Morsi Under House Arrest, Travel Ban Imposed

Plainclothes policemen walk with protesters during clashes in the Kit Kat n

Once the Egyptian military issued its deadline, the endgame was obvious. The military and the opposition were teaming up to replace the Morsi regime.

The military’s deadline meant that it had a plan for moving Morsi out within that timetable. And we are seeing that plan moving forward. There are now reports coming in that Morsi is under house arrest. That may or may not be true, but the military has reportedly announced a travel ban.

The genuinely impressive thing about all this is how smooth it is. The military is using liberal protesters to escape any accusations of a coup and the liberal protesters suddenly find themselves on the same side as the police and the military. The ostracized protesters suddenly find that their protests come with a steel fist. And the military no longer looks like a bunch of thugs. Everyone wins, except the Islamists.

This is the sort of outcome a lot of the Western backers of the Arab Spring expected, concluding with an El Baradei presidency. And that may still be in the cards. After spending some time with Morsi, the military has decided that El Baradei and the liberals are a better alternative after all.

Morsi is retreating behind the Republican Guard, counting on the military to be reluctant to open fire. But counting on the Republican Guard to protect him will not pay off.

The Muslim Brotherhood will spend all its time shouting “military coup”. But when your goal is to impose theocracy while terrorizing minorities and the streets of every major city are filled with massive crowds calling for your ouster, and you only took power because the previous government was overthrown and your Qatari backers got your the cash and publicity to get you to the throne (narrowly), then your moral high ground is rather weak.

Nothing is certain.

The whole thing may collapse, especially if the Islamists mobilize enough people in the Obama Administration to intimidate the military into backing down.

But then again, it may go through. And we’ll be back to Square 1 with a violent Muslim Brotherhood opposition and a country in turmoil.

UPDATE: Morsi is reportedly in the Republican Guard barracks. The barracks have been surrounded by the military and partitioned with fences. His supporters are clashing with the military.

  • disqus_aO4KJtxZtF

    Egyptian President Morsi, the Incident at Benghazi and Obama may be linked together in a chain of deceit that some are now beginning to understand.

    If Morsi knows the truth about Benghazi, then he may use that truth to blackmail Obama in a desperate attempt to stay in power. Obama has already sent Morsi 200 tanks. There are US soldiers already in Egypt.

    Some have suggested that the Incident at Benghazi was a failed attempt to kidnap ambassador Stevens and use his release to further Obama’s reelection. Walid Shoebat gives credence to the kidnapping theory, and takes the theory a step further. He involves the president of Egypt in the plot to kidnap ambassador Stevens.

    Shoebat writes in his article, Hostage Crisis: The Blind Sheikh, Benghazi and Smoking Guns, “A Libyan intelligence document has been produced that directly implicates Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi in the attacks on American installations in Benghazi on 9/11/12.”

    Shoebat continues, “Four-star Admiral James Lyons (Ret.) who on November 14, 2012, appeared on Fox Business Network with Lou Dobbs…During that interview, Lyons said he believed the only reason that made any sense relative to Ambassador Stevens being in Benghazi on 9/11 was a kidnapping operation in which Stevens could be traded for the ‘Blind Sheikh.’”
    http://shoebat.com/2013/06/30/benghazi-turning-a-blind-eye-for-the-blind-sheikh/

    Furthermore, in a recent article Aaron Klein asks the question, is “Egypt’s Morsi behind murder of U.S. ambassador?”

    “…several major Arabic newspapers ran with a story, first reported by the Kuwaiti paper Al Rai, quoting a Libyan intelligence report on the Benghazi attack that mentions an alleged connection to Morsi and other prominent Egyptian figures. The report…is based on purported confessions of some of the jihadists arrested at the scene. The report states that ‘among the more prominent figures whose names were mentioned by cell members during confessions were: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi; preacher Safwat Hegazi; Saudi businessman Mansour Kadasa…’”
    http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/egypts-morsi-behind-murder-of-u-s-ambassador/

    It will be interesting to see how Obama and Morsi settle the matter of Egypt and Benghazi. In a fitting reversal, Morsi could know from what happened at Benghazi, that if he calls Obama for help, all he may hear from the other end of the call is, “Stand down.”

  • ElizabethMC

    It only took them a year to discover that the president they elected sucks. We’re at 5 years and we still haven’t learned.
    Maybe the next time they won’t vote for an islamist.
    Maybe the next time we won’t vote for a liberal/progressive.

    • DontMessWithAmerica

      You didn’t complete your last sentence – you must have meant, “Maybe the next time we won’t elect a liberal/progressive/socialist/islamist.”

      • ElizabethMC

        you’re right…lol

    • Hal

      what do you know about Egypt? Nothing, that’s what.

      • ElizabethMC

        I know enough that I don’t want to live there.

        • Jack_Wisdom

          I totally feel the same as ElizabethMC.

      • Arf

        I think Egypt is pretty easy to understand. A bunch of angry people many of whom are very violent and who know what they don’t want in a government and just about nothing about what they do want. They want freedom and human rights for themselves but not for others. 60% are farmers and they still can’t feed themselves. The illiteracy rate is huge, and you can pretty much convince them of anything. When stressed, they will frequently engage in violence and even cannibalism. Their streets are filled with garbage. They obsess over Israel while ignoring the hatred, ignorance and cruelty in their own country. And their universities can’t produce a single engineer who is capable of working in the West. They are poor yet do not want to change their culture so that they could become wealthy and self-sufficient. They know how to demonstrate but they don’t know how to live.

  • ziggy zoggy

    “The whole thing may collapse, especially if the Islamists mobilize enough people in the Obama Administration to intimidate the military into backing down.”
    Cornered rats will fight. Obama wont – especially not in public.