US Congratulates Mursi But Denies Supporting Him

The US government first lost their long-time ally Hosni Mubarak then endorsed the military junta that replaced him on an “interim” basis, before eventually slamming them for arresting US NGO workers trying to swing the parliamentary election for pro-US parties.

Now, US officials are in the position of offering official but tepid congratulations to President-elect Dr. Mohamed Mursi, while making sure every statement includes demands for him to accept the Egypt-Israel treaty exactly as written, with no changes.

This is coming as at the same time the US Embassy in Cairo is issuing a statement saying that the US doesn’t “support” or “endorse” Mursi, and is denying claims that they made any overtures to the junta to announce the final results of the election.

While Mursi’s own role is almost certain to be exclusively domestic, and the focus will be on the fight between civilian and military leadership, secular parties involved in the revolution are pushing Mursi to publicly spurn any US advances and reject their intervention in the nation’s internal politics.

Despite Dr. Mursi’s US background, receiving his Ph.D from USC and teaching at California State-Northridge for years before returning to Egypt, he is far from the preferred candidate of the US. In recent history the US has shown a strong preference for military leaders, who can be bought off with hefty pledges of aid, over elected officials whose agendas may differ from theirs.