, on the day after the crime by the Egyptian president during his visit to the scene of the carnage. He described the country’s security arrangements with adjectives that were quite unfamiliar to the official vocabulary that often follows any terrorist incident. No sooner had the premier’s visit ended, however, than a return to the traditional line of indignant justification swiftly followed.
