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20 July 2012
By Jacob G. Hornberger During her trip to Egypt over the weekend, U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pelted by
tomatoes, shoes, and chants of "Monica, Monica,
Monica" from Egyptian protestors. Playing the role of
the innocent as she met with the head of Egypt's
military council and Egypt's newly elected president,
Mohamed Morsy, Clinton pointed out that the United
States doesn't take sides in Egypt's internal
politics. What? How can Clinton say such a thing with a
straight face? The U.S. government has taken sides in
Egypt for decades by taking the side of Egypt's brutal
military dictatorship. And it continues to take the
side of the military dictatorship by continuing to
send $1.5 billion in foreign aid directly to the
military, primarily in the form of weaponry. That
weaponry, needless to say, fortifies the omnipotent
power of the military dictatorship over the Egyptian
people. Egypt has been ruled by the military for decades.
Mubarak, a military general, was appointed to serve as
president. By wearing civilian clothes, he was
supposed to create the appearance of a civilian
government. But it was always a military dictatorship,
one that governed the Egyptian people with an iron
hand, which it continues to do to this day. A good comparison is Chile under Augusto Pinochet.
The ultimate power lay with the Chilean military, not
with Pinochet. He was simply the man the military
chose to rule the country. Even when Pinochet wore
civilian clothes, Chile was still governed by a
military dictatorship, one that the U.S. government
also fully supported with U.S. foreign aid, just as it
has the Egyptian military dictatorship. The recent presidential election in Egypt is
necessarily a sham. Any election that is conducted
under military dictatorial rule is bound to be warped,
distorted, and perverted. The only genuine election
would be one under total civilian control, with no
military dictatorship within the country. Clinton announced, "I have come to Alexandria to
reaffirm the strong support of the United States for
the Egyptian people and for their democratic future."
What? How can she say such a thing when the U.S.
government continues to furnish $1.5 billion to the
Egyptian military dictatorship, which has made it very
clear that it will never relinquish its dictatorial
position over the Egyptian people? No wonder that those Egyptian protestors were
chanting "Monica, Monica, Monica." They know that
Clinton is fibbing, just as her husband fibbed about
Monica Lewinsky. Don't forget: Most of that $1.5 billion goes to
Egypt's military in the form of weaponry — rifles,
bullets, tanks, etc. — that fortify the military's
dictatorial power over the Egyptian people. That's in fact why the Egyptian military can
dictate to the newly elected Egyptian president what
his powers are going to be. It's why the military can
dissolve the Parliament and refuse to permit it to
reconvene. It's why it can decree martial law whenever
it wants. It's why it has the Egyptian judiciary in
its pockets. Everyone knows that the military has the
weaponry that can overcome with force any resistance
to its dictatorship. And where did that weaponry come from? From the
U.S. government, complements of American taxpayers.
For decades, the U.S. government has reinforced and
strengthened Egypt's military dictatorship with cash
and weaponry. Why, don't forget: the U.S. government
even chose Egypt's military to serve as one of its
rendition-torture partners in the "war on terrorism."
It all goes to show why the U.S. government has no
business getting involved at all in the internal
affairs of other countries. Interventionism, including
foreign aid to pro-U.S. dictatorships, does nothing
but engender anger, animosity, and hatred toward our
country, which are then used as the excuse to suspend
our freedoms here at home, including the power of the
U.S. military and CIA to spy on Americans, monitor
their emails and telephone calls, and take Americans
into custody as "enemy combatants," torture them,
incarcerate them, and even assassinate them. All those billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid
to Egypt for the past several decades have done
nothing positive for the American people. It's no
surprise that despite (or because of) all that U.S.
foreign aid, the overwhelming majority of Egyptians
have a negative opinion of the United States.
Clinton's visit to Egypt only makes things worse. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of the
Future of Freedom Foundation. |