That was really uncalled- for
This guys job was to exactly what you saw him on TV doing.. and he was good at it and very protective of Egypts artifacts.
The charges were FAKE documents (did you miss that part?) and were originally filed by the muslim brotherhood terrorist supporters that originally took over Egypt- then the Egyptian people threw them out of office, and this guy has now been rightly cleared of any fake charges.
Where do you get the idea he was a “scumbag” ?
He’s good on TV, I’ll grant that. My biggest quibble with him is that he’s the one (or the highest profile one anyway) that’s pushing the nonsense that ancient Egypt never had slaves. He insists that the workers who built the pyramids and other such works were in fact paid laborers.
I’m willing to assume that there were skilled artisans involved in all those projects, and they were likely paid professionals. I think it is ludicrous however to contend that Egyptian culture was such that slavery never happened. He pushes a condition of moral superiority because of this... and it’s annoying. Egypt had slaves and lots of them. So did everybody else.
He’s had his scrapes with Egypt’s so-called legal system before, and managed to evade jail time at least once. But like muzzies everywhere, he is indeed a scumbag.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3167766/posts?page=10#10
He isn’t the best or the brightest egyptologist - he’s just the one with the most government juice, so he gets to push everyone else around.
Nobody gets to shoot frame one of footage in Egypt unless he gets his cut. And unless he gets to shove his mug in front of the camera.
He doesn’t OWN the Sphinx or the Great Pyramids or the temple of Luxor... but he sure does act like it.