Egypt, another foreign policy disaster
As you may know, the Egyptian military has received an average of about $2 billion a year ($5 1/2 million a day including holidays) of U.S. taxpayers money since 1979 (about $70 billion, or about $650 per household so far) after its government signed a peace accord with Israel. This was its payoff for signing the deal.
Much of this aid (some held back for bribes) is in the form of weapons – fighter jets, attack helicopters, tanks, armored personnel carriers, antiaircraft missiles and surveillance aircraft. We don’t send much cash, just hardware. You may ask where a portion of that cash goes… ask the Swiss bankers.
Our government packages the payments as aid, in exchange for leverage and that our warships can easily transverse the Suez Canal. Most is sent to U.S. weapons manufacturers and the arms are delivered to Egypt. I believe that many of the needed spare parts are not shipped or sent as needed, but used as leverage to make sure that the military doesn’t use those weapons against Israel or its own civilians. Or, at least Israel.
After the recent “initially popular” military coup, initiated because a very vocal group expressed loud dissatisfaction with the democratically elected President Morsi, the Egyptian military took over. They arrested Mr. Morsi and his associates, and are claiming to be working to setup a temporary government. They also fired on protesting Egyptian civilians, killing a few. This is just the beginning. Many more will die.
Our laws states that we cannot send money or weapons to a government where its military has taken control of its country, via a coup. President Obama is in a quandary.
Section 508 of the decades-old Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant to this Act shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup or decree.”
The obvious way that he’ll bypass this law is to claim that the military coup, really isn’t. The military deposing and imprisoning the elected president, and shooting into crowds is just business as usual and not a coup d’etat. Yes, he’s correct and the moon is made of green cheese. I wonder what it tastes like?
When President Obama, who does a really good job of reading his teleprompted speeches, uses a repeated phrase “… we’re a nation of laws…“, he implies that he obeys United States laws. In fact, he doesn’t. He just lies. He’s one in a long line of presidents who have issued these statements.
If you’ve ever read any of his many “signing statements” you’ll see that he’ll some sign bills into law, but his concurrent written statements say that he won’t enforce them. Yes, we are a nation of laws, but many unenforced as a policy of deceit.
The media doesn’t report this as they will lose access. Access is the reporters key to keeping their jobs. That’s why this isn’t ever mentioned.
So what will he do… follow the letter of the law, or make an executive decision to keep sending the money, weapons and bribes? He hopes that if they keep receiving aid, the Egyptian military will continue to block the ongoing attempts to send arms into the Gaza Strip and used against Israel. They’ll also block our ship traffic through the Suez Canal. That’s their leverage over us; they have a good strategy.
Is it too late to impeach him, if the arms and money continue to flow?
In any instance, our Middle-East credibility will continue to fall due to the ongoing Arab Spring disaster. Thanks, Hillary Clinton. There is very little we can do as our government is inept in many of its ventures, especially foreign policy. Its been that way for decades.
Why is it that our country lurches from one flat-footed foreign policy disaster to the next but the public doesn’t care? The answer… we’re well fed, entertained and have access to relatively cheap gasoline. Take away the abundance of food, entertainment and gas and the American public will become very upset, fast.
We won’t be as torpid, while the Middle East continues to burn because of our multiplicity of mistakes.
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Editor’s note, August 15th, 2013.
In spite of efforts by Senators McCain and Graham, they failed to persuade General al-Sisi to not kill Egyptian citizens who are objecting to the military coup. Over five hundred Egyptians died yesterday in the aftermath of the coup.
President Obama still will not use the “coup” word, as it will legally block bribes financial aid flowing to Egypt. As I wrote above, they know how to play us, and they are. Our president lacks a backbone.
