Egypt’s rising authoritarianism has been met with a collective shrug in Washington, which sends Cairo $1.3 billion in military aid each year.
One notable exception is Senator Patrick Leahy, who is raising alarm about human rights abuses Egyptian security forces have committed as they battle militants in the Sinai Peninsula. He recently asked Secretary of State John Kerry in a letter whether Egypt had run afoul of a federal law he sponsored that bars military units that have committed human rights abuses with impunity from receiving American aid.
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Mr. Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, is asking a rhetorical question. It is abundantly clear to the senator and Egypt experts in the American government that Egypt’s security forces have committed abuses with impunity in recent years. In May, the State Department told Congress in a reportthat security forces have “committed arbitrary or otherwise unlawful killings during the dispersal of demonstrators, of persons in custody and during military operations in the northern Sinai Peninsula.”
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The Leahy law compels the State Department to ensure that military assistance and aid is withheld from foreign troops that have committed abuses without being held to account. Over the years, it has been applied rigorously in some parts of the world and largely ignored in others.
One notable exception is Senator Patrick Leahy, who is raising alarm about human rights abuses Egyptian security forces have committed as they battle militants in the Sinai Peninsula. He recently asked Secretary of State John Kerry in a letter whether Egypt had run afoul of a federal law he sponsored that bars military units that have committed human rights abuses with impunity from receiving American aid.
...
Mr. Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, is asking a rhetorical question. It is abundantly clear to the senator and Egypt experts in the American government that Egypt’s security forces have committed abuses with impunity in recent years. In May, the State Department told Congress in a reportthat security forces have “committed arbitrary or otherwise unlawful killings during the dispersal of demonstrators, of persons in custody and during military operations in the northern Sinai Peninsula.”
...
The Leahy law compels the State Department to ensure that military assistance and aid is withheld from foreign troops that have committed abuses without being held to account. Over the years, it has been applied rigorously in some parts of the world and largely ignored in others.
What will be Barack Obama's signature foreign policy legacy? Whacking OBL? The climate agreement with China? JCPOA, if passed? TPP, if passed? Continuing then cutting back NSA spying? Pissing off every other head of state? Cuba? Afghanistan/Iraq/ISIS, Funeral selfies? PAUSE: I started that paragraph with irony aforethought but as I kept remembering, with the exception of the bin Laden assassination, that is a horror show. Are we better off now than in 2008? No. UNPAUSE.
So many contenders. Egypt. Egypt is shorthand for everything that began in 2010 with Arab Spring through the subject of that Quasi's editorial: Mubarak-will he go or will he stay? The Obamas were initially hands off then hands on; Elections-now? Too soon?; President Muhammad Morsi-Hail to the Chief? Eh...Maybe...Yes, I take that back, Maybe, No.; When is the outcome of democratic elections not democratic? When we say so. Protests at American embassies, first Cairo, then throughout Islamia, Benghazi.Tunisia. Syria. President Virginity Check in Egypt-When is a coup not a coup? When we say so. Aid? Yes, no, yes. "Transitioning to democracy;" Morsi in prison stripes. Muslim Brotherhood exterminated; Morsi sentenced to death; uprising in Sinai.
So many contenders but if you take Egypt as code for everything that happened in Arabia from 2010 to present, and that's reasonable, all those events were linked and had a common source, and Obama's fingerprints were all over each of those links, by action and inaction, tentatively or (rarely) decisively, then by duration and quality--a "collective shrug." That is perfect! A "collective shrug" captures perfectly the quality of Obama's Egypt policy--Egypt is Obama's signature foreign policy legacy. The "collective shrug."
So many contenders. Egypt. Egypt is shorthand for everything that began in 2010 with Arab Spring through the subject of that Quasi's editorial: Mubarak-will he go or will he stay? The Obamas were initially hands off then hands on; Elections-now? Too soon?; President Muhammad Morsi-Hail to the Chief? Eh...Maybe...Yes, I take that back, Maybe, No.; When is the outcome of democratic elections not democratic? When we say so. Protests at American embassies, first Cairo, then throughout Islamia, Benghazi.Tunisia. Syria. President Virginity Check in Egypt-When is a coup not a coup? When we say so. Aid? Yes, no, yes. "Transitioning to democracy;" Morsi in prison stripes. Muslim Brotherhood exterminated; Morsi sentenced to death; uprising in Sinai.
So many contenders but if you take Egypt as code for everything that happened in Arabia from 2010 to present, and that's reasonable, all those events were linked and had a common source, and Obama's fingerprints were all over each of those links, by action and inaction, tentatively or (rarely) decisively, then by duration and quality--a "collective shrug." That is perfect! A "collective shrug" captures perfectly the quality of Obama's Egypt policy--Egypt is Obama's signature foreign policy legacy. The "collective shrug."
