A farmer in southern Egypt was arrested Saturday after putting the military chief's name and an army-style cap on his donkey, and eight people were detained elsewhere in the country for spraying anti-military graffiti.
The arrests point to a long-standing taboo in Egypt against criticizing the country's powerful military, an offense magnified amid the ongoing crackdown on supporters of the country's ousted President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.
The farmer, Omar Abul-Magd, was arrested late Friday in Qena province for allegedly insulting Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi when he rode the donkey through town, reported the state MENA news agency.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Government refrains from calling the military coup in Egypt a coup so they can continue to send billions in military aid. When the military takes over from a popularly elected government, it is a coup, regardless of whatever the apologists in the administration think.
Now, honestly, I prefer the military government in Egypt over the Muslim Brotherhood directed "democracy", but we have a law. Using the expedient of "it's not a coup until we say it's a coup" is not the way the leader of the worlds greatest republic should act. If they don't like the law that restricts them from supporting a coup, they should work openly to repeal it.
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