By Alan Caruba
Why would the Obama administration send twenty F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in the wake of the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak with whom the deal was struck in 2010 and in light of the fact that man now in charge, Mohammed Morsi, is a rabid anti-Semite and enemy of Israel?
Wouldn’t a prudent U.S. administration review the earlier deal, part of a $1 billion U.S. foreign aid package, and conclude that a regime now led by a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and man who calls Jews “descendants of apes and pigs” not have its military power increased at a time when much of the Middle East and the Maghreb, northern Africa, is embroiled in turmoil?
Egypt is not threatened by Israel, but it is known that Morsi meets regularly with Mohammed Badi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme leaders, who last year declared that “The jihad for the recovery of Jerusalem is a duty for all Muslims.”
Recently, Dr. Daniel Pipes, the founder and director of the Middle East Forum, editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal, a historian and political commentator, wrote a commentary in which he said, “The persistent belief that training and equipping foreign troops imbues them with American political and ethical values, making them allies of the United States” was “another sign of innocence.” He was being polite. It’s not innocence, it’s stupidity and the U.S. has been repeating it for a long time.
Dr. Pipes cited several cases that are worth recalling.
When U.S. “peacekeeping” troops landed in Lebanon in 1982, “the priority was to train a national army.” Lebanon was in the midst of a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. The U.S. effort was a failure that included the 1983 suicide bombing of a Marine Corps barracks that killed 220 Marines and 22 other U.S. servicemen. As Dr. Pipes noted, most of those trained and equipped returned to their communal militias. A renewed effort to repeat this stupidity is underway again! It’s worth noting that Lebanon is governed by members of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization and proxy of Iran.
After more than a decade in Afghanistan, U.S. efforts to train a national police force and military often resulted in attacks by its members on coalition service personnel. In the first eight months of 2012, they killed 45 persons; at which point the training stopped. When the U.S. finally leaves later this year and next, those left behind to continue training programs will be sitting ducks. The billions in military gear will eventually become the property of the Taliban and Afghanistan will return swifty to its seventh century mentality.
As Dr. Pipes noted regarding Mali that U.S. efforts to train “the woebegone Malian national army to take on al Qaeda did not exactly work out.” Der Spiegel, a German daily, reported that “American specialists did train four crack units, totaling 600 men, to fight the terrorists. But it backfired: Three of the elite units have defected en masse to the rebel Tuareg.” One of its commanders, “Captain Amadou Sanogo, trained in the U.S. overthrew the government in Bamako and ousted the elected president.”
Perhaps the most egregious idiocy was the result of the U.S. efforts to mediate the discord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in which the U.S. “has trained over 6,000 Palestinian Authority security personnel in the hope they will become Israel’s partners for peace.” Neither the PA, nor its competitor, Hamas, has ever acknowledged Israel’s right to exist and Dr. Pipes has predicted that “these militiamen will eventually turn their guns against Israel.” Israel continues to intercept arms intended for Hamas and had to wage a short military operation against Hamas, an Iranian proxy, to deter its daily rocketing of southern Israel. The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, already has plenty of arms provided by the U.S.
Few allies in the Middle East, with the exception of Israelis and the Jordanian monarchy, are reliable. The Gulf States depend on the U.S. for a defense shield against Iran, as does Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has received cooperation from Yemen, but it is folly to think that Egypt or any of the North African states are friendly to our interests.
Sending Egypt F-16s is idiotic. Egypt already has a fleet of more than 200 comparable jets provided courtesy of the American taxpayer. Continuing the practice of arming nations that are unreliable is a very bad, very stupid one.
© Alan Caruba, 2013
Comment
Comment by John Brunner on February 21, 2013 at 8:53pm We can always hope the military will soften the anti Israeli/American stance if we bribe them with hardware. Well maybe there will be enough virgins to go around or there be icewater in hell. Our leaders are lawyers not historians but that's not an acceptable excuse. That stuff will come back to bite us and our only reliable mid-east ally.
Comment by Judy Lyford on February 21, 2013 at 5:47pm The Muslims are related through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That would make them apes and pigs, too.
Comment by John J Tobin on February 21, 2013 at 3:23pm My bad! I meant to say "battle tanks" and not "battle attacks" A correction to prior post!
Comment by John J Tobin on February 21, 2013 at 3:19pm This was part of Jimmy Carter's "Camp David Accord," to secure the peace between Israel & Egypt. We promised aid, which was to go to the Egyptian military, in return for their forbearance of hostilities against Israel..
But the rhetoric of the new "Brotherhood" regime appears to be a repudiation of that accord agreement. In addittion to these 1st line fighter/bomber jets, we also included quite a few of our top battle attacks, uniquely superior for desert warfare.
Seems like just more idiotic decisions by totally inept Administration politicians.These people are but party demagogues who have existed in the shelter of government positions, where incompetency is common and rewarded. Compare the highly qualified members of the Kennedy Administration to Obama's sad pool of radical fools, and you will see proof of the demise of the Democrat Party in favor of State Socialism.
The promised weapons should have been placed upon hold, until there was more clarification of the intent of the military and assurances from Morsi that they would never be used against the U S or Israel. The military has friendly ties to our military, and we should insist that they assert their influence to reign in the radical Islamists of Morsi's "Brotherhood" before we continue to arm them.
Just one opinion by another insignificant patriot.
Comment by Randall on February 21, 2013 at 3:29am We are truly screwed, aren't we? We have idiots running the government and we can do nothing to stop them? They are borrowing us into bankruptcy, arming our enemies, giving billions to Arabs who have as their goal the destruction of Israel? We are truly screwed!!
Comment by Herrmann Glockler on February 20, 2013 at 6:37pm Debrajoe,
Obama not only is a wiling participant, he is actually a collaborator, essentially a traitor to this nation.
Most thinking people realize this, but the elite is too cowed to do something about it.
Comment by Sandra on February 20, 2013 at 6:34pm Of course it is stupid to arm the Egyptians, but what else should we expect from a pro-Muslim U.S. President? Obama has no love for Israel, as he has demonstrated in a most arrogant and dismissive manner. The U.S. public should be very ashamed of returning Obama for another four years' worth of damage to America and the world!
Comment by Ronald Sorrells on February 20, 2013 at 6:32pm Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on February 20, 2013 at 6:28pm One Citizen have you signed the petition to impeach BH Obama?
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/866/391/426/impeach-bh-obama/
Comment by OneCitizenOfTheRepublic on February 20, 2013 at 6:27pm Article III, Section 3.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or
in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of
Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in
open Court.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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