Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Arrested As Support Grows For Interim Government

In the wake of Monday's clashes, Egyptian prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the Muslim Brotherhood's top religious leader and at least nine other senior officials. All were charged with inciting the violence that left 50 dead during a skirmish between the Egyptian army and Morsi supporters. 

The general prosecutor's office released a statement accusing the Brotherhood's top officials of "planning, inciting and aiding criminal acts" outside Cairo's Republican Guard headquarters. Many of Morsi's supporters believed that the ousted president was being held there in military custody. 

Many are calling the attorney's indictments just one of Egypt's most recent attempts to quell the power of the Muslim Brotherhood. Wednesday's arrests come after many other Brotherhood officials had already been taken into custody. 

The military's actions have convinced more and more outsiders that Egypt's latest  "revolution" is actually a coup. From the very instant the military overthrew Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood has called his removal illegitimate. Western media sources have adopted a similar rhetoric. Yet, the Obama Administration has yet to give word on its opinion. 

For U.S officials, $1.5 billion dollars of military aid is at stake. The Pentagon has flooded the Egyptian Army with firearms for decades. We purchase them from American contractors. So if the $1.5 billion in aid goes, as does American investments. The American taxpayers, not Egyptians,  would bear the financial penalties. 

This week though, three oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf made it loud and clear that they support the Egyptian military. On Wednesday Kuwait pledged $4 billion in aid to Egypt. And on Tuesday both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates gave a collective $8 billion in grants, loans, and fuel.