[News] Obama’s aid cut to Egypt is a sham
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Oct 10 12:39:45 EDT 2013
Obama’s aid cut to Egypt is a sham
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Thu, 10/10/2013 - 07:10
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/obamas-aid-cut-egypt-sham*
The Obama administration’s announced suspension of some military aid to
Egypt is a sham.
Far from actually withdrawing significant US support for the Egyptian
military dictatorship that overthrew the country’s elected president on
3 July, the package of measures is designed to reinforce and normalize
US cooperation with the coup regime, secure Israel’s interests and US
regional hegemony.
It also ensures that Egypt continues to help Israel to maintain the
collective punishment of almost 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-siege>.
Israel lobby pressure
Obama has been under intense pressure from the Israel lobby to maintain
US support for the coup regime.
This week, for instance, prominent Israel lobbyist Jeffrey Goldberg
appealed to Obama to maintain the aid
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/three-reasons-reducing-egypt-s-aid-is-a-mistake.html>
in order to benefit Israel and prop up Arab client regimes including
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Goldberg sees these Arab dictatorships as part of a region-wide
sectarian confrontation with Iran, in which the Arab regimes are on the
same side as Israel and the United States.
Goldberg was especially anxious that the Gaza siege
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-siege> continue:
Egypt is pressing hard against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, cutting off
the flow of weapons and sealing smuggling tunnels. A weak Hamas is
in the best interests of the US, Israel and, most important, the
rival Palestinian Authority, with which Israel is currently
negotiating under US supervision.
But, of course, the siege does not simply ensure a “weak Hamas.” While
there’s no evidence any weapons supplies to the resistance have been
disrupted, what have been choked are basic supplies for the population
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/noose-tightens-palestinians-gaza-face-darkest-days>
and the ability of Gaza students, patients and others to leave what is
in effect a giant prison
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/miracle-ive-been-allowed-study-outside-gaza/12800>.
The Israeli-Egyptian siege imposes brutal collective punishment on the
whole population of Gaza. Goldberg, as a former Israeli prison guard
<http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/some-second-thoughts-and-reader-feedback-about-the-middle-east-and-social-media/>,
clearly has no moral problem with this.
Goldberg’s demands are consistent with the messaging that has come from
Israel and its lobby since the first day of the coup in Egypt.
They are also consistent with broader US “core interests” outlined by
Obama in his UN speech
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/obama-un-speech-transcript-2013-97261.html>
of maintaining US regional hegemony and dominance, which means ensuring
the existence of client regimes like Egypt’s.
Obama administration explains
On 9 October, the State Department released the transcript
<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215262.htm> of a conference
call between reporters and five unnamed senior US officials explaining
Obama’s measures toward Egypt.
The officials explain that the measures will include delaying the
deliveries of some major weapons systems, including Apache helicopters,
Harpoon missiles and parts for M1A1 tanks.
They also include suspending direct cash assistance – about $260 million
annually – to the “interim government.”
But a close reading of the 5,800-word transcript makes clear that the
aid suspension is merely symbolic.
Most forms of US military support for the Egyptian army will continue
and there’s no reason to believe the coup regime will be affected by the
announced measures.
I will excerpt some of the key passages that indicate just how hollow
and cyncial Obama’s move is.
Critical of Morsi but not of massacres
It is notable that the Obama administration is still far more critical
of Egypt’s deposed elected president Muhammad Morsi than it is of the
military regime.
“Senior Administration Official Number One” repeatedly criticized Morsi,
effectively providing justifications for the coup. For example:
Now since then, we recognize, and the President [Obama] noted this
in his remarks to the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago, that
*Muhammad Morsi was democratically elected, but he proved unwilling
or unable to govern in a way that was fully inclusive.*
But look how the same official characterizes the actions of the military
regime headed by General Abdulfattah al-Sisi and fronted by a puppet
civilian “interim government”:
Now since then, the interim government that replaced him [Morsi]
last summer, we recognized had the support of millions of Egyptians
who believed that that revolution had taken a wrong turn. But we
think that it too has *made decisions inconsistent with inclusive
democracy*, which sort of leads us to where we are now.
First, the Obama administration still seems attached to the dubious
claim that the coup had the support of “millions.”
Is this based on anything other than fabricated and unrealistic crowd
figures?
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/07/2013717115756410917.html>
But more important at this moment: think about the phrase “decisions
inconsistent with inclusive democracy.”
In fact, what the coup regime has done in Egypt since 3 July is
perpetrate repeated massacres of unarmed civilians unprecedented in
Egyptian history, leaving thousands dead and injured. The most recent
massacre of more than 50 people occurred on 6 October
<http://www.news.com.au/world-news/at-least-28-killed-94-wounded-in-egypt-clashes/story-fndir2ev-1226733927183>.
The coup regime has carried out a brutal political crackdown, pursuing
and arresting thousands of people for their political views or perceived
political views.
/None/ of this is mentioned by the US officials.
It’s still not a “coup”
“Senior Administration Official Number One” was also careful to
emphasize that: “Nothing has changed in terms of approaching what you
called the coup restriction.”
The Obama administration still “didn’t make a determination, haven’t
made a determination, don’t think we need to make a determination, are
acting consistent with the provisions of the law and we’ll continue to
do so.”
