Yesterday,
I mentioned the number of times that Obama referred to Egypt in
his 2012 and 2013 State of the Union addresses, noting that since
the 2013 speech there has been a coup in Egypt, a crackdown on the
Muslim Brotherhood, and a referendum on a draft constitution, which
the Muslim Brotherhood called for its members to boycott.
I was expecting that given the current situation in Egypt (the
most populous Arab country and home of the Suez Canal) and
America’s history of aid to the Egyptian military that it might
warrant at least a brief mention.
However, Egypt was not specifically mentioned once in
last night’s speech, although Obama did say, “From Tunisia to
Burma, we’re supporting those who are willing to do the hard work
of building democracy.”
Obama might not want to have mentioned Egypt because his
administration’s policy towards Egypt has been far from ideal.
In the wake of the military overthrowing Egypt’s first
democratically-elected president the Obama administration did not
withdraw foreign aid as it is supposed to in response to a
coup.
U.S. military aid to Egypt was also not suspended after security
forces carried out a
brutal crackdown on supporters of ousted President Morsi.
It was months after the the overthrow of Morsi and the bloody
crackdown on Morsi’s supporters that some aid
was suspended.
Obama spoke out in support of “those who are willing to do the
hard work of building democracy” last night, but failed to mention
that Egypt’s draft constitution was passed by just over 98
percent of those who voted in a referendum which the Muslim
Brotherhood urged its members to boycott. Since the referendum on
the new constitution, which bans political parties like the Muslim
Brotherhood, the Egyptian military has backed Gen. Abdul Fattah
al-Sisi to run for president. Gen. al-Sisi was the head of the
Egyptian military at the time of Morsi’s overthrow last July.
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