Obama Denies the Obvious in Egypt

The deposing of Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi by Egypt’s army was obviously a military coup d’etat, notwithstanding the fact that it was demanded by a broad-based opposition and that it was popular.  United States President Barack Obama has declared, however, that the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government from power was not a military coup.  A finding that it had been would have barred the continuation of American military aid to Egypt.

There is nothing wrong with a coup that removes a democratically-elected government that had usurped its power, as long as the coup leaders restore civilian, representative government that protects liberty as soon as possible.  The point is that it was wrong of liberals to criticize former President George W. Bush for not opposing a coup that temporarily removed Hugo Chavez from power in Venezuela and for President Bill Clinton to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti, both of whom were democratically-elected presidents who gradually became dictators.  Liberals were also wrong to oppose the popular removal by the legislative and judicial branches of the Honduran government of the country’s president, who was a Chavez ally who had attempted to extend his rule, in violation of the constitution of Honduras, just as the Left was wrong to oppose the popular 1973 coup supported by most Chilean institutions that removed the Marxist Salvador Allende from power in Chile.  In contrast to Egypt, the Obama Administration denounced the Honduran coup and sanctioned and ostracized the government that restored representative republican rule.

As I have posted in regard to all of these examples, liberals must learn that the manner of choosing a government, or even the type of government, is not as important as the manner in which it rules, specifically, whether it respects civil rights.  They would profit from studying especially the examples of two infamous democratically-elected regimes, namely Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Empire and Nazi Germany. 

The Obama Administration should be honest and consistent and call the Egyptian military coup what it is and instead ask Congress for the power to repeal the law prohibiting military aid to regimes that come to power by a military putsch, or at least the power to waive such a rule under certain circumstances, such as when a military coup restores liberty.  Even better, it ought to applaud the Egyptians for removing an authoritarian Islamist government that had disappointed the people it had oppressed, while encouraging freedom for all.