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Subscribe to RSSAlmost exactly two years ago during the exhilaration of “Arab Spring,” there were soaring hopes both inside Egypt and abroad that with the overthrow of the autocratic Hosni Mubarak, an era of democracy and human rights might be dawning.
Today despite the change of leaders from Hosni Mubarak to Mohammed Morsi, authoritarian rule in Egypt continues -- and so too in all likelihood will U.S. aid to that country.
Amr Abdallah Dalsh / REUTERS
A man walks past riot police as he covers his face from tear gas during clashes with protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, along Simon Bolivar Square, which leads to Tahrir Square, in Cairo Jan. 30, 2013. Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi flew to Germany on Wednesday to try to convince Europe of his democratic credentials, leaving behind a country in crisis after a week of violence that has killed more than 50 people.
For the current fiscal year, President Obama is requesting $1.55 billion in aid to Egypt, about 80 percent of it in the form of military assistance.
At this point, there appears to be no serious threat that Congress might block or cancel funds for Egypt, even given the arbitrary action Morsi has taken in recent months – such as his declaration that his decisions are immune from judicial review until a new constitution is adopted. On Sunday, Morsi imposed a state of emergency in three Egyptian cities torn by riots and protests. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the Egyptian military, warned Tuesday that the “collapse of the state” would occur if the warring factions in the country did not come to terms.
Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., who recently got back from a trip to the Middle East with other senators that included an interview with Morsi, told reporters Tuesday American aid should not be delayed while the U.S. waits for events to settle down in Egypt.
A delay might “contribute to the chaos that may ensue because of their collapsing economy,” McCain warned. “Their biggest problem is a collapsing economy. The Israelis are in favor of continuing the aid to Egypt. I think that’s important. We listen a lot to the Israelis.”
Illustrating a foreign policy divide in Republican ranks, Sen. Rand Paul, R- Ky., challenged secretary of state nominee Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., at his confirmation hearing last week on why the United States should pay to send F-16 fighters to Morsi’s regime.
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Last September, in the aftermath of attacks on American diplomats in Libya and Egypt, Paul declared in a Senate speech, “Not one penny more for Libya or Egypt or Pakistan until they act as our allies. Some say we have to keep sending it. Fine, let’s send it when they act as our allies. Let’s send it when they start behaving as civilized nations and come to their senses.”
“The American people are tired of this,” Paul said. “Our Treasury is bare. There is a multitude of reasons why we should not continue to send good money after bad.”
According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, "Between 1948 and 2011, the United States provided Egypt with $71.6 billion in bilateral foreign aid, including $1.3 billion a year in military aid from 1987 to the present. Since 1979, Egypt has been the second-largest recipient, after Israel, of U.S. bilateral foreign assistance."
But in his opposition to more U.S. taxpayer subsidies for Egypt, Paul remains very much an outlier both in his party and in the Senate as whole.
Kerry explained to his colleagues last week that Egypt is simply too important for America not to fund.
“We have critical interests with Egypt,” he said. “Egypt has thus far supported and lived by the peace agreement with Israel. And has taken steps to begin to deal with the problem of security in the Sinai. Those are vital to us and to our national interests and to the security of Israel.”
And on Tuesday an array of senators agreed with Kerry and McCain that the flow of U.S. funds to Morsi must continue.
When senators are asked about funding, the term they use is “engagement.” Asked whether the turmoil in Egypt should cause a pause in U.S. aid, Sen. Bob Corker, R- Tenn., the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday, “I don’t think it should affect our engagement, necessarily, with the country.”
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Sen. Bob Casey, D- Pa., who has been serving as chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Middle East, noted that “I have always said when we provide aid, it’s never unconditional and we should always evaluate our aid in the context of what’s happening at a particular time. But I don’t favor these blanket aid bans that we often hear debated here (in the Senate).”
Another Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Chris Coons, D- Del., who was on the recent trip to Middle East with McCain, said the senators’ discussion with Morsi touched on “the importance of ongoing U.S. support for their economy, for their military,” as well as “their progress toward full democracy” and Egypt’s adherence to its obligations under the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Coons noted that there has been a hold on U.S. economic development assistance for the Cairo regime since mid-2012.
According to CRS, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R- Fla., then chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Rep. Kay Granger, R - Texas, House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee chairwoman, placed holds on $450 million in economic aid to Egypt.
