Obama Continues Tantrum Over Egyptian Removal Of Islamists, Halts Sale Of F-16s To Egypt

 

President Obama continued his hissy fit over the ouster of Islamist Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood by halting a pending sale of F-16s to Egypt:

Pentagon spokesman George Little said the United States values its relationship with the Egyptian military and characterized the delay of the F-16s as a cautionary measure.

“We do not believe it would be in the best interest of the United States to immediately change all of our assistance to Egypt,” Little told reporters Wednesday. But “given the current situation in Egypt, we do not believe it is appropriate to move forward at this time with the delivery of ­F-16s.”

The decision was announced shortly after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel held an hour-long conversation with Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the Egyptian military chief, who this month deposed the country’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, with the backing of a large segment of Egyptian society. A U.S. senior defense official said the move was not intended to be construed as punitive.

“This is not a way of punishing them,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to explain policy deliberations. “It gives us more time to consult with Congress, walk them through our strategy and explain our views to them.”

I can just imagine what that conversation between Hagel and al-Sissi was like:

"General, If you want the planes, you gotta put Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood back in power."

"Pound sand, Mr. Hagel. And tell your boss to do the same."

As for 'more time to consult with Congress', for anyone in the Obama Regime to say this verges on stand up comedy material. This is the same administration that took the unheard of step of overriding congressional holds on aid to Morsi's Egypt not once,but twice.

President Obama was just fine with a hard core Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime hostile to Israel getting all the F-16s and other military hardware from the US they wanted. A non-Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian government? Not so much.

In another instance of this president's tantrum over the events in Egypt, he has apparently used U.S. influence to torpedo badly needed International Monetary Fund(IMF) loan for Egypt that was being pushed through with President Obama's assistance.

Needless to say, this pretty much marks the end of U.S. influence with Egypt - at least while Obama is president.

At this point, the new Egyptian government is getting funding from the Saudis and the other GCE countries, as it is considered a Sunni ally in the current Sunni-Shi'ite civil war, while Morsi and the Brotherhood were just a bit too cozy with the Mullahs of Iran.

With the Brotherhood continuing to cause civil unrest in Egypt (and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if President Obama was funding it covertly)the main task of the new government is to get the security situation under control, and they've made some definite progress there. There's enough aid money right now to carry things for awhile even without U.S. help, but the Egyptian government is going to have to take some serious steps to get its house in order just to feed its population.

Stay tuned...