Under a foreign aid agreement signed in 2010 by "Dear Leader" Barack Hussein Obama with then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, sixteen F-16s and 200 state-of-the-art M-1 Abrams tanks are to be given to Egypt before the end of 2013. But now new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, elected in the summer of 2012, is in charge of Egypt. But did that little detail stop Obama? To quote John Belushi from SNL, "Nooooooooooooooooooo."
Egyptians interpret the weapons gift as a show of support for Morsi by Obama. Retired Egyptian Brigadier General Safwat Al-Zayat said:
"It is obvious that the finalisation of the deal on 11 December, which happened to be at the height of the mass demonstrations in Tahrir Square against Morsi, conveyed a political message. Between the lines, Washington was sending a message to three parties. The first was to Morsi and it stated, 'We support you. Move ahead.' The second was to the army and it said, 'We are encouraging this man,' meaning Morsi. The third was to the opposition forces and it said the same thing."
Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010, in reaction to Obama's 2009 Cairo speech, said on Egyptian television:
"One American president after another, and most recently, that Obama, talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine.
[Obama] was very clear when he uttered his empty words on the land of Egypt. He uttered many lies, of which he couldn't have fulfilled a single word, even if he were sincere - which he is not."
Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them. They must be nursed on hatred. The hatred must continue.
In a previous speech, Morsi called for hatred of Jews, and called Zionists "'bloodsuckers' and descendants of apes and pigs." Morsi said:
"The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine. There is no place for them on the land of Palestine. What they took before 1947-8 constitutes plunder, and what they are doing now is a continuation of this plundering. By no means do we recognize their Green Line. The land of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, not to the Zionists.
These futile [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations are a waste of time and opportunities."
Morsi, in the same speech, called for "military resistance" against Israel. What does Morsi mean by military resistance? He makes his intentions quite clear at the 1:28 mark and 2:30 mark of this video. And, Morsi mouthed the word "Amen" after a prayer service in Cairo, when an Islamic cleric urged Allah to "destroy the Jews and their supporters."
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
"Politics makes strange bedfellows", Warren - or weren't you paying attention during the Iran-Contra hearings?
2 - El Bicho
Did the treaty have a nullification clause if the country's leader changed?
3 - Jet Gardner
Instead of a serious article about how badly we need an arab strategic ally in the middle east, and how EVERY U.S. President since Eisenhower in the 1950s has courted Egypt despite ties to terrorists, ransomed hijacked U.S. airliners blown up in the desert, and the military arms supply line from the USSR to the Egyptians,
We are instead treated to a semi-comical "Warren's Greatest hits" complete with...
"Dear Leader" Barack Hussein Obama"
SNL reverences
historian(???????) Newt Gingrich
Obama is never wrong, like with his green energy policy that gave billions of taxpayer dollars to his cronies, er, friends, er, campaign supporters. Or about jobs, or the economy, or the deficit.
Wellllll excuuuuuuuse me-but you're not changing anyone's minds that don't already agree with you. Your repeated efforts to become some right-wing hero is being defeated by your own sarcasm and lack of intelligent tone-and once again being the BC smart-ass grinning at the few that actually agree with you hoping for their approval and more importantly their validation.
What a waste... because if you'd dump the attitude that always hits a possible first-time reader with an open mind right in the face, you might actually be a respected commentator.
I missed your point...
This comment has nothing to do with your article...
I didn't read the article...
...or did I?
4 - Jet Gardner
You'll probably not read the above Warren, but what is in bold near the bottom is a heartfelt statement and meant to help you
5 - Clavitos
...you're not changing anyone's minds...
Neither is anyone else.
6 - Jet Gardner
Clavos at least use the whole line in context
you're not changing anyone's minds that don't already agree with you
and thanks for distracting from the aim of the comment-which was the sentence in bold...
7 - troll
Warren - your failure to include any analysis or even a passing reference to the administration's treatment of Morsi's anti-Semitic remarks last week weakens your piece
8 - troll
(...I seem to have misplaced an 'of')
9 - Clavitos
I briefly saw it on my desk, troll, but when I tried to catch it, it made a mad leap for the dock, didn't quite make it and fell into the water, where the outgoing tide took it.
If you really want an 'of,' you're gonna have to go to the vocabulary shelter and adopt a new one.
10 - troll
...tragic
11 - Baronius
"Of"s sometimes wander off and hide behind the word "should".
12 - Jet Gardner
Don't they fly around at the start of the Olympics?
13 - Jet Gardner
If a woman named Dorris married Clavitos, would she be called Doritos??? ;?)
14 - Jet Gardner
it and fell into the water, where the outgoing tide took it.
Just as well, though isn't it dangerous to get those things wet after midnight?