“The question isn’t: would we further delay it (aid) ?” Coons said, “The question is: Is there a time when we’re going to begin releasing aid and providing some ongoing support to the Egyptian government?”
That hold is on economic development aid, but what about military aid, which is far larger?
Coons said the bipartisan delegation of senators had a “very positive” meeting with Egypt’s defense minister during their trip two weeks ago. “I came away from that convinced that we have a strong shared commitment to regional security and peace and that we are making a responsible investment of U.S. dollars in sustaining our military-to-military relationship.”
So, he added, “To the extent that they continue to make progress toward democracy, openness, and respecting their treaty obligations, I will continue to support U.S. assistance to Egypt.”
But Coons added Tuesday he wanted to get a briefing on the latest round of turmoil in Egypt.
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How about taking care of the legal American people like you were elected to do? Keep giving away the taxpayers money to other countries, you can't break this country fast enough can you Oblahblah. You can lie to your base because they are mindless lapdogs but to the rest of us that work and pay taxes we see through your agenda. As long as you and your cronies have your millions of dollars.
US aid to egypt's military has been US policy for decades. It really doesn't have anything to do with "oblahblah" and his "plan" to "break this country". Keeping egypt's military on our side is a good policy.
And you think we can buy that? A couple $ billion will not change years of tradition: hating the U.S. I'd also question whether it makes any difference whatsoever whether the Egyptian military likes us or not. Certainly not $1.55 billion worth of difference.
yes, egypt's military has been neutral vis-a-vis isreal for decades and opposed to islamacists. It seems to be working.
What we got for years of paying off a dictator in Egypt was the Muslim Brotherhood. Not a good return on our investment. Despite what may or may not be good for Israel, the question still remains: what difference does it make to the U.S. what the Egyptian military thinks of us?
well, the military still seems neutral versus isreal, and I don't see a rise in terrorists in egypt, so our aid still seems to be working.
If you don't understand that having the military is on our side, given our official policy of wanting peace in the middle east, and supporting isreal, I don't know what more to tell you.
Why should the US taxpayers be indefinitely responsible for paying to maintain diplomatic relations between foreign countries? Our foreign interventionism is causing more problems than it solves, and we simply can't afford it anyway.
Total waste of money.
Use it to buoy up the fence between the US and mehico as part of immigration reform. Install human catapults and throw illegals back over the fence. Fly drones back & forth to take out anyone who manages to get past the barrier.
Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex, we have become their wallet
peace in the middle east keeps gas prices low, which helps explain our military aid to isreal to keep them strong and our aid to egypt to keep them neutral.
Not being able to afford it is a reasonable and interesting argument. its hard to know the value of this aid. If it keeps peace in the middle east its the best investment ever, since a disruption of oil there would have a huge economic impact on the world and us.
What peace? Vast areas of the Middle East have been or are still at war over the past 25 years. Gas prices are more than twice as high as they were in the late 90s, and we're $16 trillion in debt. And it looks like things are only going to get worse as tension with Iran heats up.
vermontguy seems to be the only one here with any understanding of international politics and consequences, although I have to wonder what would happen if we simply abandoned the ME. Death and destruction, sure, for a while, but then what and would the world be better off?
ah, but egypt has been at peace, haven't they? Yes, there have been wars...but mostly in non-oil areas (syria and afghanistan for example). Saudi arabia has been protected, but if general war breaks out, then all bets are off.
and yes, gas prices have risen due to a variety of factors over he years...but if there is an actual war in the middle east, we'll be looking with nostalgia at today's gas prices.
Wait a minute! Let Zimbabwe pay! They have more money than we do.
Despicable waste of money. We are subsidizing their population which swells and invades Europe and then demands social services. The West has built the best most safe and prosperous societies and now muslims want to come and invade.
European women need to start having MORE CHILDREN.
ag: interesting question. without western influence and such, does radical islam fluorish and spread? does oil get cut off and cause economic chaos? People don't realize that oil is used for more than just heating and gas...its used for plastics for example and would be very hard to replace in the event of a crisis.
I honestly don't know though. it would be tempted to say "call us in 100 years" but I don't ever see that realistically happening.
