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Lawmakers push for Obama administration to get tough over embassy attacks
Fox News
9/13/2012
Excerpt:
"Lawmakers and other officials stepped up calls Thursday for the United States to put heavy pressure on the governments whose people are storming U.S. diplomatic posts across the Middle East and North Africa -- even if it means freezing aid and expelling diplomats from Washington.
The calls increased as anti-American demonstrations and attacks spread to Yemen, and as protests entered their third day near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. The clashes continued, after four Americans including the U.S. ambassador were killed Tuesday night during attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attack came roughly a year after the U.S. and its allies helped Libyans overthrow dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News that President Obama should be putting particular pressure on Egypt and its president, Mohammed Morsi, over the sustained demonstrations there. King said the U.S. should suspend aid to Egypt until Morsi makes "absolutely clear" he is condemning the demonstrations and taking "forceful action" to protect the U.S. Embassy.
Obama, in an interview with Spanish-language network Telemundo, pushed back on the idea of suspending aid, saying the U.S. "doesn't have an option of withdrawing from the world."
On Egypt, he said pointedly: "I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we do not consider them an enemy."
King countered: "If he's not an ally, why do we continue to give him billions of dollars in aid?"
Egypt was slated to receive $1.6 billion this year in U.S. aid. Protesters earlier in the week stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the U.S. flag."
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View the complete article at:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...bassy-attacks/
Fox News
9/13/2012
Excerpt:
"Lawmakers and other officials stepped up calls Thursday for the United States to put heavy pressure on the governments whose people are storming U.S. diplomatic posts across the Middle East and North Africa -- even if it means freezing aid and expelling diplomats from Washington.
The calls increased as anti-American demonstrations and attacks spread to Yemen, and as protests entered their third day near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. The clashes continued, after four Americans including the U.S. ambassador were killed Tuesday night during attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attack came roughly a year after the U.S. and its allies helped Libyans overthrow dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News that President Obama should be putting particular pressure on Egypt and its president, Mohammed Morsi, over the sustained demonstrations there. King said the U.S. should suspend aid to Egypt until Morsi makes "absolutely clear" he is condemning the demonstrations and taking "forceful action" to protect the U.S. Embassy.
Obama, in an interview with Spanish-language network Telemundo, pushed back on the idea of suspending aid, saying the U.S. "doesn't have an option of withdrawing from the world."
On Egypt, he said pointedly: "I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we do not consider them an enemy."
King countered: "If he's not an ally, why do we continue to give him billions of dollars in aid?"
Egypt was slated to receive $1.6 billion this year in U.S. aid. Protesters earlier in the week stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the U.S. flag."
.......................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...bassy-attacks/