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Kerry: Military Suspension Not A Withdrawal of U.S.-Egyptian Friendship
[An Nahar] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Thursday that Washington's suspension of military hardware deliveries to Egypt could be lifted based on the behavior of the country's rulers. Kerry said the deliveries could resume if Cairo makes headway toward restoring civilian rule. "So this would be on the basis of performance," he said during a visit to Malaysia. "By no means is this a withdrawal from our relationship or a severing of our serious commitment to helping the government" transition to democracy, Kerry told news hounds in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Washington on Wednesday stopped shipments of some large-scale military systems as well as halting $260 million in cash aid to Egyptian military leaders, who ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July. The step was aimed at signalling Washington's displeasure with the military rulers over a deadly crackdown against protesters and Islamists. Egypt has criticized the U.S. decision as "flawed" and said it would not bow to American pressure. The decision, which marks a dramatic break with years of unqualified support to Cairo, will prevent deliveries of big-ticket items including Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter jets, M1A1 Abrams tank parts and Harpoon missiles, U.S. officials told news hounds. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-11 |
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