Egypt Spring and the War President

Egypt: Epidemic of Sexual Violence

Since 2006, Congress has sought to condition military aid to Egypt depending on its progress on democracy and human rights, but included a waiver that an administration can use for national security reasons. Then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice executed the waiver during the Mubarak years, even though the Bush administration had a robust human-rights agenda.

Both Clinton and John F. Kerry, the current secretary of state, have also signed similar waivers, even though Congress demanded that the secretary of state certify that Egypt was maintaining the peace treaty with Israel and “supporting the transition to civilian government including holding free and fair elections; implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion, and due process of law.”

Kerry’s waiver, signed in May, was done so quietly it was not even announced. Human rights groups have denounced the waivers as undermining support for democracy in Egypt.

In other words, Congress handed possible leverage to the administration, and the Obama administration has declined to use it.

Obama’s claim that aid to Egypt was based on adherence to ‘democratic procedures’

Hope and change!

Forward! To Syria!

It must be nice to be rich!

Now, for probably the first time in more than thirty years, the U.S. says its actually reviewing its military aid to Egypt (it set conditions before, but the aid’s always eventually come) based on a rule requiring suspension of aid following a military coup (except when that doesn’t suit Washington’s interest, like in Honduras). The U.S. government is highly likely to decide the coup in Egypt wasn’t really a coup and find a way to keep the aid flowing. Even though Egyptians on the street appeared to blame the Obama Administration for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood government, much of the U.S. aid during Morsi’s rule continued to go to the military. And that’s the problem.


Cutting U.S. Military Aid to Egypt Could Be More Helpful Than All the Military Aid It’s Gotten So Far


Thank goodness we have a War President who is on top of all this. Not to mention a crack foreign affairs team. But hey, at least we know who American citizens are calling, texting, and emailing (unless you happen to be an American Ambassador in Benghazi…).




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