I urge our members to read Andrew Doran’s article on the National Review Online homepage comparing the Muslim Brotherhood’s onslaught against Christians in Egypt to Kristallnacht. As you read his account, and as you see pathetic hand-wringing that’s overtaken much of official Washington, think about the following:
- Egypt’s active-duty military numbers about 450,000 soldiers, and many of them carry American equipment, including American small arms.
- Egypt’s army is equipped with more than 2,600 American-designed (and largely American-built) main battle tanks.
- Egypt’s air force flies more than 240 American fighters, most of them F-16s.
- U.S. aid constitutes 25 percent of Egyptian defense spending.
Now, do you think we don’t have leverage?
As churches burn, as nuns are paraded through the streets by the Muslim Brotherhood and as Christians across Egypt fear for their lives in the face of the jihadist onslaught, American policy can and should get very simple, very fast: Not one scintilla of aid until the Egyptian military demonstrates—by deeds, not just words—that it is committed to stopping this wave of persecution in its tracks, protecting the most basic human rights of its Christian citizens and utterly defeating the Muslim Brotherhood.
The crisis could escalate quickly to Balkan- or Syrian-level brutality and religious cleansing, but the Egyptian military—well-stocked with equipment we purchased, made and keep in good repair—is capable of ending the onslaught against Christians.
The Obama administration’s dance with the Muslim Brotherhood devil is one of the shameful episodes in recent American foreign policy, but we have a chance to correct our mistake before we have no good options left. In other words, before Egypt becomes Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood is our enemy, the Egyptian Christians are victims of jihad, and the American-supplied Egyptian military can and should exercise decisive force.
It’s past time to call in Egypt’s debt. They may not repay us with money, but they can repay us with actions: Protect Christians and defeat the Muslim Brotherhood, or you’re on your own.
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