US Promises to ‘Review’ Aid to Egypt’s Junta

Administration Continues to Avoid Using Term 'Coup'

The Obama Administration has promised to “review” their massive military aid to Egypt following yesterday’s coup d’etat, since US law specifically forbids giving aid to a military junta.

The US has conspicuously avoided using the term “coup” in any of their statements, however, clearly suggesting the administration intends to ignore the law, or rather use the threat of its enforcement to keep the junta on a short leash.

$1.5 billion, the bulk of it military aid, has been something the US has threatened to revoke time and again to keep Egypt’s various governments in line, but the threat seems in many ways empty, since the US seems keen to keep its military aid intact, no matter the cost.

Still, as the military makes very public its mass arrest of members of the democratically elected ruling party, it’s going to be harder and harder for the US to deny that a coup has taken place.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.