The protests in Egypt against president Mohammed Morsi were – according to the BBC – the largest in history [7].
The Egyptian military threw Morsi out [8] in a coup today.
Why?
Irish Times reports [9]:
Army concern about the way President Mohamed Morsi was governing Egypt reached tipping point when the head of state attended a rally packed with hardline fellow Islamists calling for holy war in Syria, military sources have said.
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Mr Morsi himself called for foreign intervention in Syria against Mr Assad, leading to a veiled rebuke from the army, which issued an apparently bland but sharp-edged statement the next day stressing that its only role was guarding Egypt’s borders.
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“The armed forces were very alarmed by the Syrian conference at a time the state was going through a major political crisis,” said one officer, whose comments reflected remarks made privately by other army staff. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk to the media.
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For the army, the Syria rally had crossed “a national security red line” by encouraging Egyptians to fight abroad, risking creating a new generation of jihadists, said Yasser El-Shimy, analyst with the International Crisis Group.
At the heart of the military’s concern is the history of militant Islam in Egypt, homeland of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The military source condemned recent remarks made by “retired terrorists” allied to Mr Morsi, who has deepened his ties with the once-armed group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya.
Obama had recently sent American troops to prop up Mursi [10], and the protesters were furious at the U.S. for backing Islamic radicals [11].
(The U.S. backed Egypt's previous dictator [12], as well).
Support of Western intervention in Syria was also one of the main causes [13] of the recent enormous protests in Turkey … which came close to toppling the Turkish leadership.
Indeed, the American government has been providing arms, money and logistical support to Al Qaeda in Syria [14], Libya, Mali [15], Bosnia [16] and other countries – and related Muslim terrorists in Chechnya [17], Iran [18], and many other countries [19]. So moderate Arabs all over the Middle East and North Africa are becoming furious at U.S. interventionist policies [19].
Note: The coup is a set-back for the U.S., because Egypt - unlike Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran - isn't on the 20-year-old list of countries targeted for regime change [20].