Moustafa Bayoumi, a professor of English at Brooklyn College, is author of "How Does It Feel to be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America." He wrote this for Progressive Media Project.
The United States needs to completely revamp its policy toward Egypt.
The United States should not acquiesce in the military takeover of Egypt. The Obama administration privately helped to oust the government while publicly sending weak and confused signals about the future of its aid to that nation. The best thing the United States can do is to leave the country alone, which would include suspending its massive military assistance package to Egypt as it is required to do after a coup.
Since the overthrow, Egyptians have witnessed some of the country's worst violence in its modern history, with hundreds dead and thousands injured, mostly at the hands of the state security forces. The Obama administration bears some responsibility, since it played a role in the removal of the elected government. According to the New York Times, national security adviser Susan Rice was the one who delivered the final message to Mohammed Morsi and his government that they were about to be deposed, and Secretary of State John Kerry publicly stated that the army was "restoring democracy." These moves certainly emboldened the generals.
This in no way excuses the Muslim Brotherhood for its blunders. When Morsi was in power, he led a government that was exclusionary, pushed through a flawed constitution, failed to reform the state security forces and exacerbated sectarian tensions.
But the place to remedy that would have been in the voting booth, not on the street and certainly not with the military. New parliamentary elections were to be scheduled soon. Letting the Muslim Brotherhood fail at the next election would have been far more meaningful in the long run.
If American meddling helped the generals recently, the $1.3 billion of annual U.S. military assistance has supported them for much longer.
This aid helps enshrine the powerful position of the military in Egyptian society, buttresses their distorted economic privileges (the Egyptian armed forces control up to 40 percent of the country's economy), and maintains the political status quo in the entire region. U.S.-supplied weapons are too often used against civilians.
American military assistance is also a way for the U.S. government to funnel support for the domestic arms industry. Most of the money that is set aside as military aid for Egypt in reality stays in the United States and is reaped by companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon.
What Egypt does not need is meddling from the United States or any of its neighbors or a return to its autocratic past. What it does need is an inclusive system of governance that speaks for all Egyptians and can chart an independent path free of external interference. The United States needs to completely revamp its policy toward Egypt. American support for one party over another and continued military aid while the country bleeds will only make the situation worse and harden attitudes toward America for years to come. (North Jersey)
The United States needs to completely revamp its policy toward Egypt.
The United States should not acquiesce in the military takeover of Egypt. The Obama administration privately helped to oust the government while publicly sending weak and confused signals about the future of its aid to that nation. The best thing the United States can do is to leave the country alone, which would include suspending its massive military assistance package to Egypt as it is required to do after a coup.
Since the overthrow, Egyptians have witnessed some of the country's worst violence in its modern history, with hundreds dead and thousands injured, mostly at the hands of the state security forces. The Obama administration bears some responsibility, since it played a role in the removal of the elected government. According to the New York Times, national security adviser Susan Rice was the one who delivered the final message to Mohammed Morsi and his government that they were about to be deposed, and Secretary of State John Kerry publicly stated that the army was "restoring democracy." These moves certainly emboldened the generals.
This in no way excuses the Muslim Brotherhood for its blunders. When Morsi was in power, he led a government that was exclusionary, pushed through a flawed constitution, failed to reform the state security forces and exacerbated sectarian tensions.
But the place to remedy that would have been in the voting booth, not on the street and certainly not with the military. New parliamentary elections were to be scheduled soon. Letting the Muslim Brotherhood fail at the next election would have been far more meaningful in the long run.
If American meddling helped the generals recently, the $1.3 billion of annual U.S. military assistance has supported them for much longer.
This aid helps enshrine the powerful position of the military in Egyptian society, buttresses their distorted economic privileges (the Egyptian armed forces control up to 40 percent of the country's economy), and maintains the political status quo in the entire region. U.S.-supplied weapons are too often used against civilians.
American military assistance is also a way for the U.S. government to funnel support for the domestic arms industry. Most of the money that is set aside as military aid for Egypt in reality stays in the United States and is reaped by companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon.
What Egypt does not need is meddling from the United States or any of its neighbors or a return to its autocratic past. What it does need is an inclusive system of governance that speaks for all Egyptians and can chart an independent path free of external interference. The United States needs to completely revamp its policy toward Egypt. American support for one party over another and continued military aid while the country bleeds will only make the situation worse and harden attitudes toward America for years to come. (North Jersey)
Source : Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), International Service
