Israel and Saudi Arabia Warn-The US Should NOT Cut Off Aid To Egypt

There is no way the US should cut off aid to Egypt.

The carnage in Egypt during the past week has been awful it's the only way to describe it too many deaths on both sides.  Yes its true that President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was democratically elected, but one of his first moves was to change the constitution for his own political benefit.  In the end Morsi lost the support of the vast majority of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian Army who's interest is in maintaining the peace, so they guarantee the status quo of the military bureaucracy heeded the calls of the people and took over.

The Muslim Brotherhood is as culpable in this weeks deaths as the military, they have been attacking/killing supporters of the military and trying to ethnic cleanse the country's Coptic Christians. And the military may be too harsh in its attacks to maintain order.

The truth is both sides are the bad guys. The real question is what is in the best interests of the United States, its not the semi-neutral policy taken by this administration. All that has done is rouse anti-American hatred from both sides . As (hopefully) future US Senator from New Hampshire Mark Steyn wrote today:

All these parties are pursuing their strategic interest. Does the United States have such a thing anymore? Not so’s you’d notice. As a result, the factions in Egypt are united only in their contempt for Washington. Obama is despised by Sisi and the generals for being fundamentally unserious; by the Brotherhood for stringing along with the coup; by the Copts for standing by as the Brothers take it out on them; and by the small number of genuine democrats in Egypt for his witless promotion of Morsi’s thugs as the dawning of democracy. Any “national-unity government” of the kind the usual deluded twits are urging on Egypt would be united only in its unanimous loathing of Obama, his secretaries of state, and his inept ambassador.

 Our interests are best served by backing the Egyptian military.  Allies as diverse as Israel and Saudi Arabia has told this country to back the military:

Israel’s message to Washington and key European capitals regarding Egypt is that the key issue is simply keeping the country from falling apart.

“The name of the game right now is not democracy,” one official said Sunday, relaying Israel’s position on the Egyptian turmoil. “The name of the game is that there needs to be a functioning state. 

The official said that in the present reality the only actor that can assert authority in Egypt and keep it from descending into chaos is the military.

“If you dismiss that actor, Egypt goes the way of Syria, Tunisia and Libya,” he said. “Like it or not, no one else can run the country right now.”

On Friday, Saudi King Abdullah (who is still not dead) called on Arabs to stand together against "attempts to destabilize" Egypt, in a message of support for Egypt's military and clear attack on the Brotherhood.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned the West against putting pressure on Egypt's military-backed government to halt a crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

"We will not achieve anything through threats," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, told reporters through an interpreter during a visit to Paris.

The prince spoke after meeting French President Francois Hollande, who on Thursday called for a swift end to a state of emergency imposed by Egypt's military authorities.

Those allies are correct, it is in the best interests of the United States to back the military with continued aid.  The Muslim Brotherhood, creator of terrorist groups such as HAMAS has no love of this country,  their Islamist philosophy draws them closer to Iran than to the West.

Under Gamal Nasser Egypt was a satellite of Russia, but Sadat dumped the Soviets for the West (which upset the military) but American dollars earned their "love and respect."  It's  those dollars which kept the peace with Israel despite the Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric, it's those dollars which convinced the Egyptian military to allow the US military to fly over Egyptian territory without asking first, and it is those dollars that convince the Egyptian military to keep the oil shipping lanes leading to the Suez Canal (and the canal) open.

In the unlikely case that the Muslim Brotherhood defeat the military,  Egypt is likely to turn the Sinai Desert into a terrorist launching pad, threaten the oil supply and to end all cooperation with the US.

It is quite possible that should the US withdraw aid the Egyptian military will go back to its roots and turn to the Russians for help.


Both sides of the conflict are the bad guys. Only one side however has any possibility of maintaining an orderly relationship with the US. It just so happens to be the side with the support of the Egyptian people--despite last year's election.  The Egyptian military.  It is in the best interests of this country to keep them on our side.