August 1, 2013
The New York Times

Kerry Says Egypt's Military Was 'Restoring Democracy' in Ousting Morsi

by Michael R Gordon and Kareem Faheem

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Secretary of State John Kerry offered an unexpected lift to Egypt's military leaders on Thursday, saying they had been "restoring democracy" when they deposed the country's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, on July 3 after mass demonstrations against his rule.

"The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people" who feared the country would descend into chaos, Mr. Kerry said during a visit to Pakistan, a country that has seen four military coups since the 1950s. In Egypt, Mr. Kerry said, "The military did not take over, to the best of our judgment - so far." . . .

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[. . . the United States is not the solution to the Mideast's chronic instability and tensions, but a major source.--Eric Margolis, "Not So Fast, Sen. Lott," Toronto Sun, February 16, 1998

Enver Masud, "Iraq War: 'Supreme International Crime'," The Wisdom Fund, June 29, 2005

[Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was addressing a human rights conference in Ireland, also said the Bush administration's refusal to accept Hamas' 2006 election victory was "criminal."--Shawn Pogatchnik, "Carter Blasts US Policy on Palestinians," Associated Press, June 20, 2007]

"Are Iran Election Protests U.S. Orchestrated?," The Wisdom Fund, June 21, 2009

"Brutal Repression in Bahrain, U.S. Objections Muted," The Wisdom Fund, April 16, 2011

"NATO Accused of War Crimes in Libya," The Wisdom Fund, January 19, 2012

"Egypt In Turmoil, Morsi Ousted in US-Backed Military Coup," The Wisdom Fund, July 1, 2013

[Bandar is Saudi Arabia's key point person for Syria. . . . The Saudi-backed coup in Egypt reinforces the US-Saudi axis in Syria.--M K Bhadrakumar, "A spy who tried to scale Kremlin wall," atimes.com, August 2, 2013

"Ayman al-Zawahiri says US behind coup against Mohamed Morsi," theguardian.com, August 3, 2013

[These millions were essential for the supreme fantasy: that General al-Sisi was merely following the will of the people. But then Tony Blair - whose accuracy over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is well known - told us that there were "17 million Egyptians on the streets"! This was worthy of an exclamation mark. Then the US State Department told us there were 22 million on the streets of Egypt. Then just three days ago, the Democracy Index informed us that there were 30 million taking part in demonstrations against Morsi and only one million Morsi supporters on the streets!

This is truly incredible. The population of Egypt is around 89 million.--Robert Fisk, "Millions take to the streets of Egypt in an ever-growing media fantasy," independent.co.uk, August 4, 2013]

[The Egyptian armed forces, headed by Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El Sisi, who is supervising a roadmap encompassing early presidential elections and the drafting of a new constitution, runs scores of manufacturing and service-providing companies, through which it controls a significant stake of the nation's economy.--Dahlia Kholaif, "The Egyptian army's economic juggernaut," aljazeera.com, August 5, 2013]

David D Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh, "Appointment of 19 Generals as Provincial Governors Raises Fears in Egypt," nytimes.com, August 13, 2013

Robert Fisk, "Cairo massacre: After today, what Muslim will ever trust the ballot box again?," nytimes.com, August 14, 2013

Chris Hedges, "Murdering the Wretched of the Earth," truthdig.com, August 14, 2013

[525 people were killed and more than 3,500 injured in fighting in Cairo, Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million. . . .

In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called for the U.N. Security Council to convene quickly and act after what he described as a massacre in Egypt.

"I am calling on Western countries. You remained silent in Gaza, you remained silent in Syria ... You are still silent on Egypt. So how come you talk about democracy, freedom, global values and human rights?" he told a news conference.--Tom Perry and Michael Georgy, "Islamists call Cairo protest march as Egypt death toll mounts," reuters.com, August 15, 2013]

"Tamarod movement calls on Egyptian government to cancel Camp David peace treaty," jpost.com, August 17, 2013

"UAE says supports Egypt government's 'sovereign measures'," reuters.com, August 15, 2013

"US 'complicit' in killings in Egypt," usatoday.com, August 16, 2013

Jim Michaels, "U.S. military needs Egypt for access to critical area," usatoday.com, August 17, 2013

"Israel lobbying U.S., EU to support Egypt's military government," jta.org, August 19, 2013

Jeremy Herb, "Saudi Arabia says it will cover cuts to Egypt aid," thehill.com, August 19, 2013

"Erdogan: Israel orchestrated Morsi overthrow, Egypt unrest," turkishweekly.net, August 20, 2013

["We need six months to liquidate or imprison them all"--Yasmine Ryan, "Egypt's generals following Algerian playbook?," aljazeera.com, August 20, 2013]

[Egypt's new US Ambassador Robert Ford, with his experience in Iraq 2004-06, Algeria and Syria, is a clear sign that Obama will back the coupmakers with all the dirty tricks in the bag, including death squads, to maintain US hegemony in the region.--Eric Walberg, "Egypt's 'color coup'," ericwalberg.com, August 22, 2013]

"Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood, orders its assets confiscated," FoxNews.com, September 23, 2013

Andre Vltchek, "Egypt: End of Hope," counterpunch.org, October 14, 2013

[Many Egyptian liberals supported the removal of the democratically elected Islamist President, Mohamed Morsi, but now the state has widened its crackdown, they are questioning the unholy alliance--Alastair Beach, "The return of Egypt's police state," counterpunch.org, November 29, 2013]

[So Egypt is back to the age of the dictators - or, as I always call it, the Age of Magic Statistics.--Robert Fisk, "Egyptians - or 98.1% of them - carry on a proud tradition," independent.co.uk, January 19, 2014]

[The Egyptian army controls almost 45 per cent of the country's economy--"Die Welt: Egypt's army is its real economic power," middleeastmonitor.com, February 10, 2014]

[What Egypt has become three years after its once inspiring revolt is a police state more vigorous than anything we have seen since Nasser.--Hazem Kandil, "Sisi's Turn," lrb.co.uk, February 20, 2014]

Monte Palmer, "Egypt becomes battleground for Arab world," atimes.com, March 24, 2014

Robert Fisk, "The Middle East we must confront in the future will be a Mafiastan ruled by money," independent.co.uk, April 20, 2014

[This superb, stunning, incredible - quite literally, one might say - achievement in Egypt's presidential election, places ex-Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a pedestal alongside those other imperishable titans of modern Arab history: Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak, Hafez al-Assad. Indeed, Sisi's stupendous victory is only 7 per cent less than the total votes collected by that indomitable mother of all presidents, Saddam Hussein, who scored an even more handsome victory of 100 per cent in the 2002 Iraqi presidential referendum.--Robert Fisk, "All hail the Egyptian Emperor -- but what about that missing 7%? Sisi's 'victory' is hardly democratic, but stability in the region is all that matters," independent.co.uk, May 29, 2014]

Patrick Kingsley, "Worse than the dictators: Egypt's leaders bring pillars of freedom crashing down," independent.co.uk, December 26, 2014

[After vowing to support the country's revolutionaries, the U.S. is now aiding and abetting their violent oppression--Ganzeer, "Egypt, five years later: A human-rights catastrophe of America's making," Creative Time Reports, January 22, 2016]

[The dam, which will eventually produce 6,000 megawatts of electricity according to its backers, is scheduled to start operations next year.--Kieran Cooke, "Ethiopian mega-dam project leaves Egypt high and dry," middleeasteye.net, July 29, 2016]