Obama makes himself useful giving US taxpayer dollars to Egypt groups, refuses to say if Muslim Brotherhood will be direct or indirect recipient....

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2/11/11, "U.S. Preparing Aid Package For Egypt Opposition," Time, Calabresi

"Egypt will need to see the lightning-fast development of long-suppressed political parties. So the US is preparing a new package of assistance to Egyptian opposition groups designed to help with constitutional reform, democratic development and election organizing, State department officials tell TIME. The package is still being formulated, and

• the officials declined to say how much it would be worth or to which groups it would be directed....

White House officials declined to say whether any of the new money would go directly or indirectly to the Muslim Brotherhood,

• Egypt's most prominent Islamic party....

The US has a history of providing assistance to nascent democracy movements, with mixed results. In countries like Serbia and Ukraine direct and indirect U.S. aid helped youth driven opposition movements successfully oust repressive leaders by training them in non-violent civil disobedience, election organizing and other fundamentals of civil society. Elsewhere, like Belarus, the U.S. has had less success funding change through direct democracy-building aid,

• as dictatorial regimes remain impervious to democratic movements.
  

Egypt's opposition groups are not starting from scratch, but after decades of repression under Mubarak, the country does not have much of a foundation to build on, U.S. officials have concluded. 'There is a civil society in Egypt,' says state department spokesman P. J. Crowley, 'But it has suffered from decades of restrictions. They do have an opposition but it's not yet organized.' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton first suggested the US might give aid to the Egyptian opposition groups on the way back to Washington from Munich Feb. 6. 'As the enormity of the organizational challenge is confronted by responsible leaders of the protest and the opposition, they are saying, 'Okay, we've got work to do,'' Clinton said. "...

• (Definition of 'work': Waiting by the mailbox for US taxpayer dollars). ed.
  

(continuing, Time): "In Washington, meanwhile, the Egyptian regime's representatives are trying to protect U.S. aid to the government even as

• Washington looks to fund the opposition groups.
  

The Egyptian military gets some $1.3 billion in aid every year from the U.S. For now, Congress has been silent about the possibility of cutting that aid, even as the White House has suggested it may be in play. 'There's no near term threat that military aid's going to be cut off,' says one person familiar with the thinking of the Egyptian regime in Washington. For starters, Israel is strongly opposed to cutting the aid, as it could threaten the peace treaty between it and Egypt.

Nevertheless, the regime's lobbyists in Washington are urging Egyptian officials, including Amb. Shoukry to meet with Congressional leaders to emphasize the benefits of continued military cooperation. In the last few days, several U.S. military ships have transited the Suez canal, and with Israel's approval, Egypt has bolstered its forces bordering the Gaza strip. Egypt's Washington lobbyists have also told the regime that violence against Americans, journalists or peaceful protesters could endanger the regime's aid."

via MichaelSavage.com