With Benghazi still burning in the rear-view mirror of its wobbly foreign policy, the Obama administration is set to ship the Islamic Brotherhood government of Egypt 10 F16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks and charge it to U.S. taxpayers, according to a Fox News report.
An independent investigation revealed the Obama administration failed to fortify the U.S. Libyan embassy that was destroyed in September; a lack of funding was among the reasons cited for the U.S. embassy being grossly under defended.
The $213 million gift to the disheveled Islamic-led government was signed during the now deposed Hosni Mubarak administration. Mubarak is facing trial and the Islamic Brotherhood is not a U.S. ally. Nevertheless, the Obama administration is prepared to arm them to the teeth with cutting-edge tanks and planes.
“A Shariah dictatorship on Israel’s border – armed with American weapons – is a deadly threat to Israel and America,” reads a petition being circulated by The American Center for Law and Justice. “All U.S. funding to Egypt must be cut off until we can certify that aid to Egypt will help the national security interests of the United States and Israel.”
“This is a different government. The government we made that deal with is now in jail,” said Joirdan Sekulow of ACLJ.
A petition to halt the arms transfer has garnered more than 150,000 signatures, and ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow believes it could gain support in Congress.
However Barack Obama, newly re-elected and seemingly unscathed by the fiscal cliff fight with Republicans, may not be concerned about political repercussions and only the President can rescind the high-tech weapons shipment to the Islamic Brotherhood's regime because it was passed by Congress.
"I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy," Obama told Telemundo in September.
Tearing up the agreement would not blemish America’s honor, given the new regime in Cairo, said Sekulow.
House Republicans, battered in polls after attempting to force Obama to cut spending during “fiscal cliff” talks, are stating their opposition to the weapons gift to the Islamic Brotherhood of Egypt.
“American tax dollars must not be used to aid and abet any dictatorial regime that stands with terrorists,” Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan said.
Republicans and other opponents of the arms transfer to Egypt have some leverage because Obama needs their backing for an additional $1.5 billion in aid the President waived democracy requirements on in order to give Egypt the cash later this year.
Still, Republicans are focused on the next domestic “fiscal cliff” scheduled to hit in February when the nation’s debt ceiling must be raised again to accommodate increased spending by government.
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