http://consortiumnews.com/2013/08/15/a-method-to-egypts-madness/

A Method to Egypt’s Madness

August 15, 2013

The bloody assault on Egyptians protesting the ouster of democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi has the look of madness – as the military pushes Islamists toward more violence – but there is a sick logic if the generals see more Islamic extremism as their lock on U.S. aid, writes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

By Paul R. Pillar
There were other ways of dealing with the camping-out protestors in Cairo. The Ministry of Interior had even talked about other ways — about some combination of tear gas and leaving open an exit route so the protestors could disperse. And surely it must have occurred to the Egyptian generals that the action they in the end took, just like the event in Tiananmen Square in 1989 that this week’s event so readily evokes, would leave a lasting bloodstain on their legacy.