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Subscribe to RSSOfficials said Thursday that President Obama doesn't intend to downgrade Egypt, which gets $1.5 billion a year in U.S. aid. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
LAS VEGAS – President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that while he does not believe Egypt is an ally of the United States, he also doesn't consider the country an enemy.
“I think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident,” Obama said in an interview with Telemundo anchor José Diaz-Balart, host of Noticiero Telemundo. He was referring to Tuesday’s protests in Egypt, during which demonstrators, angered by a movie trailer parodying Prophet Muhammad, breached the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The president continued: "Certainly in this situation, what we're going to expect is that (the Egyptian government is) responsive to our insistence that our embassy is protected, our personnel is protected, and if they take actions that they’re not taking those responsibilities, as all countries do where we have embassies, I think that’s going to be a real big problem.”
The Rachel Maddow Show includes segments of an interview with President Barack Obama with Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart about the U.S. response to the attacks on American missions in Egypt and Libya Tuesday.
Obama’s strong words could mark a dramatic shift in the U.S.’s relationship with Egypt, which has been consistently pro-American since the late president Anwar Sadat. The country has maintained a peace accord with Israel since the 1979 Camp David Accords and since 1982 has received $1.3 billion in military and development aid from the U.S, according to the State Department.
How the recent election of President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, will – or already has – affected the relationship between the two countries is still unclear. Morsi was Egypt’s first-ever democratically-elected president.
In the Telemundo interview Wednesday night, Obama also discussed the ambush on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, calling the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya "heartbreaking" and repeated his call to bring those responsible to justice.
But when asked by Diaz-Balart whether it was time to "reconsider foreign aid" to Egypt and Libya, Obama said the U.S. “doesn't have an option of withdrawing from the world ... we're the one indispensable nation."
"Libya ... is a government that is very friendly towards us,” Obama continued. “The vast majority of Libyans welcomed the United States' involvement. They understand that it's because of us that they got rid of a dictator who had crushed their spirits for 40 years."
Moammar Gadhafi, who had ruled the country since 1969, was overthrown in August 2011 during the Libyan Civil War triggered by the Arab Spring revolutions.
Earlier Wednesday, Libyan leader Mohammed Magarief took to the airwaves to condemn the killings and to apologize to the U.S.
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The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed after protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
President Obama expressed confidence that the Libyan government would help the U.S. in finding those who were responsible for yesterday's violence: "Our hope is to be able to capture them ... but we're going to have to obviously cooperate with the Libyan government. And you know, I have confidence that we will stay on this relentlessly, because Chris Stevens, he's somebody who actually advised me and Secretary Clinton during the original Libyan uprising. He was somebody who Libyans recognized as being on the side of the people. And we're going get help. We're going to get cooperation on this."
Responding to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s statements that Obama’s initial response was disgraceful, Obama said: “As president, my obligation is to focus on security for our people, making sure that we gather all the facts, making sure that we're advancing American interests. And not having ideological arguments on a day when we are mourning the loss of outstanding folks who have served our country very well.”
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The enemy is Barry Borrock Soetoro Hussein Osama. The King from Kenya.
It sounds like someone still has this idea we can talk to these people and reason with them. There is no negotiating with these radicals. This is all they know. It's all they have heard and seen their whole lives. We cannot reason or negotiate. They hate us plain and simple and all the talking in the world is not going to undo a lifetime of brainwashing. Whoever said it up there you are right Romney is not perfect but it sure the F is not Obama.
Well, this would definitely explain his "I haven't done squat in four years, but will do it if you elect me again" attitude.....
Is it too late for Mitt to join the Army so his hawk act won't look quite so phony?
Right after Oblahblah does.
Or at least shows his Selective Service application.
good thing you like obama doug, you can help him find a job in november
I do not know if Egypt is a ally or an enemy
but I know obama is the worse leader we have ever had.Yes even worse than Jimmy Peanut Carter.
