Conflicts aren't swept under a rug. They're swept into a display case.

A stroll in the subdued crossfire.

Alas Egypt's military might was brought before me in two highly informative museums devoted to the police and military within the Citadel. I am a pacifist by nature, yes, but I accept the inevitability of war, and can take subversive pleasure in the strategics and art of it.

Egypt showcases a multitude of tanks and fighter jets outside the Military Museum. Inside is an alarmingly large trove of guns, uniforms, flags, maps, murals, photos...remarkably comprehensive in fact. You won't find anything quite like this in the States, the closest I could fathom in regards to planes is the National Air and Space Museum, and then numerous other museums dedicated to individual wars. Elsewhere, the Imperial War Museum in London would have to be the locale of the largest scale and depth in terms of war goodies. Visiting the National Military Museum of Egypt invoked concern in the troubles of creating a tasteful war museum. Without bashing your enemy, excessively glorifying yourself, concealing your mistakes and presenting the truth. Perhaps the Imperial War Museum is palatable in its humility at times, and the expansiveness of British action alleviates an overtly nationalistic sentiment somehow.

Nonetheless, Egypt's museum provided one crippling blow to Israel after the next. That's the sole generalization I can make. Extensive displays are endowed to Islamic crusades of the 7th and 8th centuries, as well as during the time of the monarchy. But of course, things get interesting post-1952. There are these great murals (camera battery died half way through, very disappointing) of Jimmy Carter, Sadat and Menachem Begin signing a treaty in a plush green garden somewhere in DC which allows for a backdrop of the White House, Capitol Hill, Potomac, and Lincoln Memorial all at the same time which I believe is nowhere. There are also murals of Mubarek climbing the pyramids. You have to see it for yourself. It was all very impressive, but all very bizarre. A lot can be said of a nation by its military. And how it is represented. As an American walking through this museum, I nearly felt as though I was being exposed to something I shouldn't be seeing. In a museum which effectively nullifies any plans of peace. What is a farcical museum of delusions to me is venerated place of national pride to an Egyptian.