What you Morsi supports are missing is the fact the Muslim Brotherhood supports the terrorist groups that are now invading Africa..and as we all know Obamhamad is a closet Muslim cause he sure as h... is not a Christian and does not support any Christian cause.
bdjbforfun....they only have $217 left in their gov account....lol or at least that's the story they're sticking to...lol
From the article:
However, he is exactly in line with the vast majority of the American people, especially in regards to Egypt where we are now supporting a group in power -- the Muslim Brotherhood -- that is implacably hostile to us, our allies, our interests, and our values.
Why do any of you refuse to understand that aid to Egypt is corporate welfare in the U.S.A.? The Egyptian military does not get money. They get surplus military hardware made by U.S. companies at ridiculous prices. This price tag was set as an oblligation under the Carter administration to buy the treaty with Israel. And Israel gets one hell-of-a-lot more per year than Egypt or, for that matter, Egypt and Jordan combined. What do you think (if you can think) another Arab/Israeli war would cost us? Pay your damn taxes . They should be a lot more. You're getting a bargain.
How many billions in aid is Obama giving to countries that hate America and are Muslim? And don't forget, he can't afford to fix this country, but giving billions in aid is apparently okay. We can't fix the problems in the country, and everyone I know complains about taxes, school systems, economy, gas prices...etc.... yet we can give billions upon billions in aid to countries like the Muslim Brotherhood ran country of Egypt.
Doesn't this sicken anyone else? How come petitions aren't being made about this stuff?
Billions of dollars people....to countries that hate the United States, and for the most part are islamic militants.
Where is all this money that Obama is giving to all these great countries coming from?? I am glad I don't pay taxes anymore!!!! What a waste of money!!!!
@flexmind
I think we borrow it from China to give to Egypt.
Yep, The long since hi-jacked biggest debtor in world history struggles to steer/buy outside governments and continues to indebt foreign economies with military/weapons contracts; forcing them to pay it back with interest.
Classic.
I'm not going to get into the geopolitical aspects of this argument. I'm just going to go with the old analogy route. It looks a lot like a prostitute when we give money to these countries...............we give them money and then the screw us.
So, in one article we are told that the economy is shrinking because of the deep cuts to defense spending, however we can afford to provide Egypt with $1.55 billion?
Why does the US give "military aid" to dictatorial regimes like Mubarak, Saddam Hussein, or now, Morsi? Many seem to be confused on this issue. Some disappointed about a bad ROI on supporting dictators (really, you support dictators in the first place?).
The World Government cannot rule a country that is free to determine its own destiny, so it uses US power and might to oppress weaker countries that want a democracy, by buying out sellouts within those countries (similar to our Congress) to oppress their people on behalf of the World Government's agenda. At present most countries in the world are run by the World Government, whether they are "democracies" or full blown dictatorships.
As Benjamin Disraeli, former Prime Minister of England wrote in Coningsby in 1844:
"...that the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."
Don't worry Egypt, both Republicans and Democrats will allow Americans to starve and die from lack of health care so they can continue to give you billions of our tax dollars all in the name of the corporations who truly rule the world.
Dotties girl - I'm not a Republican or Democrate, can't stand either party because they both have had a part in destroying this country. I hate to say it but US aid to Egypt is not determined by the President, Congress approves all those expenditures so blame them idiots for still sending money to Egypt.
Two words can explain why the wealthy are willing to spend our hard earned tax dollars on Egypt - Suez Canal.
FlatIron72 - I agree with your statement, let's worry about the US and get are economy straight.
If only Morsi and the M.B. morons actually TRIED to work on the economy this past year instead of trying to make a "prefered" religion. Not like the f***ing Muslims do not outnumber all the other religions in that country, and it sure as f*** does not need the government to protect it or to give people special power to enforce certain laws. Gee WTF are the people not happy about? Why are they revolting again?
"Us morons in power have done everything in our power to f*** up our economy so please contiune to send us money or else there might be a collapse..."
The only thing you morons had to do was to pass a balanced and fair constitution, but NOOOOOO that would be to f***ing simple. You HAD to f***ing do it RIGHT NOW. If it is a "good" law then you do not need to cram it down peoples' throats. Just the like anti-gun nuts trying to force new gun laws down law abiding citizens throats.
If only I was not traveling and using this ancient laptop I would have some choice words for them too, but with all the morons making stupid comments about B.S. it takes 10 minutes to load the page and another 10 to scroll down to past ALL the stupid comments. I do not even want to try spell check either so people will just have to deal with it.