Does anyone remember after 911 some ignorant wench on tv came out and said, "This is a great opportunity for dialogue to discover what we (Americans) have done to bring this on ourselves." It's happening again. We need a president with balls. Maybe Hillary. Or not. Just kill a few thousand of these radical idiots every time they look at us and sneer. Sooner or later, they'll get the message.
democrats sent to jail this year 2
republicans 0
democrats centured for exposing themselves on the internet 2
rebublicans 0
democrats getting a lap dance in their office from a stripper 1
republicans 0
life time aceivement award goes to bill "slick willie" clinton for getting oral sex performed on him in the oval office
You forgot Democrats sent to rehabilitation clinics for "depression".....
my favorite was abscam where they got 10 dems at once
Finally an honest response about Egypt's NEW,new gov't. and the trolls are ready to scream like a wounded Romney.Pittle..he's gained more from us than we'll ever gain from him and his progeny.Invalid resources unapplied responsiblity,hallmarks of the modern Republicram.Up yers Willard....proudly.
Yep.....that new, new terrorist funded government.....
Oh, boy.
Lets chill the partisanship. OUR ambassador was killed from OUR country, This was an act of war committed against US.
No doubt.
GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE! Egypt has been an ally for 30+ years..
It's All over pack your bags OBSAMA! Your done! America desrves better.
like the front cover of NEWSWEEK Said in BIG letters, HIT THE ROAD BARACK.
If they aren't our friends why is Obama sending them money? His 'explanation' isn't very convincing. Moreover I have never heard Obama or H Clinton wax indignant over the fate of millions of Egyptian Coptic Christians.
Ever since Egypt and Israel signed their peace agreement in 1979, the United States has consistently treated Egypt as probably our greatest Arab friend in the Middle East. As a matter of fact, both Israel and Egypt get the same amount of foreign aid, basically to treat them as equals. Now, the great almighty commander-in-chief, the Dali Bama, King of the western world, insults the people of Egypt by saying they're no longer our ally. As an American citizen, I am not going to let Obama or any other American politician tell me who I think as an American citizen is a friend of my country. Next they'll be sitting down smoking the peace pipe with Al Quaeda and telling us that we should let bygones be bygones.
just keep drinking the tea Barry
Does anyone see a very similar resemblance to the Carter/Reagan election of 1980 here? I believe the winds of the real change are blowing and its not going to look so good for Obama.
i never ever ever see blogs with "i love romney, i trust romney!" ever!
because he isn't the answer to a bunch racist right wing freaks...he is just white!
I don't see any that say I love Obama or I trust Obama except from the fruitcakes like you. Most of us will let the talking be done on November 6, the day your free ride is up.
The day your free ride is up...what the hell is that suppose to mean???
You know what that means. Everyone knows Obama is keeping people up and we see it in the rise of the number of people on foodstamps and that nearly 1/3 of our population is already on some type of federal welfare. The left may want to deny it but there is no denying it.
Lessons ignored.
It is remarkable that after 11 years since that tragic September day, that American intelligence community and American leadership would fail American citizens again because they chose to ignore the real threats of Islam. Islam is a cult of twisted logic teachings that breeds unstable cult members that think they are immune to global laws and go out and practice their kind of twisted justice.
If we had recognized what Islam is and could do, those Americans, including the Ambassador, would not have been in a Islamic country of the anniversary of 9/11.
Our leadership and intelligence community failed again.
Ad'm
Islam isn't the threat to this country, its rabid animals that use Islam as an excuse that is the problem. There are many fine individuals in this country that follow Islam who are proud to be Americans.
How quickly you forget the news stories about followers of Islam volunteering their time in hospitals etc., so Christians and Jews can have the day off to enjoy their religious holidays with their families.
Your hate preaching is also the problem. A supposed Christian Pastor who talks hate towards Islam is connected to the video which led to the killing of American.
How stupid are you to announce to the world you are stupid from carrying around all that hate.
Once again the man-child in the White House couldn't take a stance on anything, and show some back bone. Sitting right in the middle where Mr. "I vote present" likes to be. He must be waiting for the polls to come out so he knows what to do next. Pathetic, bumbling fool.
A typical reaction from someone who went begging for money from Egypt and was turned down. There aren't many in the world who would lend Obama Money. They know about his debt crisis and how he's made our government unstable.
They know he has no honor, integrity or character as a man. They just don't trust Obama.
Never in my lifetime did I think I would see what is happening to this country....the world. That maniac is setting us up, how else can you explain the unbelievable things he says and does? Mickey Mouse would make a better leader. He doesn't care about Americans or the real issues, he only cares about setting himself up for leadership of the world..that's his real agenda. He's taking us down wall by wall, he may look like a bumbling fool, but he knows what he's doing, that's why he is so set on campaigning instead of leading, winning is gonna take him and us to the next level. Something evil is upon us, and God help us before it's too late.
