The Patriot Post® · Obama Sends U.S. Troops to Prop Up Morsi

In yet another remarkable display of Obama’s determination to secure the Middle East for Islamofascists, 400 U.S. troops will reportedly be deployed to Egypt to augment the police force of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. They will be part of a 13-country force stationed in Egypt in anticipation of protests, scheduled for June 30th, calling for the removal of Morsi. Curiously, whereas Obama readily threw former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak under the bus in 2011, the White House is now eager to defend the regime of Morsi, who, like his Muslim Brotherhood sponsors, is well on his way to imposing the Saudi Arabian model of governance on Egypt.

The so-called “peacekeeping mission” on which the U.S. troops will serve is expected to last nine months. It follows six months of training by troops at both Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Irwin, California. That training reportedly included crowd control measures as well as Molotov cocktail attack response. "Soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and other dangerous items in the training,“ reported a local TV news station out of Killeen, TX that broke the story.

A Fort Hood Press Center release reveals that a battalion task force from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team will be part of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping contingency based along the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula between Eilat, Israel, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. Once there, they will man positions and checkpoints, report any violations of the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and remain prepared to respond to threats. That treaty required Israeli forces to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and for Egypt to keep the area demilitarized. An exception to the treaty was authorized in 2011 when Israel allowed several hundred Egyptian troops into the area to quell violence that occurred then.

Troops assigned to the MFO are not under operational command of their respective nations, but commanded by the MFO itself. The MFO’s headquarters are located in Rome, Italy. With regard to American troops, the MFO website notes they will be expected to provide a Quick Reaction Force should the need arise.

The need is likely to arise. Since former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted – with the blessing of the Obama administration – Mohamed Morsi has moved swiftly to consolidate his power. He has suppressed the media and the arts, and issued an edict boosting his power and sidelining the judiciary in the process. He removed key officers from the Egyptian military, and allowed Muslim Brotherhood loyalists to rewrite the nation’s constitution. Attacks on Coptic Christian churches has occurred with alarming frequency, and women also face a dark future in a nation sexual harassment in endemic, and Muslim Brotherhood members condemned a UN report that gave judges, rather than husbands, authority in cases of divorce while granting women full rights to file legal complaints against their husbands for rape or sexual harassment.

As a result of his overreach, there is massive opposition to Morsi's oppressive regime. A liberal secular group known as the Rebels has collected 15 million signatures on petitions calling for Morsi’s impeachment. That number represents a substantially larger total than the 13.2 million votes Morsi got in the 2012 election. The group intends to deliver the petitions to Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest, prior to the June 30 demonstrations. "The regime did not take one step toward fulfilling the goals of the revolution,” said Rebel volunteer Amir Mahrous, 21, who was gathering signatures in Cairo. “This is why we are rebelling again.”

Morsi supporters claim they have garnered 10 million signatures in support of the regime. On June 21, 100,000 of his supporters held a pro-government rally in Cairo. Signs carried by the demonstrators read, "The Koran is the constitution" and “Islam is the solution.” Morsi himself contends the Rebels petition carries no weight.

Thus, there is a burgeoning standoff between liberal secular Egyptians one side, and dedicated Islamists on the other. One that could precipitate widespread violence in four days. And President Barack Obama has sent American troops to Egypt – to stand with the Islamists.

Adding to the spectacular absurdity of U.S. troops protecting Morsi’ thuggish regime – and by extension a Muslim Brotherhood that spawned al Qaeda and Hamas – is the reality that some of the troops deployed there come from the same military base where another Islamist, Maj. Nidal Hasan, killed 13 and wounded 32 of his fellow soldiers in 2009. That attack was labeled “workplace violence” and troops and their families were denied Purple Hearts and survivors benefits when the administration claimed that such awards, given to those "wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States" would "set the stage for a formal declaration that Major Hasan is a terrorist,“ thereby jeopardizing his ability to receive a fair trial.

As is often the case with the "most transparent administration in history,” the White House has maintained silence regarding American troops being deployed into a potential nation-wide firestorm. Egyptian military spokesman Ahmed Ali insists that media reports regarding the deployment are inaccurate and that American troops will be nothing more than part of “the periodical renewal routine for the US faction of the 13-state multinational force deployed in Sinai since the peace treaty.” He further insisted the MFO “is not armed with military operations gear.”

Egyptian Major Ahmed Shaaban echoed that contention insisting the 400 troops were only part of a “routine” replacement of fellow U.S. soldiers on Sinai’s border. "They are only training to protect themselves as a matter of high-level security,“ he insisted. "I don’t think these trainings are necessary because the peacekeeping force is not even authorized to conduct any military operations; they are only there to observe and report,” he added.

In the meantime, Reuters reports that Egyptians are stocking up on food, fuel and cash in anticipation of protests that “many fear will be the most violent and disruptive this year.” Furthermore, the U.S. embassy announced it would be closed on June 30, and warned Americans in Egypt to get enough supplies to make it through an “extended period of time.”

Last month, Secretary of State John Kerry released $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to the Morsi regime, despite a law that requires him to certify that the Egyptian government "is supporting the transition to civilian government, including holding free and fair elections, implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion, and due process of law.“ Kerry waived that restriction – despite writing a May 9 memo indicating that "we are not satisfied with the extent of Egypt’s progress and are pressing for a more inclusive democratic process and the strengthening of key democratic institutions.”

In the year since he has come to power, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has done virtually everything in his power to undermine a more inclusive democratic process and the strengthening of key democratic institutions. Yet the beat goes on for a president and an administration so desperate to maintain its Arab spring narrative, nothing remotely resembling reality intrudes.

In 2009, one of the few genuine spasms of resistance to Islamofacism broke out in Iran. Obama chose not to “meddle,” and thousands of pro-democracy Iranians were subsequently brutalized into submission. History is on the cusp of repeating itself in Egypt, with perhaps millions of Egyptian ready to stand up for democracy. This time Obama has “upped his game.” He now stands with the Islamists in no uncertain terms.

Arnold Ahlert is a columnist for FrontPage Magazine.