"To many children are dying..." I am sorry you got shot and understand why you are "against" guns, but you are talking to someone that killed their own child; try again. I did not use a gun and I got away with legal murder. Like I have said all along "if you are really worried about saving lives you are barking up the wrong tree". So many deaths can be prevented that have nothing to do with a person's ability to defend themself or their family. 10 round mags would have save ONE whole life in the Gilford shooting. 10 round mags and handguns would have only saved ONE life at the school shooting.
If only drugs, animals, people, etc. did not get smuggled into this country ALL the time. WTF lengths do people go through to smuggle chit into this country? How do criminals get guns in England or Austrialia? I bet $ that if there was enough demand people would smuggle guns into the U.S. instead of out of it. Not like Russia does not have tons of AK's with 30 round mags ready to sell.
Can we just stop that crap? Are you entirely stupid or do your posts just make you sound stupid?
Oh, this is such bullcrap! Vast areas of the middle east have been at war for the last 3000 years! Gas prices are still not as high as they were during George W. Bush's reign! But none of that counts, does it?
Republicans have a very narrow view of history... in fact, it doesn't go back any further than Obama's term of office, does it?
George W. Bush, aided and abetted by Republican majorities in both the House and Senate, drove his country off the cliff in terms of national debt, but now, now it is all Obama's fault!
Republicans all kind of ignore the fact that the leaders of today's Congress voted for Bush's increases in the national debt yesterday:
It ticks me off that my hard earned money and tax dollars will be going to Egypt. THe f16's along with 200 tanks.. I mean come on , what are we doing here ? There is a terrorist regime in power , who will be killing allies and or our own men, and we give them the weapons to do such ? Its sickening.
Listen to this video from Jay Sekulow , Attorney for the AMerican center for law and Justice ACLJ
http://aclj.org/us-giving-f16-muslim-brotherhood-egypt-sekulow
and here is a petition to sign
http://aclj.org/middle-east-turmoil/stop-funding-egypt-defend-israel
Remember the adage the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Well despite the fact that the Arab Spring was a colossal failure and the Middle East is now a tinderbox, arming the Muslim Brotherhood is all about who in the region they consider their enemy. Obama doesn't much care for whom in the Middle East has been considered a longtime ally of the United States, he is showing his allegiance by arming terrorists that hate our allies.
Eengineer, if that's what you want to put out. Then be sure to put out that Obama said it was un patriotic to raise the debt! And, just see what he's done with his first 4 years! I guess that makes him Un patriotic! Heck, if he keeps going he can totally ruin this country. Will that make you happy? Look what he's done! It took by your statemants from 2002 _2007 to go from 6.4 to 9.8 , so you still wanna back his plan?
"For the current fiscal year, President Obama is requesting $1.55 billion in aid to Egypt, about 80 percent of it in the form of military assistance."
Anyone else see the insanity in this? We give them $1.55 in aid...they take that money and buy F-16s from us using our own money......NUTS!!
As Forrest said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Their biggest issue is the economy collapsing, so let's give them tanks and fighter jets that they can maybe use on their own people when their economy and government does collapse. Yep, makes perfect sense to me. NOT!
we can't fix their economy, but we can keep their military on our side and prevent them from, oh, attacking isreal or letting crazies take control if the country does descend into more chaos.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Liberal swine keep saying we can buy off the Egyptians and that the policy has worked because Egypt hasn't attacked Israel. Such a waste of money. Keep our money and put a few missles pointed in Egypts direction and Stop Subsidizing Their Population.
well, its been both parties, not just "liberal swine" who have this policy over the decades of buying off the egyptian military. And the egyptian military has been neutral towards isreal, and has opposed an islamic takeover of egypt, so it has worked actually. Facts are facts. :)
we're not really subsidizing their population since it isn't really general economic aid.
Our economy is collapsing. Where is all of our aid?
@Vermont: Tell that to the Iranians who were once one our side and now have our F14s. Tell that to the Argentinians who were allies of the French before the Falklands war, and were able to use french fighters against the British after the friendly regime collapsed.
It just failed this year bro. They are an islamic government. Lets hope they are as "peaceful" as you liberal pigs say muslims are.
The billions we send help them supply their population with cheap cheap food. Try another one pig.
argumentative: military aid is a risk. Not giving military aid is a risk too in this case, since the military is the force working to keep egypt from going even more islamic. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
world: lol, "pig"? good lord, are you 12 years old?