Obama is the enemy.
Obama's comments to Jose Diaz-Balart (a member of a family of prominent Cuban-American Republicans) were mostly on the mark, except in two vital details.
First, the statement that Egypt is "not an ally" is going to further erode our now already limited influence in Egypt. Those Egyptians who have considered themselves to be friendly with the U.S. are going to be feel alienated, and those in Egypt such as the Muslim Brotherhood (the guys who killed Sadat and thrice tried to kill Mubarak) will feel emboldened. If the U.S. is not an ally of Egypt and vice-versa, the continuing vitality of the Camp David Accords is put into doubt (something the MB has already said it wants to re-evaluate). The President should have found a better choice of words. While his comments were not necessarily incendiary, they were certainly not helpful to anyone.
Second, no mention of the issue of embassy security in these unstable countries. While the killings are certainly tragic, our inability to protect our people from an angry mob is an embarrassment. Photos on the internet of an American ambassador being dragged to his death is a diplomatic failure of epic proportions. It is absolutely appalling that an American embassy was breached, particularly in known hostile territory. This has happened before (Tehran, Beirut, Tanzania, Kenya). Were those lessons forgotten? It is disgraceful.
Obama has certainly presided over a sea change in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But to what?
Ever stop to think that Obama wants to destroy the Camp David Accords, after all, he's no friend of Israel.
Man, I wish I knew. Mubarak was as reliable as a Swiss watch. Not a great reformer inside Egypt, but he assiduously complied with the accords and was one of our strongest allies in the region. He was quickly swept aside, apparently with Obama's blessing since Obama publicly called for him to step down. Repudiation of the accords by Egypt would be a hugely destabilizing action.
It's funny how the obama' administration and the libs want us to pay homage's to the muslims. We must repect their "GOD" to the point of surpressing my free speech. But, The "Image" of GOD for the catholics,Jews, Hindu's and other groups can be dropped from the Dem convention. The libs are getting wackier and wackier. The drugs must be getting stronger.
Yankee, Good try! Azz Hole, the Muslims don't have a GOD. They believe their prophet Mohammed was a messenger of GOD. A big difference than proclaiming to have a GOD, like we profess to having. Come to think of it, do you believe in God or is Romney your GOD.
The Muslims do have a god, Allah.
jhaskins20018
Thanks for demonstrating that stupidity is a learned behavior the Obama supporters have learn to master.
Given a choice. I would take Obama any day over Romney. Romney has been reduced to a fear monger and he now has even angered his beloved republicans to the point they feel like azzes trying not to look stupid for nominating him and Romney's true side is showing and that is the side that is truly for himself. Like they say about business, it must protect it's bottom line. I did not think that the republicans were so dam stupid but you get what you reap.
jhaskins20018
Given a choice, you've demonstrated that you prefer to keep your head in that place on your body where the sun never shines and you sit it on a thrown to air it out.
jhaskins all the Obama camp can do is cry War on Women. You people have no idea how well women have it here. Go to Afghanistan or other places that actually do have a War on Women.
it is sad that this happen over some supposingly movie that was made and beleive the right thing is to work with there country and find the people that are responsible and do what necessary.....more later world....hopefully just some very dumb isolated event that should never happen......
Rickey, are you really that naive?
Check the DATE!
The "offensive" movie was released THREE MONTHS ago. If the muslims were so offended, why didn't they do something then?
This is NOT "just some dumb isolated event", this was a COORDINATED attack on the United States resulting in the death of FOUR Americans. Egypt stood by why our embassy was attacked, but tonite there were security people all over the place. Where were they YESTERDAY?
And in Libya it was nothing more than ANOTHER terrorist attack on our country, unless you actually believe that "protestors" in the middle east show up at all their protests with rockets, RPG's, and automatic weapons.
Thanks Roger. These poor free cheese people are burying their heads so far in the sand pretty soon not (hopefully) they will disappear all together.
Obama is a JOKE.
FOUR DEAD AMERICANS and he flies to a fundraiser in Vegas. How "Presidential" of him. What a way to show "leadership".
And we went from "there will be justice" to "we hope".
Wow! More "hope" from the hopeless FAILURE.
do away with Isreal too while we are at it, what is it that they have that is so important to us? We have their backs. Why?