# Do you agree with Egypts military action to remove Morsi? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644 "2013-07-04T16:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/1 "2013-07-04T16:06:27Z")
Fairly straight forward question. The circumstances are fairly unique. There was evidence of widespread voting manipulation in last years election. The Muslim Brotherhood was determined to push a modern and reasonably free society backwards into a very conservative Islamic state. The economy is in shambles. Wide spread demonstrations. The military has a duty to protect the country. They removed Morsi just like they did Mubarak. The head of the Supreme court was appointed acting President. New elections are promised. It was a bloodless coup. Morsi wasn’t beheaded. He’s being detained until they firm up the new temporary government. It’s not an ideal situation. But Egypt has a long history of relative stability and diversity. A lot of religions are practiced there. Women have more freedom then in most Arab countries. It makes no sense to me to allow one small faction to completely shift the direction of the country. We’ve seen that once in Iran when the Shah fell. A very modern and diverse country has been forever changed by the ruling Muslim power. Democracy can be manipulated. Hitler and the Nazi party manipulated the system to gain power. Sometimes the military does need to reverse a mistake and protect the country from internal threats. The German military failed to act and the Nazis lead the country into ruin. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/2 "2013-07-04T16:11:11Z")
I don’t agree with it. But I’m enjoying it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/3 "2013-07-04T16:32:19Z")
Some background. Britain’s comments are interesting. Not happy but they acknowledge the action was _"a popular intervention there’s no doubt about that. We have to recognise there was enormous dissatisfaction with the government. "_. > **[Rival gangs gearing up for battle after Egypt's military coup: Pro-Morsi...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2354953/Egypt-celebrates-arrest-Muslim-Brotherhood-leader-army-hunts-300-Morsi-followers.html)** > > Social networking sites and mosques are being used to rally support for the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi who has been put under house arrest. > [@](#): > > Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of the leader of Muslim Brotherhood and his deputy for the killing of eight protesters in clashes outside the group’s Cairo headquarters. > > The move came as the chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court was sworn in as the nation’s interim president, taking over hours after the military ousted the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. > > Mohammed Badie and his powerful deputy Khairat el-Shater have been widely believed to be the source of real power in Egypt during the rule of Mr Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood. A report by the official news agency gave no further details, but Mr Badie and Mr el-Shater are on a wanted list of more than 300 Brotherhood members and leaders of other Islamist groups. > > President Morsi is being held under house arrest after being toppled by the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that brought him to power just a year ago. > [@](#): > > British foreign secretary William Hague said he had sent a rapid deployment team of diplomats to reinforce the embassy in Cairo who would be able to give additional support to British nationals in case of need. > > Mr Hague said the military coup in Egypt sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ for the country’s future. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the British government did not support the deposing of President Morsi. We don’t support military intervention as a way of resolving disputes,’ he said. > > 'There’s a dangerous precedent to do that. If one president can be deposed, then so can another in the future. But it’s happened, so we have to recognise the situation will move on. > > ‘We have to work with whoever is in authority in Egypt for the safety of British citizens - there are so many British companies over there.’ > > ‘We make our views clear. This is a military intervention but it’s a popular intervention there’s no doubt about that. We have to recognise there was enormous dissatisfaction with the government. Stability in the long term comes from democracy.’ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/4 "2013-07-04T16:44:50Z")
Many people don’t like The Smiths. They should have gone with Robert Smith of the Cure instead. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/5 "2013-07-04T16:59:06Z")
A part of me says this is the “sore loser” syndrome…I am sure there are tons of people who would love to see Obama locked out of the White House. To be honest, I would have greeted the same efforts while Dubya was in office with cheers too! However, Egypt is a bit new to this kind of democracy and I think Mr. Morsey kind of screwed up by going overboard and foisting the hard line Islamic rule across the board, instead of letting the multi-party congress relegate the limits to these dogmatic religious rules. Egypt has been a fairly “Western” society, in terms of women’s rights and other cultural day-to-day allowances, and I can see where many were non-to-thrilled to have hard-line new rules run by religious fanatics. So, yeah - good to lock him out and have new elections. Maybe the Islamic Brotherhood will win again, but at least they might not be so over-eager to slash and burn all of the basic rights Egyptians have become used to having. No easy answer here - just my gut feeling. Still - sometimes it takes awhile for new democratic societies to get the hang of compromise. We’re still having issues in the USA, so I don’t think we can throw rocks either. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/6 "2013-07-04T17:09:35Z")
I voted yes but might be closer to other. Having the Muslim Brotherhood in charge of Egypt scares the shit out of me. But a cycle of revolutions is pretty scary too. The region needs a stable, strong and peaceful Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/7 "2013-07-04T17:12:17Z")
This was an object lesson for any country that holds elections. Get your butt off the sofa and vote! Apathy is democracy’s greatest enemy. I get the impression that Egypt’s middle class stayed home during last years elections. The tiny Muslim Brotherhood party created a united voting block. Some suspected shady manipulation at the ballot box helped too. I suspect the middle class will vote more enthusiastically in the next election. 😉 The results should be a lot different. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/8 "2013-07-04T17:24:23Z")
I, personally, don’t think Egypt is going to solve its political problems until it manages to establish a government which controls the military, rather than the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/9 "2013-07-04T17:47:25Z")