@maxdog723 - Actually, it does make sense, well, if you are a millionaire/billionaire. Only the lower classes of people will die off in any wars, their sacrifices will make the wealthy, well, more wealthy. There's a world economy now, the wealthy can give 2 slips about America, their money is tied into so many other countries where they are able to exploit cheap labor thanks to dictators like in Egypt. Why do you think all of our jobs went to China, India and other countries? Not due to a more experienced work force, that's for sure. Once America is a third-world country, we'll see jobs return the the USA, that will be when workers are so desperate they are willing to work for a dollar a day.
The crazies are already in control, they're just not revealing the full extent of their craziness yet. We are helping them consolidate their grip on power there.
Yep! That same reasoning is what let us support Ayatollah Khomeini. We all saw how that worked out, didn't we?
It is a pretty safe bet that the Muslim Brotherhood is now only concerned with a peaceful existence in the Middle East. They are likely to remain in that posture until they feel fully armed and ready to take on their enemies. Since the Obama administration helped create the tinderbox that is now the Middle East, the least they can do is make sure all sides are armed. Anyone still question why Hillary stepped down? She is at least smart enough to try and distance herself from what may soon become a blood bath in the region.
I think Israel is about to the point that they are going to open a can of kick-ass on everyone.....and when they do...they will pound them into dust.....I think they've had enough of restraint type policies.....
No putting of the US Miltiary on the ground in Egypt! Our Military has alot of physical and mental healing to do, and funding for our brave veterans is a real concern. Our nation has many brave veterans coming back from the Two "Bush Wars" that were unpaid for. Giving money and weapon systems to Egypt is very questionable at this time. How much money is being spent on all medical difficulties with our brave veterans? How much job training is being done for our brave veterans? What are the living conditions of our veterans? Our nation needs to concerned about healing our own veterans first at this time. Everything else must be financially put on hold or very limited for now. Our priorities must be with the full healing of our veterans. Our military has been stretched for too long, and now the bills need to be paid.
I would say that an overwhelming majority of Americans are adamantly against this kind of foreign aid, yet our politicians on both sides continue to get away with it year after year.
That's because our politicians don't care what the American people want. You can't buy friendship, you have to earn it with deeds. I'm against ANY foreign aide to any country.
How many working Americans does it take to accumulate $1.55 billion in taxes? And we are giving that hard earned money to Egypt. That's just criminal.
Just think of how much this aid assists corporations, then you'll realize this is a small amount to pay so a very few people can make tens of billions of dollars.
Stupidity at its best. Mr. Obama is too worried about illegal immigrants and taking our guns away then to stop arming countries that are in turmoil and could end up being our potential enemies. Oh well, four more years.
This really isn't an obama policy, its been a bipartisan policy of the congress and the president for decades.
And they can abolish that policy, too.
EUROPEAN women need to start having more children.
yep, "they" can (congress), I'm just making the point that this isn't some crazy obama muslim socialist policy. :)
Too many Americans are out of work. Too much poverty is going on in America, and the opportunities are shrinking. Too much money is leaving our economy, and not enough money is being invested in our own economy. There is too much hunger going on in our nation, and sending more money to other countries seems unrealistic at this time. The National Debt is too high, and the tax breaks for the rich are even higher. The Middle Class is being crushed, and the Working Poor have been crushed already. We complain about keeping Economic Safety Nets intact for our own citizens. Then we send millions to 'unstable' nations already! Really?
Obamas fingerprints were all over the overthrow of Mubarak. His Middle East policy of supporting change has been catastrophic for all of Africa, but mostly the the Arabs in the north.
They should put Mubarak on the ballot and have another election. He would win. Then he would break some heads. Then peace would return to Egypt.
you mean the american policy of supporting freedom, dont you? What would YOU have done in egypt?
Yeah vertmont guy sharia law is really all about freedom isn't it ? Go smoke another one .You lefties are so brainwashed you can't even see an extremist muslim govt for what it is .
duh, you're stupid. i was talking about obama's support for democratic elections in general, which is an american policy. Remember bush and iraq for example? lol.
again, what would YOU have done differently in egypt? I love how all the haters whine and complain, but don't say anything useful about what they would have done instead. lol.
I would have left Egypt alone. I would have let them have a full fledged civil war like Syria doing. Let them bleed a little and winner take all.
