Egypt's ousting of Mohamed Morsi was a coup, says John McCain

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Egypt's ousting of Mohamed Morsi was a coup, says John McCain

Martin Chulov in Cairo
theguardian.com, Tuesday 6 August 2013 19.09 BST

John McCain has become the first US official to describe the ousting of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi as a coup – a move that contradicts the White House and potentially raises legal ramifications for American aid.

Officials, including Barack Obama, have avoided using the term to characterise the armed overthrow of Morsi's government on 3 July, largely because US law would then require it to cut aid to Egypt.

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"We have said we share the democratic aspirations and criticism of the Morsi government that led millions of Egyptians into the streets," McCain said at the end of a brief visit to Cairo in which he and Democratic senator Lindsey Graham met senior officials.

"We've also said that the circumstances of (Morsi's) removal was a coup. This was a transition of power not by the ballot box."

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/06/john-mccain-egypt-mohamed-morsi-coup

[Mojorabbit]

1. That is what one gets for sending two republicans instead of Dems. nt

[demigoddess]

2. I got the feeling it was

More like the military had refused to fire on the people of Egypt as Morsi was ordering and they either had to do a coup or commit atrocities. It was a brave decision but a no-brainer if you are honorable.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

3. A spade is a spade

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Unless of course, "spade" is an inconvenient description for political reasons and might have legal ramifications which affect Israel's security.

"This is not a spade?" ABC's Jonathan Karl asked.

"Absolutely not," said Tawfik, who was appointed by Morsi.

"The military -- listen, what happened was, you had over 15 million people in the street. And President Morsi, he could have said, 'Listen, my people, I listen, I hear you.' But instead of that, he whipped up religious fervor among his supporters. And there was violence in the air. After more than 20 people had been killed, leaders from Egyptian parties, from Egyptian religious establishments, from the military, they came together, they said, 'We have to stop this, otherwise violence will spiral out of control.'"

"And so that is not a spade - it is just an indeterminate black inkblot - maybe a leaf, or a funny tree, possibly a Persian hat - which Egypt needed on July 3, 2013, because a 5 of hearts would have ruined the country."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2013/07/egypt-ambassador-it-wasnt-a-coup-167694.html

OK, thanks for clearing that up, Tawfik.
Now, after the coup d'etat - necessary because 20 people had been killed - at least 178--279+ Egyptians have been killed, and at least 3,435 injured. (That's like 63 Boston Marathon bombings)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_2013_Egyptian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
Aftermath of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état