Congressman Steve King went to Egypt this past weekend with two other House Republicans and made a video statement that was broadcast on one of the Egyptian government’s satellite channels.
“I’m here to congratulate the Egyptian people,” King said, “for 30 million Egyptians coming to the streets all over this country to take your country back from the people that were going to deny the future and the freedom of the Egyptian people.”
The government led by the Muslim Brotherhood was toppled two months ago by Egypt’s military. King, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and a congressman from Texas met the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria who leads as many as 14 million Christians in Egypt. They also met with Egypt’s new president Adly Mansour, who had been Egypt’s top judge.
“Many of my constituents and neighbors have come to Egypt to train in the Sinai with the Egyptian military,” King said. “There’s a strong bond that’s build there, serving together in uniform there in sthe desert, to train for those kind of crises that we can work together on.”
King, a Republican from Kiron in western Iowa, supports continued joint operations between the armed forces of the United States and Egypt. According to King, there won’t be successful peace in the Middle East if Egypt isn’t strong and stable.
“I’m here also to encourage the new interim government to continue with the timetable that they’ve set out for a new constitution and a vote on a new constitution, then election of a new president, King said. “This looks to me like the stable future for Egypt, so I congratulate the Egyptian people for coming to the streets, for standing up for your own liberty and your own freedom and we, as the American people, stand with you and we stand against the Muslim Brotherhood.”
For the past few days Egypt’s military has been conducting raids in the Sinai Peninsula to root out terrorists they charge are planning to attack government institutions in Egypt as well as tourist destinations. Officials in Israel’s government have praised the offensive.