Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to be released from captivity this week, a move which will further inflame rapidly escalating tensions in the North African nation – where more than 900 people have died in the last week.
Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood – whose leader Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in a bloodless coup last month – has reportedly aligned with al-Qaeda in an effort to ramp up its ongoing “protests.” In fact Brotherhood/ al-Qaeda forces executed more than two dozen Egyptian police officers earlier this week in an ambush on the Sinai peninsula.
Mubarak has been incarcerated since April of 2011 – two months after he was routed from power during the so-called “Arab Spring.” U.S. President Barack Obama worked to undermine Mubarak’s rule – and supported Morsi’s ascension to power.
Currently, Obama is taking steps to cut approximately $250 million in annual economic aid to Egypt’s interim government – although the $1.3 billion in annual military aid our taxpayers provide to the rapidly unspooling nation remains in place.
Mubarak, 85, ruled Egypt for three decades prior to his ouster. During that time he was a staunch U.S. ally.
Morsi? Not so much. Shortly after taking power he declared a jihad against Syria and tried to force the Egyptian Army into the war-torn nation – where Muslim extremists are fighting to depose president Bashar al-Assad.
Another American ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, blamed the “ignorance” of the Obama administration for the Egyptian crisis. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah specifically cited American “interference” in Egyptian affairs as causing the current turmoil.
Abdullah is also putting his money where his mouth is – spearheading a $12 billion provision of aid for the interim Egyptian government.
Again … we’re not neoconservatives. We don’t care whether Mubarak or Morsi leads Egypt. And we oppose all foreign aid on principle.
But it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. backed the wrong horse in Egypt, abandoning one of its few allies and sending an unmistakeable signal to the rest of the world.
7 comments
But, if we cut off “aid” to these countries, HOW will they buy all of our aging planes, computer systems, and weapons?????????
They’re not buying the old stuff – most of wht they get rolls off a factory floor and on to a waiting US Carrier.
But, if we cut off “aid” to these countries, HOW will they buy all of our aging planes, computer systems, and weapons?????????
If TBG was Hosni Mubarak, he’d hightail it to Saudi Arabia before his captors change their mind. Maybe Idi Amin’s old residence is available.
Mubarak: May I speak with Prime Minister Lumumba?
Operator: So sorry, but that Lumumba is no longer a working Lumumba.
If TBG was Hosni Mubarak, he’d hightail it to Saudi Arabia before his captors change their mind. Maybe Idi Amin’s old residence is available.
President Obama is criminally naive; and this dramatic meltdown of the Islamic World happened on his watch. From my extensive travels in the Arabian Gulf, I can tell you that the U.S. government’s intentions are distrusted to an extent not seen in many years. Saudi Arabia has every right to defend Egypt and itself; and what the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge is the close alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. Iran’s plan is to complete their nuke, to point it at the Arabian Gulf which has 60% of the global oil production, and to blackmail the world. Read Kindle’s new thriller The Bahrain Protocol to see the surprising alliance that will take on Iran; and it doesn’t include the United States.