The Muslim Brotherhood reneged on their promises of inclusivity. The nation is a powderkeg that desperately needs a growing economy and a higher level of freedom, something the MB had no interest, experience or ability to provide. They were also unable to provide basic security to the population, and seemingly uninterested in doing so. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/10 "2013-07-04T17:57:01Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > The Muslim Brotherhood reneged on their promises of inclusivity. The nation is a powderkeg that desperately needs a growing economy and a higher level of freedom, something the MB had no interest, experience or ability to provide. They were also unable to provide basic security to the population, and seemingly uninterested in doing so. Honestly, was there ever a remote chance that they would actually be inclusive and respect diversity? What baffles me is that a) the MB was ever allowed to take office in the first place and b) that the US keeps saying “oh, this is troubling, democracy is good” when this is a clear failure of democracy, and maybe democracy is just the tyranny of the majority. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/11 "2013-07-05T02:49:55Z")
Hell yes. The military enforcement of the popular will was undoubtedly justified. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/12 "2013-07-05T13:00:28Z")
I voted “other.” I’m bothered that the MB et al didn’t try to create an inclusive, pluralistic state. I’m also bothered by the fact that the military saw fit to overthrow the results of a presumably legitimate election. I am viscerally opposed to juntas in any way, shape or form. I also don’t expect functioning democracies to spring fully formed from the corpses of failed authoritarian regimes. It’s going to take a couple of decades (at least) for Egypt to get it’s shit together. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/13 "2013-07-05T14:38:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I, personally, don’t think Egypt is going to solve its political problems until it manages to establish a government which controls the military, rather than the other way around. Personally, I feel like this was a popular uprising that just happened to happen by way of the military. But in the long run, **Smapti** has it. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/14 "2013-07-05T15:22:26Z")
The worst kind of crisis, where both sides have legitimate grievances. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/15 "2013-07-05T15:27:16Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Personally, I feel like this was a popular uprising that just happened to happen by way of the military. But in the long run, **Smapti** has it. It’s been a while since I’ve studied the region, but if memory serves (and recent events have more or less borne this out) the Egyptian Military plays a very active and positive role in the daily life of the citizenry. For instance, when the people got serious about getting Hosni out, the Army did very little to stop them compared to say, how things went in Syria. ISTR Libya’s army wasn’t entirely obedient to Qadaffi either–maybe it’s a North African sensibility thing? I happily invite correction, but my impression is that Egypt’s army is predisposed to respond to the will and needs of Egypt as opposed to the will of a political group who clearly does not have the best interests of the people in mind. Their role appears to be more of guardian of the Egyptians than enforcer for The State. The Army doesn’t appear interested in assuming the role of political leadership on any kind of long term basis although they could clearly take it, and I kind of admire them for that. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/16 "2013-07-05T15:48:16Z")
From a practical point of view, I’m fairly indifferent. But from an idealistic point of view, I would have liked to see the people of Egypt go through the motions of settling their dissatisfaction constitutionally. Setting aside the constitution after one year is not a good precedent. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/17 "2013-07-05T16:35:46Z")
I voted yes, because I think Morsi went to the point of no return when he announced he had supreme power a few months ago. You can’t come back from that. Selfishly, I wish this hadn’t happened. I’ve got a trip scheduled to Egypt on the 17th. We haven’t cancelled just yet (seeing how this plays out), but I’ve got until 2 days before to invoke my 75% trip insurance refund. Still. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/18 "2013-07-05T17:09:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I, personally, don’t think Egypt is going to solve its political problems until it manages to establish a government which controls the military, rather than the other way around. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/19 "2019-06-17T21:32:33Z")
Updating this thread: > [@](#): > > Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, imprisoned since the military removed him from office in 2013, died Monday after collapsing in court, officials said, putting the nation’s authoritarian-minded government on the defensive over his treatment in custody. > > The country’s first democratically elected president and a leader of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement, the 67-year-old California-educated Morsi lasted only a year in office before his defense minister, Abdel Fattah Sisi, moved to wrest power from him. Sisi has been president ever since. > > Egyptian authorities did not immediately disclose the cause of death. The public prosecutor said in a statement that Morsi was taken to a hospital after his collapse, and pronounced dead there. It said there would be a forensic report, but did not say when that was expected… > > Morsi’s death, which followed years of reports of his health deteriorating in prison, was a dramatic new inflection point in Egypt’s tumultuous journey from the massive Arab Spring protests of 2011 that toppled Hosni Mubarak, a dictator of decades’ standing, and the country’s subsequent slide into a new era of repression under Sisi. > **[Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's death stirs memories of onetime...](https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mohamed-morsi-egypt-courtroom-dies-20190617-story.html)** > > Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, imprisoned since the military removed him from office in 2013, died Monday after collapsing in court, putting the nation’s authoritarian-minded government on the defensive over his treatment in custody. So his mistreatment in prison cause his death? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-agree-with-egypts-military-action-to-remove-morsi/662644/20 "2019-06-18T06:47:05Z")
He accidentally tripped and hit his head on a nightstick 37 times in a row. Could happen to anyone.