'Obama Administration is complicit'

The Washington Post, criticized Obama administration to be “complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown launched on Wednesday by the de facto regime against tens of thousands of protesters who had camped out in Cairo”  “Before the July 3 coup in Egypt, the Obama administration privately warned the armed forces against ousting the government of Mohamed Morsi, pointing to U.S. legislation that requires the cut off of aid to any country where the army plays a “decisive role” in removing an elected government,” stated the editorial article of the newspaper. The article went on saying: “Yet when the generals ignored the U.S. warnings, the White House responded by electing to disregard the law itself. After a prolonged and embarrassing delay, the State Department announced that it had chosen not to determine whether a coup had taken place, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry stated that Egyptian military was “restoring democracy.”   “Because of these decisions” the article put forward “the Obama administration is complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown launched Wednesday by the de facto regime against tens of thousands of protesters who had camped out in two Cairo squares.”  Stating that hundreds of people were killed, including many women and children the article reported that chaos erupted around Egypt as angry mobs stormed Christian churches, which went largely unprotected by security forces; and the military imposed a state of emergency, essentially returning Egypt to the autocratic status quo that existed before the 2011 revolution. The article referring to the fact that Obama administration duly protested the latest crackdown, just as it previously urged the military not to use force against the demonstrations and to release Mr. Morsi and other political prisoners continued:  

“The military’s disregard for these appeals was logical and predictable: Washington had already demonstrated that its warnings were not credible. Indeed, even as police were still gunning down unarmed civilians in the streets of Cairo Wednesday, a White House spokesman was reiterating to reporters the administration’s determination not to make a judgment about whether the terms of the anti-coup legislation had been met.”

“This refusal to take a firm stand against massive violations of human rights is as self-defeating for the United States as it is unconscionable. Continued U.S. support for the Egyptian military is helping to push the country toward a new dictatorship rather than a restored democracy. Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the coup leader, increasingly is styling himself as a national savior in the mode of such former dictators as Gamal Abdel Nasser; Wednesday’s bloody assault represents his crushing of civilian moderates in the interim cabinet who had called for compromise with Mr. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Appropriately, their leader, Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, resigned.” The article concluded.

- Robert Fisk blasts junta in Egypt: "Innocence died in Egypt"

Middle East correspondent of the British paper Independent, Robert Fisk analyzed the political implication of the massacre in Egypt.

In his article titled "Cairo Massacre: After Today what Muslim will Trust in Ballot Box Again" Fisk claimed that the massacre in Egypt on Wednesday leaves Muslims helpless in trusting the ballot box. In other words, the violence against the anti-coup protests in Egypt will make Muslims lose their trust in democratic values and elements such as elections and ballot box.  

Criticizing position of Western politicians, in his article Fisk stated that what happens in Egypt “is not Brotherhood vs army though that is how our Western statesmen will mendaciously try to portray this tragedy,” but it is a hurl of army over the civilian demanding that they, not their leaders, own their own country.

Claiming that the violence in Egypt has created a cruel division within Egyptian society that will take years to heal Fisk added:

“Muslims who won power, fairly and democratically through the common vote, have been hurled from power. And who can forget our vicious siege of Gaza when Palestinians voted – again democratically – for Hamas? No matter how many mistakes the Brotherhood made in Egypt – no matter how promiscuous or fatuous their rule – the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown by the army.”

In the article Fisk implied that the support to General Al-Sissi was the main cause impeding the chaos. Saying that “every violent incident in Sinai, every gun in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood will now be used to persuade the world that the organization – far from being a poorly armed but well-organized Islamist movement – was the right arm of al-Qa’ida,” Fisk emphasized that the chaos impeded by the army will be counted on the Brotherhood and made use of the conflict in delegitimizing the movement.  

Touching upon resignation of el-Baradei, Fisk continued “He had to go, for he never intended such an outcome to his political power gamble when he agreed to prop up the army’s choice of ministers after last month’s coup.  But the coterie of writers and artists who insisted on regarding the coup as just another stage in the revolution of 2011 will - after the blood and el-Baradei’s resignation – have to use some pretty anguished linguistics to escape moral blame for these events.”

Fisk concluded that “something died in Egypt. Not the revolution, for across the Arab world the integrity of ownership – of people demanding that they, not their leaders, own their own country – remains, however bloodstained. Innocence died.