Jimmy Carter says Egypt’s military won’t fully submit to civilian rule

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who brokered Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, says Egypt's current military rulers are unlikely to transfer full responsibility to an elected civilian government. Ouch. 

In Cairo to observe the tail end of Egypt's first free parliamentary elections, President Carter spoke with the New York Times: 

Mr. Carter, 87, said that in their meeting he had repeatedly pressed Field Marshal Tantawi on how to resolve potential disputes between the military council and the elected civilian authorities over the military’s future powers and privileges, which he called “the basic question that has not yet been resolved.”

The role of the military in post-Mubarak Egypt has been at the heart of clashes between protestors and security forces in recent months. When the ruling generals sought to influence the writing of the country's new constitution, tens of thousands of protesors descended on Cairo's Tahrir Square. 

Just last week, the Muslim Brotherhood, whose political party swept the legislative polls, said they would be willing to grant the army immunity for killing protestors in clashes last month. Mr. Carter said he would have no objection to immunity for the army, the NYT reports.