US law requires that military assistance to a foreign country be
suspended when a “coup” takes place in that country. By refusing to call
what happened a coup, the Obama administration aims to get around the
law and ensure that it can continue to support the Egyptian dictatorship.
Obama loves Sisi
So there’s no mention of the Egypt coup regime’s massacres or mass
arrests – unless we consider these to be covered by the absurd euphemism
“decisions inconsistent with inclusive democracy.”
And it’s still not a coup. But also, check out the ongoing love affair
the US has with Egyptian coup leader al-Sisi and his clique.
Here’s how “Senior Administration Official Number Three” characterized
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s telephone conversation with al-Sisi:
*It was very friendly.* In fact, Secretary Hagel noted that he had
spoken with Minister al-Sisi more than any of his other
counterparts, actually. I think they’ve spoken with each other over
twenty times in the last several months. And he said they’ve done so
for a reason. It underscores the importance of the US-Egypt
relationship. And Secretary Hagel stressed the long history and
friendship between the United States and the Egyptian people, and
Minister *al-Sisi concurred and affirmed* that as well.
These are not just formalities. As the same official stressed, the US
would be doing nothing to freeze out al-Sisi and his clique:
General al-Sisi, as many of you know, is himself a graduate of the
Army War College. And *this week, right now in the United States,
there are Egyptian military officers in classrooms, receiving
training about counterterrorism, meeting shared security objectives,
and really building those relationships that have been maintained
for generations. And that will continue.* And that was really the
spirit of their call, that the ongoing important parts of the
relationship are going on, and both Minister al-Sisi and Secretary
Hagel committed to taking steps to continue that.
US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said
<http://www.southendpress.org/2005/items/7417/Prologue> of Nicaraguan
dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1939, “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but
*he’s our son of a bitch*.”
The same logic clearly applies to al-Sisi and his accomplices in the
massacres and arrests of thousands of Egyptians.
A slap on the wrist
Naturally, in keeping with this warm relationship, a careful reading of
the transcript indicates that Obama’s measures amount to no more than a
slap on the wrist.
For one thing, Senior Administration Official Number One had difficulty
putting a dollar value on the supposed sanctions in response to
reporters’ questions:
That actually does make it difficult -– and others will comment on
this -– to give you specific answers on the numbers, because it’s
not as if there’s some finite thing that has been stopped
necessarily forever.
The official also assured that US “contractors” – the people who make
and deliver the weapons, training and spare parts to the Egyptian
military – will continue to be paid.
Another official was at pains to emphasize that “I think what we’re
trying to make clear is this is not meant to be permanent…you’ll notice
that it’s not being presented or announced in terms of definitive ends
to any specific programs.”
That official also stressed that the measures “weren’t suggested or
recommended in a punitive way or anything like that.”
Yes we noticed.
Aid to Egypt is aid to Israel
Throughout the transcript, the US officials emphasized that what will
not be affected – even temporarily or symbolically – is the aid that
helps the Egyptian coup regime besiege Gaza:
Secretary Hagel emphasized how important the US-Egypt relationship
was to the stability and security for Egypt, but for the United
States as well and the broader Middle East. And Secretary Hagel made
the key point that the US-Egyptian security relationship and
assistance relationship is continuing, and made the point, as Senior
Administration Official Two said, that we are continuing to provide
assistance on the issues that advance both our vital security
objectives. That includes *countering terrorism, countering
proliferation, border security, ensuring security in the Sinai,
working with peace with Israel, and includes things that include
also spare parts, replacement parts, along those lines.*
This was repeated:
first was to make sure that we were continuing the things that were
immediately needed for the goals we talked about – counterterrorism,
Sinai, borders, the peace treaty, and keeping the peace with Israel.
What matters to US is not the welfare of Egyptians
Last weekend I was a participant in the Istanbul World Forum meeting
focusing on the coup in Egypt and its regional consequences
<http://www.iwf.org.tr>, organized by Turkey’s SETA Foundation
<http://setav.org/en>.
It was a rich set of discussions, but I want to emphasize two points,
one I made myself and one made by other participants.
My own point: *the only red line in US-Egyptian relations is maintaining
the Camp David treaty with Israel* and assuring Egypt’s ability to act
as a security subcontractor for Israel.
Everything else – especially the lives, welfare and freedoms of
Egyptians and consequently Palestinians besieged in Gaza – is
subordinate. The Obama administration announcement about aid to Egypt
clearly supports this view.
Secondly, a point made by several participants: the actual “security”
situation in Sinai and along the border with Gaza does not justify by
any stretch the Egyptian coup regime’s war footing in Sinai and against
Palestinians in Gaza. Indeed the regime’s actions are fueling violence
and disorder.
Rather, Sinai is being used as a pretext to justify the coup regime’s
bloody crackdown and to incite the Egyptian population against supposed
“foreign” enemies
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/why-are-egyptian-media-demonizing-palestinians/12632>
– Palestinians, Syrians and even Egypt’s own Muslim Brotherhood – while
the regime consolidates itself in power.
Therefore, US insistence on playing along with the Sinai narrative helps
the regime and does nothing to advance the supposed US goal of restoring
democracy in Egypt.
That, after all, might well be the intent.
--
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