Obama Admin Going Ahead with F-16 Shipment to Muslim Brotherhood-Ruled Egypt

 

The ongoing civil strife in Egypt, its Muslim Brotherhood president grabbing sweeping powers, and a cooling of relations with Israel don’t seem to be making much of an impression on the Defense Department’s foreign military aid decisions.
The Obama administration is going ahead with a delivery of 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood-led country, even as Amnesty International is calling “dangerous” President Mohammed Morsi’s decision to grant the military the power to arrest civilians protesting against him.
Fox News reports the 20 F-16s are part of a $1 billion foreign aid package:
The first four jets are to be delivered to Egypt beginning Jan. 22, a source at the naval air base in Fort Worth, where the planes have been undergoing testing, told FoxNews.com. The North African nation already has a fleet of more than 200 of the planes and the latest shipment merely fulfills an order placed two years ago. But given the uncertainty in Cairo, some critics wonder if it is wise to be sending more top gun planes.
“Should an overreaction [by Egypt] spiral into a broader conflict between Egypt and Israel, such a scenario would put U.S. officials in an embarrassing position of having supplied massive amounts of military hardware … to both belligerents,” said Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute. “Given Washington’s fiscal woes, American taxpayers should no longer be Egypt’s major arms supplier.”
The U.S. government ordered and paid for the fighter jets for Egypt’s military as part of foreign aid for Egypt back in 2010, when Hosni Mubarak ruled. The fighter jets were supposed to be delivered in 2013, and delivery will go ahead as scheduled even though Hosni Mubarak has been removed from power and replaced by Mohamed Morsi, who led the Muslim Brotherhood before becoming Egypt’s president.