|
 |
 |
|
Egypt slams Inhofe's 'Morsi is our enemy' comments
The Egyptian Foreign Minister sharply criticized Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Thursday for calling the country's democratically elected president an “enemy.”
A spokesman for the ministry said the comments were “unacceptable” and “tantamount to interference in Egypt’s internal affairs,” the Egypt Independent reported. Inhofe made the remarks during a debate last week on foreign aid.
“For decades, the U.S. has had a good relationship with Egypt, training their troops and working together to maintain peace and stability in the region,” the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee said in introducing legislation that would suspend arms sales if Egypt reneges on its peace treaty with Israel or violates human rights. “Under Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi, this relationship has come to a halt. We need to continue to support the Egyptian military, which Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have currently distanced themselves from. Egypt’s military is our friend – Morsi is our enemy.”
The comments come after President Obama said Egypt was “not an ally” shortly after Morsi's government failed to protect the U.S. embassy in Cairo during protests last Sept. 11.
“I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy,” Obama told Telemundo at the time. “I think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident.”
