Sens. McCain, Graham urge release of Egypt's jailed Islamists

CAIRO -- Two senior Republican senators visiting Egypt on Tuesday urged the military-backed government to release jailed Muslim Brotherhood leaders and defuse political tensions between Islamists and the nation’s largely secular security forces.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined a number of international envoys seeking to end more than a month of deadly violence between backers of the interim government and Islamist supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown in a coup last month.

The senators, dispatched on a mediation mission by President Obama, met with interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi and Gen. Abdel Fattah Sisi, commander of the armed forces. But Cairo’s sensitivity over outside intervention prompted Egypt’s acting president to criticize “foreign pressure” at a time of deepening nationalist fervor.

The strained relations between Cairo and Washington are likely to be exacerbated by McCain's characterization of Morsi’s ouster as a military takeover, not a people’s revolt, as many Egyptians refer to it. The White House, not wanting to be legally forced to withdraw $1.3 billion in annual U.S. aid to the Egyptian military, has carefully avoided using the word "coup" in its statements on Egypt.

He also warned that U.S.-Egypt relations could be damaged: “Some in Congress want to sever the relationship. Some want to suspend the aid,” he said. “We have to be honest to where the relationship stands.... We can’t support Egypt that is not moving to democracy.”

His comments also illustrated Washington’s erratic policy toward Egypt since longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in an uprising in 2011. Congressional conservatives had feared that the election of Morsi and the rise of the Brotherhood would tilt Egypt firmly toward political Islam. With that threat now alleviated, McCain and Graham have criticized the army for intervening and installing a secular government.