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August 15, 2013

Rep. Schiff Statement on the Violence in Egypt

Washington, DC – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, released the following statement after President Obama announced earlier today that he had canceled a joint military exercise with Egypt in the wake of violent protests resulting in over 500 casualties across Egypt:

“President Obama was right to rebuke Egypt’s military leaders for the horrific bloodbath that took place yesterday. Nothing can justify the brutality that was visited upon largely peaceful protestors, and the President properly cancelled Operation Bright Star, the annual U.S-Egyptian military exercise scheduled for next month.

“There is still time for both sides to step back from the abyss of a civil war and I urge the Egyptian military to lift the state of emergency that it has imposed and to re-open a political dialogue with all parties in Egypt with the goal of returning the country to a path towards democracy.

“I have never expected the transitions unleashed by the Arab Spring to be quick, easy or painless.  Revolution in brittle, unstable societies harbors the propensity for extreme violence. Egypt’s military leaders must be made to realize that dissatisfaction with the government of deposed President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood cannot excuse the brutality that we have witnessed in the past few days.  Egypt must return to the path of an inclusive political system that respects the rights of all its people.”