As of right now, the Egyptian military has launched a coup to remove the Muslim Brotherhood party and President Mohammed Morsi from power.
Military leader General Al Sisi held meetings with national leaders, including the Coptic Christian pope, to secure support for removing the radicals from power. Meanwhile, BBC reports portray a rabidly angry Muslim Brotherhood equally willing to take to the streets "with martyrdom on their minds."
Tanks have taken to the streets of Cairo and, according to Reuters, hundreds of soldiers are ostentatiously marching on parade near the Presidential Palace. Some have claimed that the president now lives under house arrest. Armored vehicles defend national broadcasting outlets. The opposing sides even took to Facebook to launch rhetorical attacks.
Since Morsi ascended to office, the international community has watched his regime with concern. Relations with Israel and the United States cooled. Unprovoked and unpunished attacks on women and Christians rose. Morsi also unconstitutionally centralized power into the executive branch and attacked the independent judiciary. These almost always preface the evolution of a quasi democracy into a dictatorship.
Their goal was the implementation of Islamic religious Sharia Law. This is the code that mandates punishments for raped women, for educating girls, and oppresses millions across the Eastern Hemisphere. Egyptians have rallied against the imposition of religious totalitarianism, to their credit.
A coup would be the least bad option for Egypt. Its strategic location means that any increasingly radical state could play a very destabilizing role in the next few years. Military seizure of the government is the best chance of returning moderation to the country's foreign affairs.
It would also restore order, although in the short term any upending of a constitution disrupts rule of law.
Rarely is the case that a nation should go to such extremes to ensure order, even over law. But some cases beg for this step. Wouldn't history have taken a better course if the German Army's aristocratic officers overturned the elected Hitler government that they despised? Waiting would only entrench Morsi more securely. We can't wait for the Islamofascist Muslim Brotherhood to grow confident enough to attack Israel or even U. S. interests in the area.
Fortunately the Egyptian Army obviously feels the same. Thus the reason for launching the least bad option.
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