There is no freedom in egypt dip@!$%# .Wake up from your naive dream . Let those fcuks kill each other off , they're no allies of ours . They all hate the US .Put down your lib political pamphlets and wake up your underused brain , what little is left of it .
vermontguy, I used to think the folks in Vermont were pretty cool headed, but you are chaning my opinion pretty quick. I noticed you were the first one to call someone else a name, just because they didn't agree with your opinion. To me that shows a marked lack of intelligence. Obama's foreign policies are not working. If they were, there would be not terrorists now attacking areas in Africa were before there were none. As someone else posting here stated, his support of "change" has caused a lot more problems than not. This is a stone cold fact and if you think otherwise, then either you are simply not paying attention to world news or you refuse to see the truth in your blind support of this president, who not only is partially responsible for the decay in the Middle East and Africa, but is pretty much becoming totally responsible for the deay in his own country. But this will always be with men who are power glutton egomanics....
I think i'm cool headed, i'm certainly not angry about this. didn't you see all my smilies? :)
Do you seriously think that ANY foreign policy would stop EVERY attack ANYWHERE in the world against EVERY american? lol. You can't measure foreign policy success, or failure, that way.
and show me where I called anyone a name just because they had a different opinion?
or were you talking about mali, not algeria? you weren't clear on that. But I would be curious to know what foreign policy YOU know of that would prevent that from happening too.
vermontguy: It is too late now for any US policy to work in the ME or in the Maghreb. The problem is that the US State Department has been getting involved in the pushing of "democracy" in all of these countries and one can see the results of this policy today. Wars, death and destruction everywhere. Who says our brand of democracy is right for them? And whose rule book on democracy do you think is right for the Arab world? Yours? Our diplomats in these countries should have been working on diplomacy and building a better image of America rather than getting involved in upsetting the corrupt regimes there. That is their problem. And yes, I know Egypt and all of the other countries there extremely well and am saddened by the events there. Egypt used to be such a nice place to go spend some time there.
Vermontguy.......the Egyptian masses don't give a @!$%# about freedom or democratic processes. They want economic opportunity. They want a job. Food. Money. A place to live in peace. A family. And, that is all going away. With their freedom, they have destroyed their economy opportunity. The country stands on the brink of ruin.
Are people really that stupid? Do they have no memory at all? In the 1980s the U.S. financed and sent weapons and advisors to the Taliban and al-Quaeda in Afghanistan. That's one way of "winning friends and influencing people" that worked really well ... not at all. More like trying to buy "love" all over the world while rushing to the poor house.
Exactly. Meanwhile millions of Americans on food stamps.
Tell me why Congress is not discussing the continuance of this aid, when the same people mentioned are insisting the aid for Hurricane Sandy, that goes to American citizens, had to be delayed and discussed. If they are concerned about the deficit, why not take from the foreign aid budgets and fund the Sandy aid budget? When do taxpayers, American citizens come first?
Egypt is as stable as a neurotic pit bull. How can we be sure this will not come back to haunt us?
you can't be of course. But a strong military in egypt that is dependent on us for their perks is about the best way we have of influencing that country towards our own views.
you know i'm sick of my hard earned tax dollars taking care of other countries an the lazy people in this country.if i could get welfare i'd like to try it but i'm 60 and white so i guess not...have to wait for SS to kick in so i can work a part-time job to survive...thanks
Too much LIBERAL SWINE in this country who give money to everyone except responsible citizens. Pouring money into our WORST schools full of single parent children.
Yet Obama was the only one who said the new government in Egypt wasn't an ally and would have to prove they were a friend and worthy of continued aid. Many senior republicans including McCain were outraged demanding we acknowledge Egypt as an ally and continue to provide uninterrupted aid. It isn't liberals demanding military aid to these countries it's republicans representing their weapons manufacturers supporters. They don't push military aid for goodwill but to bump up weapons sales.
Obama was quoted on a trip to (i think) Central America, as saying (when asked about the turmoil in Egypt) that he couldn't say that Egypt was or was not an ally based on what was going on there. The criticism came from the fact that he had just approved a large financial aid package to Egypt even though he wasn't sure if they were an ally or not. It was not about critics demanding that he acknowledge Egypt as an ally.
Here's what the critics were saying: If we're not sure Egypt is an ally any longer, why the hell are we supporting them with all of our money and military transfers still?!
