John McCain: US Must Suspend Aid to Egypt

Contraindications
Politics • Views: 31,825

In a definite sign that it would be a very bad idea for the US to suspend aid to Egypt, John McCain calls for the US to suspend aid to Egypt.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi a coup d’etat and pressed the Obama administration to suspend aid to the country on Sunday.

“It was a coup and it was the second time in two and a half years that we have seen the military step in,” McCain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“Reluctantly I believe that we have to suspend aid until such time as there is a new constitution and a free and fair election,” McCain added. …

“Morsi was a terrible president, their economy is in terrible shape thanks to their policies but the fact is the United States should not be supporting this coup. And it’s a tough call,” McCain added.

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33 comments
1 darthstar  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 12:57:33pm

McCain can smell potential war in an apple pie. And if he can generate enough ill will, he might be able to make it happen.

2 Decatur Deb  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 12:59:07pm

The chance of actually backing the ‘right’ faction in the Arab Spring uprisings is pretty much a crapshoot. If we must get involved (and we must, it seems) just go with the faction these kids are backing:

Image: wedding-in-tahrir.jpg

3 Backwoods_Sleuth  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:02:15pm

McCain was demanding aid to Egypt be suspended back in December because he didn’t like something Morsi was doing.
jeez…he’s such an idiot…

4 b.d.  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:08:36pm

Reason #5,287 that I am glad the he lost his presidential bid.

So now McCain is a buddy of the MB?

5 The Ghost of a Flea  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:08:47pm

Clearly, when a democratically-elected government begins dismantling the legal structures and institutions that make a representative democracy, you’re supposed to just live with it…particularly if they’re angling to create a theocratic state in which large chunks of the population are both disenfranchised and subject to intense scrutiny as non-believers.

Wait, are we still talking about Egypt?

6 Randall Gross  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:11:22pm

This is a case where they are both right - however one is more slightly more morally correct than the other. I lean slightly towards Obama’s view just because of the humanitarian considerations. Things are bad enough, if we cut food aid other USAID programs then that’s lots of children and elderly starving and dying. There isn’t a faction to prefer or back here, but if you cut aid prematurely then you lose whatever lever you had to push for fast elections while fostering a lot more misery than need be. You will notice that Obama is also speaking to the people in Egypt and asking them not to exclude the brotherhood entirely.

7 jhrhv  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:13:38pm

Probably about impossible to say who to back there but one thing is almost certain. Cutting aid right now will only further destabilize things making any kind of “solution” harder to implement.

8 HappyWarrior  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:19:00pm

Well this is why I am glad McCain lost to Obama. Obama makes careful decisions. McCain is rash. Not the kind of person that you want leading your country.

9 The Ghost of a Flea  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:19:35pm

re: #6 Randall Gross

This is a case where they are both right - however one is more slightly more morally correct than the other. I lean slightly towards Obama’s view just because of the humanitarian considerations. Things are bad enough, if we cut food aid other USAID programs then that’s lots of children and elderly starving and dying. There isn’t a faction to prefer or back here, but if you cut aid prematurely then you lose whatever lever you had to push for fast elections while fostering a lot more misery than need be. You will notice that Obama is also speaking to the people in Egypt and asking them not to exclude the brotherhood entirely.

A basic part of the success of Islamists on a grass-roots level is that they provide an alternate social safety network.

Dropping food aid and USAID over the deposing of the Morsi regime would be a giant mistake.

10 krypto  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:24:23pm

This is one of the few times I have seen McCain call for a response to an international problem OTHER than bombs, invasion, or arming the rebels.

11 sattv4u2  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:33:50pm

looks as if the President is looking into this also

I have also directed the relevant departments and agencies to review the implications under U.S. law for our assistance to the Government of Egypt.

dailykos.com

12 Decatur Deb  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:39:16pm

re: #5 The Ghost of a Flea

Clearly, when a democratically-elected government begins dismantling the legal structures and institutions that make a representative democracy, you’re supposed to just live with it…particularly if they’re angling to create a theocratic state in which large chunks of the population are both disenfranchised and subject to intense scrutiny as non-believers.

Wait, are we still talking about Egypt?

Heard said that all the large factions in the ME want one democratic election. Might apply to factions elsewhere, as well.

13 AlexRogan  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:43:37pm

re: #10 krypto

This is one of the few times I have seen McCain call for a response to an international problem OTHER than bombs, invasion, or arming the rebels.

It’s a two-for-one: McCain gets to bleat that the Obama administration is bound by the law to cut off aid to Egypt, which would lead to increased anti-American sentiment in Egypt and throughout the region. Among other things, the Suez Canal becomes a major problem, leading to increased rumblings about military intervention to keep it open. That, along with any moves by Egypt in regards to Israel, is bound to become a tinderbox.

McCain, along with the TPers, will then start to beat the war drums after materially contributing to the whole clusterfuck.

14 Weet  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:45:34pm

This, from a good friend who spent over a decade recently working in Egypt:

Leahy and Obama are dead wrong [in regards to cutting off aid], and they’re squandering an opportunity to assist the transition at some risk to its success, and at great cost to US influence with Arab liberals and moderates.

