FINANCING REPRESSION IN EGYPTAugust was also the somber five-year an-
niversary of the 2013 Rabaa Square mas-
sacre, when the Egyptian military killed
more than 1,000 individuals in Cairo
protesting the coup that brought current
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to power. At
the time, President Barack Obama acqui-
esced to the coup. His administration even
demeaned the intelligence of observers
and human rights activists by refusing to
refer to the military’s forceful capture of
power as a coup. Since the coup, Egypt
has retreated into an era of repression that
many view as being worse than the reign
of former President Hosni Mubarak. Free
expression and dissent are not tolerated,
and the country’s prisoner population has
swelled.
Despite this, the Trump administration
has cultivated an amicable relationship
with Cairo. “I just want to let everybody
know that we are very much behind Pres-
ident el-Sisi,” Trump said during the Egypt-
ian leader’s April 2017 visit to the White
House. “He has done a fantastic job in a
very difficult situation.” Trump also con-
gratulated Sisi for winning 97 percent of
the vote in an election held this March.
The Egyptian security services systemati-
cally targeted and harassed anyone who
pondered mounting a legitimate challenge
to Sisi’s re-election.This summer, Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo removed restrictions on $390 mil-
lion in military aid that was frozen last year
due to concerns about human rights
abuses. The U.S. gives $1.3 billion in mil-
itary aid to Egypt every year.
The U.S. has long supported repressive
governments in Egypt in the name of “sta-
bility.” In return for cooperating with Israel
and serving as an American partner,
Washington has agreed to pay only occa-
sional lip service to human rights viola-
tions in Egypt. As Mubarak’s toppling in
2011 shows, however, “autocratic stability”
is inherently unstable. Repressive govern-
ments inevitably fall, and chaos usually
ensues. The U.S.’ shortsighted plan for
stability jeopardizes the long-term viability
of the country. The 100 million people of
Egypt are also being asked to accept re-
pression in the name of U.S. interests. As
Americans, the idea that others must suf-
fer for us to prosper ought to be nauseat-
ing and repulsive.
“Our government’s silence on human
rights abuses in Egypt, a major recipient
of U.S. military assistance, directly con-
tradicts basic American principles,”
Egyptian-American Mohamed Soltan
wrote in the Aug. 14 Washington Post.
Soltan was present in Rabaa Square dur-
ing the massacre and was imprisoned
and tortured by the Sisi regime for 22
months. “The 77 billion tax dollars of U.S.assistance we have paid to Egypt since
1948 have made our country a co-con-
spirator in Egypt’s continuing brutalization
of its own people,” he continued. “Our
complacency is incriminating, and our si-
lence is deafening.”
It’s easy for Americans to understand
the consequences of domestic policies
when those laws personally impact their
livelihood and dignity. It is much more dif-
ficult to see how unjust U.S. policies harm
individuals abroad. But the injustices
caused by U.S. foreign policy must
equally outrage us. Americans demand to
be treated with dignity, and not as pawns
to help others grow in wealth and power.
Likewise, the people of the Middle East
do not want to be treated as sacrificial
lambs for American security, or as a lu-
crative revenue stream for arms manu-
facturers.
The U.S. has faced relatively few con-
sequences for its actions in the Middle
East. This has permitted war and U.S.-
endorsed human rights violations to con-
tinue without immense scrutiny from the
American people. This must change. The
U.S. ought to alter its course in the re-
gion—yes, because failure to do so may
result in devastating “blowback,” but
more importantly because our current
policies are perpetuating and enabling
the very injustices we purportedly stand
against. 38 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018(Advertisement)sprusansky_36-38.qxp_Special Report 8/30/18 2:14 PM Page 38