Ridiculous may indeed be an apt description of the Obama administration’s foreign policy platform.
However, that probably was not US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki wanted to convey when she commented on Egypt’s former president’s being cleared of murder charges that we covered earlier this week.
State Department spokesperson and perennial question dodger Jen Psaki was caught admitting that her prepared ‘line’ on Egypt was “ridiculous” after a press briefing Monday.After Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pressed her to comment on Egypt’s decision to clear former President Hosni Mubarak of murder….Lee was astonished at the response, and took the opportunity to point out that the answer was meaningless.“Wow, I don’t understand that at all,” Lee said. “What you said says nothing. It’s like saying, ‘We support the right of people to breathe.’”Psaki declined to give any further comment to reporters during the briefing. However, as the lights dimmed, Psaki was exasperated and told Lee how she really felt, not realizing her microphone was still on.“That Egypt line is ridiculous,” Psaki said.
Actually, the word ridiculous springs to mind when discussing much of the Obama foreign policy approach of “empathizing with the enemies”, obviously a hold-over from Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State.
And while protests in Cairo and this country continue, news comes that an American held for passing “nuclear details” to Egypt.
A U.S. Navy civilian engineer was arrested Friday on charges of trying to steal schematics of a new nuclear aircraft carrier and have them sent to Egypt, the Justice Department said.An undercover FBI agent posed as an Egyptian intelligence officer to snare Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, from the state of Virginia, who is charged with two counts of attempting to export defense articles and technical data.He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.Awwad told the undercover agent — whom he believed was an Egyptian government official — that it was his intention to utilize his position of trust with the U.S. Navy to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, the Justice Department said.
Star and Stripes offers more background on Awward and his plans:
Court documents describe a saga that included an FBI undercover agent posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer, a clandestine meeting in Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton, a prearranged “dead drop” along a secluded hiking trail and Awwad’s alleged intention to wear a pinhole camera to photograph classified material.During one meeting with the undercover agent, he “discussed where to strike the vessel with a missile in order to sink it,” an affidavit states.Awwad worked in the nuclear engineering and planning department at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, having begun working at the yard early this year, the affidavit says. His security clearance gave him access to information on Naval nuclear propulsion systems.
You know what is ridiculous? Policies that encourage those who want to sink our ships to be employed in our shipyards.
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