The secular democrats support the “coup” for good reason. This is probably their best and maybe last shot at preventing the Salafists from taking over. Then we’re all fucked.

American liberals have this pristine notion of how democracies are created, probably because they have no knowledge of how their own and the European democracies were born.

This is the best of the remaining options for Egypt. The military has a long authoritarian past and it’s a lot to hope that they’ll be an honest broker in the transition. But they have a lot to lose if it fails. The democrats are too disorganized and lack the political infrastructure to pull it off themselves.

Maybe the best, realistic outcome to expect is that 20 years from now Egypt looks like Turkey does today. Not good, but a lot better than any other model in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.

15 chadu  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:45:44pm

Charles, did you delete my first comment on my last post?

If so, thank you.

I was agitated, and said stuff I wouldn’t normally say.

Thanks.

16 Gus  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:46:04pm

OT

Asshole alert!

17 jayjaybear  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:46:14pm

Isn’t it moot, anyway, since aid to Egypt this year has already been spent and sent and by the time the date comes around next year, they’ll probably have already had the next election so it will actually (hopefully) be a democratically-elected government again?

18 efuseakay  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:46:49pm

Well. This was a coup, was it not?

19 chadu  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:48:04pm

This is more complex that usual. Just like Syria.

I aver we stand pat and offer humanitarian aid.

I don’t think we can do that in Syria’s case, though.

20 Decatur Deb  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:49:21pm

re: #18 efuseakay

Well. This was a coup, was it not?

The junta says it wasn’t.

21 jayjaybear  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:52:26pm
22 Backwoods_Sleuth  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:54:28pm

re: #17 jayjaybear

Isn’t it moot, anyway, since aid to Egypt this year has already been spent and sent and by the time the date comes around next year, they’ll probably have already had the next election so it will actually (hopefully) be a democratically-elected government again?

McCain wants a refund!!!!111!!!!

23 Lawrence Schmerel  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 1:58:50pm

I am beginning to think that we are getting a lot more for those billions we have given to Egypt than I previously believed. It must be going directly the military enabling it to be as independent as it is.

24 sattv4u2  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:01:10pm

re: #22 Backwoods_Sleuth

McCain wants a refund!!!!111!!!!

Looks as if Senator Leahy agrees

swampland.time.com

“In the meantime, our law is clear: U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree.”

25 b.d.  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:12:00pm

Ok McCaire: #16 Gus

Sirota, what a wannabe tool.

26 John Vreeland  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:12:22pm

We can “suspend” it and resume it when the democratic process resumes in Egypt.

27 b.d.  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:14:56pm

Let’s face facts, we aren’t giving Egypt aid for being a democracy.

As long as they act right internationally things must proceed, we sure as hell didn’t tie their internal politics to aid for all of those decades when Mubarak was running the show.

28 Skip Intro  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:34:58pm

I hope McCain checked his statement with his former foreign policy expert and ex future President, Princess Dumbass, before making it. Sounds like he did.

29 efuseakay  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:48:06pm

re: #20 Decatur Deb

The junta says it wasn’t.

Heh… indeed… but the Egyptians voted them in. Let them deal with them. If it’s a coup, so be it. But we must stand by our own rules as well. If we keep giving them handouts regardless of what they do, they will never learn.

30 chadu  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:48:37pm

re: #24 sattv4u2

Looks as if Senator Leahy agrees

swampland.time.com

“In the meantime, our law is clear: U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree.”

Leahy is a Batman fan, and I’d follow him into hell.

31 sagehen  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 2:50:01pm

re: #23 Lawrence Schmerel

I am beginning to think that we are getting a lot more for those billions we have given to Egypt than I previously believed. It must be going directly the military enabling it to be as independent as it is.

We don’t just send the military money/weapons; we do a lot of very close cooperative training, they send their top guys to the same war college our colonels have to go to if they hope to become generals, we encourage our guys to make close friends with their guys…

The phone calls aren’t “somebody from the state department calling somebody they’ve chatted with at diplomatic receptions”, it’s “yo, Abdul, this is Brad, your team blue co-captain from the time we won that simulation. Great party, right? Has Faisel gotten over it yet? No? Ha! to his ass. Listen, why I’m calling, our president and his joint chiefs has this idea that maybe you’d want to run by your boss…”

32 Decatur Deb  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 5:49:08pm

re: #29 efuseakay

Heh… indeed… but the Egyptians voted them in. Let them deal with them. If it’s a coup, so be it. But we must stand by our own rules as well. If we keep giving them handouts regardless of what they do, they will never learn.

The chances of us picking the good guys are poor. It’d be nice if we could pick the least-bad guys without killing a lot of people who need the boost.

33 jvic  Sun, Jul 7, 2013 6:52:35pm

Upon seeing candidate McCain’s erratic behavior as the financial crisis struck, I decided that the guy should not be allowed to make decisions involving peace, war, and WMD. I switched my support to Obama.

In a word, McCain is nuts.


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