America’s victory in Egypt, Part II: Egypt now has a democratically elected Islamist dictator

Regarding Egyptian President Mursi’s removal of the top generals, Barry Rubin writes:

That means all we were told about not having to worry because the generals would restrain the Brotherhood was false. Moreover, the idea that the army, and hence the government, may fear to act lest they lose U.S. aid will also be false. Mursi has also removed a constitutional decree regarding parliament. He is now the democratically elected dictator of Egypt.

Behind the scenes note: Would Mursi dared have done this if he thought Obama would come down on him like a ton of bricks? Would the army give up if they thought America was behind it? No on both counts.

Muslim Brotherhood President al-Mursi has also just named the editors of the top Egyptian newspaper and other media outlets. They are state-owned, you know. [Also,] there are a half-dozen good little independent newspapers. But one of them, al-Destour (ironically meaning “The Constitution”), has just had a full issue seized on charges of “fueling sedition” and “harming the president through phrases and wording punishable by law.” We know this through a report in the Middle East News Agency, the state-owned monopoly.

And what was the inflammatory report? That the Brotherhood was going to seize power and that liberals and the army should join together to stop the country from being turned into an Islamist regime.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 13, 2012 02:27 PM | Send