Never let facts get in the way of a good rant. That seems to be the approach of a few Conservative bloggers (professional and amateur) who have jumped on Andrew McCarty’s National Review Online column, “Obama Funds the Egyptian Government.” The tagline beneath this headline is “A Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government gets $1.5 billion.”
This article has been made the basis of internet rumors such as:
- Obama sent money to the (Egyptian) Muslim Brotherhood without Congressional approval.
- Obama is bypassing Congress and taking money out of the Treasury and sending it to his fellow Muslims.
These rumors have taken on a life of their own and are often passed back and forth among some conservative bloggers as facts. And let’s face it, there are people who get hotter than $2 Christmas lights whenever they hear the words Muslim and Obama in the same sentence.
So here are the facts:
- The $1.5 billion in question was approved as part of the FY12 State Department budget appropriation by the current Republican controlled House and signed into law by the President in December 2011. This money, designated for Egyptian military aid, has been provided to Egypt since the Camp David Peace Accords. That is, since 1979, as part of the treaty, the U.S. provides economic and military aid to both Israel and Egypt. Congress required that the release of the FY12 designated Egyptian funds be contingent upon Egypt demonstrating progress toward democratic governance, in light of the February 2011 military overthrow of President Mubarak.
- During the December 2011 Egyptian elections, the Freedom & Justice Party, led by the Muslim Brotherhood won 37% of the parliamentary vote. This victory made the FJP the largest voting bloc in that country’s parliament. However, one must remember that Egypt has been under military, not civilian, rule since the revolution of 1952. Therefore, nothing will happen in that country unless the military allows it to happen. And they will not allow anything to happen that compromises their authority.
- In March, 2012, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton waived the requirement of Egypt demonstrating a movement toward democracy and released the aid money – not to the Muslim Brotherhood as claimed by McCarty, but to the Egyptian military.
Why did Clinton do this? Because the money isn’t a grant or gift to Egypt. All of the $1.5 billion goes to U.S. Defense contractors who have supply contracts to supply the Egyptian military. Yup, you read that right. The money goes to U.S businesses who have contracts with the State Department to supply armament to the Egyptian military. If she had not released the money, the U.S. Government (we, the taxpayers) would have had to pay substantial contract penalties for abrogating (breaking/ canceling) these existing contracts.
Look, there are lots of things the current administration has done that I don’t like. But there is no reason to “invent” stuff. If anyone wants to rant about the President, they can certainly do so. But they should do using verifiable facts and not lies. Believe me, there are plenty of facts (on both sides of the argument) to go around.
Sadly, this very good roundup of facts isn’t going to be listened to by the people who need them most.
I know, but I feel better for at least getting this out. Thanks for reading. 🙂
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obama says it is his duty as president to protect the muslim people from stereotype. This after recent attacks on US by muslim extremists. I am tired of seeing facts distorted in favor of both sides of this election by our biased media. I stopped listening to rumors that obama is this or Romney is that. What I am looking at are the unfulfilled promises obama made four years ago (that he is making again now). I am looking at what he has accomplished.
Perhaps we need to pass a law that politicians can only campaign using positive information about themselves. Not only does each side bash the other, both sides also have their own versions of “Organizations for America” to help drive home the really low blows. Mudslinging campaigns like this one are a shameful reflection of the decline and perversion of the media and the government.
obama promised to cut the deficit by half before his term was out. He didn’t reduce it or even slow it’s growth. By his own words his turn at the wheel should be over. His actions over the past four years have led me to believe he serves his own agenda,. Most people I talk to that are not voting for Romney admit the reason is because they are afraid to see what Romney would do. More proof of the success obama is having by using fear, division and the weak economy to gain more power.
obama has decided we are no longer a Christian nation. He violates the nature of the US Constitution by making it unlawful for Americans not to have medical insurance. He claims not to be muslim, but openly mocks the Bible and quotes and praises the koran, reciting muslim prayers with a perfect accent.
He has worked hard to bring us change. His idea of change is to re-invent our constitution and eliminate our rights one by one. To use fear and division to turn us into a socialist bankrupt former world power.
He is indeed a very smart man and knows just what he is doing. His speeches captivates the majority of the masses who long for someone to come along and make everything better for them. He is using the poor economy to gain more supporters and put more of his own people in power around him.
The only difference I see between obama and another leader who did similar moves is that where the infamous leader in the past had persecuted all the people of one religion, obama praises, supports and enables all the people of a violent, murderous religion.
It seems way too many so called journalists are using the main stream media to express and support their own personal views. Shame on all that do!
There is a difference between an editorial and reporting the news. An editorial is a place for your opinion. A news report should be unbiased facts. I see biased reports on both sides. I read articles from both sides and also visit web sites of many foreign news media. it disgusts me when I have to read about world events involving the USA in foreign media because it was unfavorable to obama.
For what it’s worth this is my opinion and obama helped build it.
This election is much like the election of 1832. Supporters of Henry Clay, who ran against Andrew Jackson, claimed Jackson sought to abolish the Constitution and declare himself king. Now, like then, much of the discussion was not based on fact, but rather on unsupported innuendo.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declared the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) constitutional; so it is NOT illegal and neither is the tax that will be levied against those that don’t have health insurance when it is required. As I often do, I’d ask that those who feel Obama has taken something away from them say what right or freedom they had on 19 January, 2009 (the day before Obama took office) that they don’t have today. We often throw around words like “socialism” without knowing what it means. I don’t recall reading about the Nationalization of any U.S. industry since Obama took office (and Government control of production and distribution is a requirement of socialism). By the way, the U.S. auto bailout occurred in 2008 under G.W. Bush.
The bottom line is, I disagree with some of what you say relative to President Obama, but you still have the freedom to express your opinion on this website because you didn’t break my rules for discourse. Of course, that is my opinion and Obama helped build that, too.
Thank you for being a voice of reason and common sense. There are things Obama has done that I do not agree with, but he has done far more that I do agree with. I am so sick of the rants against him. I guess mostly because so few of them are true, and most all of them easily refuted.
Someone posted a picture on facebook that said Obama was funding the Egyptian President with money, planes, and tanks, and how that was unfair. They said that if an American President tried to force Christianity, blah, blah, blah. Religion is so ugly.
Thank you for reading. Permit me to just make one point…clarification to your last sentence. I don’t think religion is ugly at all, but I think people have done horrible things to their fellow man in the name of religion. That said…again thanks for reading.