(The cartoon above is by Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer.)A few weeks ago, the Obama administration ignored the will of the American people and decided to take sides in the Syrian Civil War. They put America on the side of those fighting to overthrow the Syrian government by starting to send them military equipment. This was done in spite of the fact that the United States really has no friends in that conflict. The government is a bloody dictatorship, and the opposition is composed mostly of moslem fundamentalists (who would not be a U.S. ally if able to gain power).
Now it seems that we are doing the same in Egypt. We are taking sides in a conflict where neither of the opposing forces are our friends (or "friends" that we should want to be associated with anyway). We continue to send military aid to the military dictatorship of that country -- even though that government has used that aid to kill hundreds of their own citizens recently. And the other side is not much better. While in power, the Muslim Brotherhood made it clear they were not an ally of the United States.
If we have any friends in Egypt, they have been marginalized by both sides of this conflict. Like in Syria, neither side is a real friend. We do not need to be seen supporting the bloody military dictatorship, or the muslim fundamentalists opposing them.
President Obama has cancelled a joint military operation with the Egyptian government, but that is not enough. We need to make it clear that the United States does not support the continuing violence in that country -- and the best way to do that would be to stop all military aid to Egypt. Food and medical aid would be OK, but the military aid must be stopped. The Egyptian government's use of that military aid against their own citizens makes the U.S. culpable in the slaughter -- and gives the impression that we support the actions of that government.
It is time to cut off military aid to Egypt -- and while we're at it, we should do the same in Syria. Progressives and conservatives can debate the value of military aid to any country, but we should be able to agree that it makes no sense to give that kind of aid to those who are not our friends.
