Senior Republican Senators John McCain and lindsey Graham, just back from a visit to Egypt, have demanded suspension of the 1.3 billion annual US aid to the country riven by civil strife and a heavy military crackdown that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent days.
“The massacre of civilians this week in Egypt has brought our longstanding relationship with that country to a fork in the road. The interim civilian Government and security forces – backed up, unfortunately, by the military – are taking Egypt down a dark path, one that the United States cannot and should not travel with them,” said the Senators, who undertook the visit at President Barack Obama’s request.
“We urge the Obama Administration to suspend US assistance to Egypt and make clear to the current leadership of the country what steps we believe are necessary to halt Egypt’s descent into civil conflict and ultimately to restore our assistance relationship, which has historically served US national security interests,” they said.
But there has been no unanimity in the US Congress on this issue. last month, an amendment moved by Republican Senator Rand Paul to eliminate the military aid failed with as many as 86 Senators opposing it. That, however, was before the military action. Many lawmakers fear that cutting off the US aid may have adverse implications for Israel, which wants Washington to maintain the flow of aid to Cairo.
Obama, reacting to the military crackdown this week, announced cancellation of joint military exercises with Egypt, but skirted the issue of suspending American aid. McCain himself stepped up his attack on the Obama administration on Sunday over the American response to the situation, commenting that the US now carries “no credibility” across the Middle East. Not cutting off the aid and simply sitting and watching the situation deteriorate is a violation of everything that America stood for, he commented and expressed his fears of a long period of a long period of unrest and repression in that country.