15 - Igor
The only reason we've had relative peace between Israel and Egypt for the past 30 years is because of the efforts Jimmy Carter put into the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979. Amazing that it lasted so long, even if it cost the life of the Egyptian president.
Gingrichs comment is interesting "Remember, there was no Palestine as a state....And I think that we have invented the Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab community, and they had the chance to go many places."
Originally there were about 200,000 nomads in that desert, which had been called Palestine, and IMO everyone just ignored them and figured they'd dry up and disappear. (They made the same assumption about the natives on the North American continent.) The Israelis tried to wish them away, and the Arab countries used them as pawns against Israel, and so we are where we are.
But when Newt said "they had the chance to go many places" it's not really true, since, as nomads, they were unwelcome everywhere. Nobody likes nomads in their midst, it takes up too much land.
The stupid power politics of Egypt increased the population of the nomads (who soon became former nomads as their numbers grew and space became cramped) until they became a nation without a country, if that's possible.
People with cultural differences seem able to reconcile and live together, so do people with political differences, but religious differences seem almost irreconcilable. I suppose because they all claim a "higher power". This should serve as a warning to not bring up religious absolutes in civil context, like the anti-contraception (and abortion) activities of late.
16 - Not the liberal actor
Re: comment # 2, EB, since when does foreign aid fall under a treaty? You would think that since Morsi called Obama a liar, that Obama would respond accordingly, instead of continuingly being a foreign aid/policy wuss.
Re: comment # 3, Jet, you say, "Instead of a serious article about how badly we need an arab strategic ally in the middle east, and how EVERY U.S. President since Eisenhower in the 1950s has courted Egypt despite ties to terrorists, ransomed hijacked U.S. airliners blown up in the desert, and the military arms supply line from the USSR to the Egyptians," Now you will explain how the actions of previous presidents bear upon the current situation, especially with Morsi in the picture. Your "it's OK because everyone did it" argument that you (and other) repeatedly offer is getting quite tiresome.
You say, "Wellllll excuuuuuuuse me-but you're not changing anyone's minds that don't already agree with you. Your repeated efforts to become some right-wing hero is being defeated by your own sarcasm and lack of intelligent tone-and once again being the BC smart-ass grinning at the few that actually agree with you hoping for their approval and more importantly their validation." I am not looking to change anyone's mind (especially yours), or seek anyone's approval and/or validation. I write these SOURCED articles to illustrate the hypocrisy, vaguery, and inconsistency of Obama, and to irritate die-hard liberals like you. If you don't like what I write (or the sources I cite), DON'T READ IT!
Re: comment # 7, troll, why bother? It took Obama only two years to critize Morsi for anti-Semetic statements.
17 - Igor
@16-warren: I don't know if your sources are that good since they go right back to MEMRI which is an arm of Israeli intelligence.
Certainly MEMRI is worth considering, they are often a good source of authoritative info, but they ARE partial.
18 - Glenn Contrarian
Warren -
Read comment #1 again - were you paying attention at all during Iran-Contra? Were you? There's absolutely NO Democratic political scandal (except LBJ ramping up the Vietnam War) that compares to Iran-Contra...although Bush Jr. lying us into Iraq is a much bigger scandal.
Come out and tell us how unAmerican Reagan and Bush Sr. were for dealing with Iran and drug dealers, and how evil Dubya was for lying us into a completely war where over 4000 Americans and over 100,000 Iraqis were killed, and THEN we can consider listening to just how terrible Obama is for his way of trying to preserve peace in the Middle East.
19 - Jet Gardner
There's no sense in arguing with him Glenn because he has no sense
20 - John Lake
There is no doubt that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is steeped in hatred for the Jews, and confesses to an ongoing determination to remove them. One wonders if our President spoke with the Morsi administration before going forward with the deal. Maybe the contract was firm enough to assure compliance.
21 - Glenn Contrarian
The Chinese hate the Japanese, too - should we not do business with the Chinese? And how about the different Balkan countries - that's a real hotbed of racism.
And then there's the ongoing feud between Pakistan and India - should we ignore one or the other? Or do we help keep things from boiling over into a major (possibly nuclear) war by engaging in diplomacy (read: give aid, military and otherwise) to both, so that both will listen to us when things are about to go south?
That last example, Warren, is the reality of modern diplomacy. I know, I know, that particular nine-letter word (diplomacy) is not welcome among Republicans, but then, it's as Philip K. Dick said:
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”
(that goes for anthropogenic global warming, too)
Oh, and Warren - while most of us really don't want to see another major war in the Middle East, Israel does NOT have carte blanche to do that which is wrong just because most Republicans think that Israel is above reproach.
22 - Clavitos
most Republicans think that Israel is above reproach.
Funny thing is, so do most Jews -- even the liberal Democrats (i.e. most American Jews).
23 - Glenn Contrarian
Clav -
I can't argue against that, more's the pity.