How Foolish Can We Be? (Sequester Edition)
Twelve days ago, I wondered aloud why we were sending 20 F-16s and 200 Abrams Main Battle Tanks to an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood government so hostile to us that they were actually obstructing our investigation of the Benghazi attacks. Today, I’ve got a different question: As we impose across-the-board cuts on our own military, why are we giving the Muslim Brotherhood an economic stimulus? After administration officials worked overtime to tell the American people that the Sequester was a looming national disaster — complete of course with tales of woe about threats to our public safety (indeed, the administration canceled a carrier deployment to the Persian Gulf even as tensions rise over Iran’s nuclear program) — it is simply stunning they found room in the budget to throw an economic lifeline to a radical, hostile government.
The United States has a sad recent history of providing arms and support to nations that ultimately transform from friend to foe. The best (and most stinging) example may be Iran, where we lavishly supplied the Shah’s military with state-of-the-art weaponry — only to see it handed over to the Ayatollah after the revolution. In Egypt, however, the government has moved from friend to foe, and we’re still propping them up. At best, this is breathtakingly naive. At worst, it’s breathtakingly foolish. How many times does the Muslim Brotherhood have to declare its intentions before we understand we’re supporting the enemy?