Good Question, huh?
This article should read US aid secure for morsi and the muslim brotherhood and not for Egypt because that's exactly where it's going. The Egyptian people won't see a dime of this money. The only things the Egyptian people will see from the U.S. are the bombs from the fighter jets and all the ammo obama and biden gave those asss holes.
Most of the aid goes to the military, not the government, and a lot of that comes back here to buy from our defense industry and keeps americans employed.
That's telling us Vermontguy!!! We should all quit stupid professions such as teaching, computer programming, and health care, and join the weapon manufacturing industry.
Excellent o'hussein continues to drain the US of vital $ while the economy is on the verge of collapse , basically furthering his cause of radical islam . You go o'hussein, no really , just go .
lol, "verge of collapse"? pass the drugs please. :)
oh, wait, you think he's secretly a muslim converting the world to "radical islam". Never mind, I almost took you seriously. :)
Just continue to keep your head in the sand vermontguy .I know your routine - obama can do no wrong blah blah blah .. even as he squanders the budget on all his muslim buddies .
I believe that "obama can do no wrong"? that's stupid, unless you can prove it. go for it. :)
for that matter, how about you prove ANYTHING you posted. lol. You nutcases never can. :)
vermontguy your opinion means about as much to me as a fart in the wind .You'd blow o'hussein if he had time in his busy schedule of giving all our money away .
like I said, based on your posts, its clear that we don't have to take you seriously. However, you do provide free entertainment. lol.
and i'm sure my opinion means nothing to you. Stupid people rarely listen to facts and logic, preferring their own brand of hatred and bigotry. :)
Vermont guy is a typical liberal swine who lives off his parents money and criticizes everyone.
Yup bring up the race card , it's what's in your lefticle instruction manual . You make about as much sense as as one of your eco terrorist/ ows buddies .Idiota .I don't give a crap what colour o'hussein is .Stupid idealism is what I don't agree with . One of which is paying people in a crazed world wide cult aka islam billions of dollars so they can spread their so called "sharia freedom " like a virus from one country to the next . Nothing good can come from it . He's arming the enemy .
world: you know nothing about me, so when you start making up "facts" about me I know you're failed miserably. lol.
I don't criticize "everyone", just ignorant, hateful people who don't know anything but have any opinion about everything. :)
somedude: I didn't bring up the "race card", I see you are too stupid to understand that "bigotry" isn't restricted to race. lol.
verminguy, If you think it's so right to give our money to any military other than our own countries, why don't you just go on over and join them. I'd pay to see ya ship out.
wicked: 'verminguy"? lol, I'll bet you think that's "clever". :) Well maybe your 12 year old friends do? :)
Worse thing that ever happened to this country...electing Obama. I am just sick sick sick. We are going down every day. I've never taken a penny from the government and have always had to work two and three jobs...my husband also working two to three jobs, yet there is nothing to help us in this economy. This country is no longer anything like it used to be. Thank you Mr. Obama.
Why should we support Egypts military when it says right in the Bible that Israel will never be destroyed ? Thats right, you support a president that follows the koran. If you dont think Egypt would pounce on Israel if they thought they had help , then your pretty clueless vermontguy
Beveryveryafraid: You and your husband have always had to work 2 or 3 jobs to survive and it's Obama's fault? You do realise Obama's only been president 4 years, right? Maybe medication would help. It's people like you that helped elect him. Irrational rants from people like you sound so bizzare that sane people would never want to appear to agree with you on anything. Thanks, keep spewing in 2016.
God almighty, I am tired of giving billions upon billions of dollars, year after year, only to see absolutely not change to the lot of the normal people.
The money is squandered amongs corrupt government officials who have no business having the responsiblities of their office, which they are two stupid and greedy to understand. Aid to countries like Egypt mean the military buys more weapons to kill civilian and prop up the 'Islamic' government.
How about we just say for once, "No, its your country, do the right thing". Otherwise, get the hell out of the way and let professionals put your house in order. Since that will never happen, the ignorance and greed and death will continue, just as it has, since the time of the Prophet.
Only America arms their enemies.
The egyptian military is considered an ally: "given that Egypt is officially designated as a "Major non-NATO Ally.""
vermontguy is a paid msn hack just like fisted redhead
Vermontguy- Obama's quote- Egypt not an ally or enemy?????????????
