Morsi Aide Facebook Post: This Is A Military Coup

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“As I write these lines I am fully aware that these may be the last lines I get to post on this page,” the assistant to President Mohamed Morsi on foreign relations wrote in a personal letter on his office’s Facebook page, defending the Morsi administration to the Egyptian people.

“For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup,” wrote Essam El Haddad in the Facebook post published on Wednesday, after the military’s deadline for resoution to the crisis had passed. “It has been two and a half years after a popular revolution against a dictatorship that had strangled and drained Egypt for 30 years. … That revolution restored a sense of hope and fired up Egyptians’ dreams of a future in which they could claim for themselves the same dignity that is every human being’s birthright.”

“Let me be very clear. The protesters represent a wide spectrum of Egyptians and many of them have genuine, valid grievances. President Morsy’s approval rating is down,” he continued. “Now let me be equally clear. Since January and again in the last couple of weeks the President has repeatedly called for national dialog. Equally repeatedly, the opposition refused to participate. Increasingly, the so-called liberals of Egypt escalated a rhetoric inviting the military to become the custodians of government in Egypt. The opposition has steadfastly declined every option that entails a return to the ballot box.”

“Many have seen fit in these last months to lecture us on how democracy is more than just the ballot box. That may indeed be true. But what is definitely true is that there is no democracy without the ballot box.”

Read the full post here.

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