- "[T]he Obama administration is complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown launched Wednesday by the de facto regime against tens of thousands of protesters who had camped out in two Cairo squares."
- "This refusal to take a firm stand against massive violations of human rights is as self-defeating for the United States as it is unconscionable."
- "President Obama must make clear his unequivocal opposition to the Egyptian military’s conduct. He can do so by immediately suspending military aid and canceling joint military exercises scheduled for September."
- "And if suspending a $1.3 billion subsidy does not do the trick, it will at least tell rank-and-file Egyptians that the United States is no longer underwriting repression."
Both paper's point out that America's influence in Egypt is currently limited, so continuing to provide aid does little more than tarnish any moral standing the U.S. government has in the situation.
As Marc Lynch of Foreign Policy notes, creating distance from Egypt's military regime "won't matter very much in the short term" but still matters immensely.
"Taking a (much belated) stand is the only way for the United States to regain any credibility — with Cairo, with the region, and with its own tattered democratic rhetoric," Lynch writes.
The death toll will continue to rise — it could conceivably reach 1,000 people — and America's hypocrisy will rise with it unless President Obama does something.
This tweet from Politico deputy editor Blake Hounshell pretty much sums it up:
Nobel Prize-Winning President Stands By Aid to Military Regime As It Slaughters Political Opponents
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 15, 2013
The post-coup massacre became too much for at least one Egyptian working for the military-led government:
Policeman watches on in tears #Aug14 #Egypt #Cairo pic.twitter.com/CXnJjfZoO9
— CairoScene.com (@CairoScene) August 14, 2013
The question now becomes when enough is enough for President Obama.