I think obama was referring to the morsi government, not the egyptian military. I think that's a fair description of morsi's stand, he's less of a supporter of the US than, say, mubarek was.
Well, there's another 1.55 billion dollars that the US didn't need. I guess the Chinese who loaned us that money gave us a great APR on it.
It just never ends. (Sigh.)
Typical government bullsh**!..Send money to foreign countries that despise us and would kill any American on sight and let the USofA go down the drain. It is time for a new government in this country! Tar and feather all of these politicians and send them to these foreign countries that they so adamantly want to support! Enough is enough!
Our aid goes primarily to the military who is considered an ally. We conduct joint exercises with them, so I guess they aren't going to "kill any american on sight". duh.
"But the relationship goes beyond hardware, research, and production. The U.S. and Egyptian military engage in extensive bilateral training operations, including Bright Star, a program that the Congressional Research Service describes as "a multinational training exercise ... that helps foster the interoperability of U.S. and Egyptian forces and provides specialized training opportunities for U.S. Central Command Forces (CENTCOM) in the Middle East.""
You are right about "Bright Star".
to vermontguy : "To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." Thomas Paine. The people you are trying to have a reasoned discussion with have devolved and given up reason. You gave it a good try though.
Let them establish a democratic government 1st instead of giving them aid on a promise that they will do so.
They are the democratically elected government. No one has disputed they won fairly. Just because an elected government isn't the type we would want doesn't make them illegitimate. There's a reason we've supported dictators throughout the middle east since WW2. No democratically elected government in a Muslim country will vote for a candidate or a constitution that doesn't base it's laws on the Koran which basically condemns non Muslims as enemies. They will always see us as an enemy. Our options are to appeal to their greed as we do the Egyptian military or ignore them until their actions conflict with what we want. I'm not sure arming a country that considers Israel a mortal enemy is wise but since when have we been wise?
Just think how many families that would feed here or help people get back to work so they can support a family.. Just another total waste of money. And our deficit is 16 trillion..
Impeach and fire any politician that says yes to arming the radical Muslims, but then again we already armed the Mexican drug cartel and no one was fired or impeached yet
That was then. This is now. STOP ALL AID TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.......NO EXCEPTIONS.
Democratic govt in egypt? What a joke . This was the last election they will ever have other than an election to see which muslim brotherhood candidate gets voted in .They were better off with mubarack .Now its back to floggings stonings and beheadings as in all sharia law islamic states .
alots experts say IF we don't help the fragile,struggling new gov.
the out come will not be in the u.s favor.. as weak as it is the new
gov. in Egypt need the u.s help..even though it may not be our best
friend.. it will be better for the u.s to help.. otherwise the trouble makers
can take over and defeat mo. morsi..yes its weak,new democracy but it need help still
Morsi was a Member of Parliament in the People's Assembly of Egypt from 2000 to 2005, and a leading member in the Muslim Brotherhood. Yep that's who I want to be friends with the Muslim Brotherhood (sarcasm)
They will despise us regardless and laugh at us all the way to the bank. We never learn.
2 billiion a yr. is really nothing.. if you think of the $38 billions we give to Welfare
state of Israel $25 billions in WEAPONS ALONE. THE rest is in cash to Israel
and what israel did for us NOTHING But THREE BLOODY,NASTY Wars
AND We lost ALL 3 Wars plus TWO TRILLIONS.. SO thats why were a BANKRUPT
JRjk- reality check for you- I guess you don't mind supporting Muslim radicals instead of a Democracy http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2012/03/19/11328/interactive-map-foreign-aid/
Does anybody in Washington have any brains at all? They keep throwing our Tax money away on these $#@!$% Muslim countries.
What's the American public in favor of doing? let's start from there.
you have to be careful about listening to the american public when it comes to foreign policy. Sadly, there is more ignorance than knowledge when it comes to affairs outside our borders.
I want our leaders to do the right thing, even if its the unpopular thing.
The American public needs to write to their respective Congressmen/ women and Senators to oppose these measures, instead of complaining in a forum behind anomynous monikers.
Artfromcalifornia: Where did u get your info. on Israel being in favor of our weapons to Egypt. Morsi has stated Israel is their #1 target.
Please respond.
vr,
vance meyer: please read the 6th paragraph in the article.
vance meyer: His comment was a cut and paste from this article. Didn't you even read it?