Man behind Egypt coup studied at US Army War College

A new report says the man who was behind the recent military coup in Egypt was a student at the U.S. Army War College that is considered the country’s top military training program.

Egyptian Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who engineered the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, attended the war college in Carlisle, Pa., in 2006, The Washington Times reported.

During the latest chaos in Egypt, Sisi deployed troops to cities when clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the government.

Washington has not condemned the military takeover nor called it a coup, prompting speculation that it supports the change in the North African country.

The White House said on Monday that it is still reviewing whether or not to label the ouster of the Egyptian president by the military a coup.

Last week, Pentagon press secretary George Little said U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has been in contact with Sisi twice before the coup.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that U.S. national security advisor Susan Rice had told Morsi’s team that the president would leave office an hour before his ouster by the military.

Some American officials say the Obama administration wants to find a way to avoid labeling the Egyptian military’s action a coup in order to keep the military aid flowing.

Prominent Republican Senator John McCain said on Monday that U.S. aid to Egypt should be cut off in accordance with U.S. law.

“It is difficult for me to conclude that what happened was anything other than a coup in which the military played a decisive role,” McCain said.

According to U.S. law, financial assistance to any country whose elected head of state is deposed in a military coup is prohibited. The United States supplies about $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt.

Egypt, the second largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel, has received from the United States more than 70 billion dollars in military and economic aid since 1948.