It’s still early, but now that Mubarak is out it’s worth remembering:
The Egyptian military—which has behaved with incredible restraint in the lead-up to this coup, and is now saying its coup is only in the service of hastening the democratic reforms the protesters demand—this military would not be the institution it is today without American funding and American training.
That is not to say that Egyptians could not have achieved this day without America pouring billions into their military over the years. (Whether that could have happened is simply unknown, because that has not been the situation.) It is certainly not to say that this kind of coup was an aim of U.S. military aid to Egypt. (Quite the opposite.) It is not to ignore all of the days before this one when the American-financed Egyptian military behaved in ways that shouldn’t make anyone proud. (Those days should clearly not be ignored.) But it is to say this:
If ever there was a day when all those billions in American taxpayer dollars sent to the Egyptian armed forces seemed to actually work to the benefit of the Egyptian people, it is today.
We will see what happens tomorrow.
Wait, what? He wouldn’t have been in power for this long without the US military aid.
Yeah, pretty sure this happened in spite of American aid.
I think Eli is saying that it wouldn’t have happened this peacefully without a history of American aid.
How much influence would we have in Egypt if we hadn’t given that aid? Plenty of nasty people have remained and gained in power in the Mideast in the last 30 years without our support (1). If and when they finally go down in flames, the United States will have no influence whatsoever in how the aftermath plays out.
(1) For those of you lacking imagination or whose geographical knowledge is limited to a game of Risk played 9 years ago over shots of Pepe Lopez Tequila, try: Algeria, Syria, Iran.
And once they get some of those billions back from Mr. M’s Swiss bank accounts, maybe they’ll actually do the country some good.
I for one have no problem with a world that isn’t ruled by United States interests. Imposing our will on the world has caused violence, oppression and poverty for millions. Try: Saudi Arabia…
Reymont: maybe it wouldn’t have happened peacefully without US aid. But more likely is that it wouldn’t have had to happen in the first place.
It’s long past time to stop giving military aid to anyone, anywhere in the world.
The US probably dosen’t deserve the dollar being the world reserve currency, but when it goes get ready for $12 gas, and $10 loaves of wonder bread…for starters.