Excursions on the Middle East, politics, the Levant, Islam in politics, civil society, and courage in the face of unbridled, otherwise unchecked power.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Obama shows another card
Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, February 2, 2011: "the time for a transition has come, and time is now." "The transition must begin immediately."
William deB. Mills is absolutely right to imply the President could go futher. Under the Arms control export control act, US weapons are supplied only for defensive purposes, and certainly not for use against civilians. This provision of the act, which is typically written into sales agreements, has been cited in the past (during Reagan years for instance) when Israel cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians. It would be timely for the US to reiterate its policy in the Egyptian case. However, the baltiqiyya-thugs who attacked tahrir were using locally crafted weapons, it seems to me.
2 comments:
And was the message reinforced by any signal that using U.S.-supplied weapons to kill demonstrators might be considered improper?
William deB. Mills is absolutely right to imply the President could go futher. Under the Arms control export control act, US weapons are supplied only for defensive purposes, and certainly not for use against civilians. This provision of the act, which is typically written into sales agreements, has been cited in the past (during Reagan years for instance) when Israel cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians.
It would be timely for the US to reiterate its policy in the Egyptian case. However, the baltiqiyya-thugs who attacked tahrir were using locally crafted weapons, it seems to me.
Post a Comment