The slaughter of hundreds in Egypt this week was horrifying. The
response of the United States to that slaughter seemed puny and
impotent. The president and the secretary of state offered strongly
worded condemnations, and the United States canceled its participation
in a military exercise that probably wouldn't have happened anyway,
given the unrest.
Around the world critics
suggested the United States was either effectively condoning the
violence or sending a strong message that it wouldn't penalize the
Egyptian military for this or future harshness. It didn't help that
after his statement the president slipped off for a round of golf.
The unnecessarily callous optics of the golf game aside, the unsettling reality is that America's options were puny
and likely to have very little effect. Indeed, the White House wisely
avoided falling into the trap of "feel good measures:" bold gestures
that may resonate but ultimately won't work.
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