WASHINGTON, Aug 18: US lawmakers urged President Barack Obama on Sunday to suspend economic and military assistance to Egypt in retaliation for a military crackdown on civilian protesters that has killed more than 1000 people.

“For us to sit by and watch this happen is a violation of everything that we stood for,” Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate said on CNN’s “State of the Union’ talk show.

Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also supported the demand for suspending US aid to Egypt but warned that the United States had “over-estimated” its influence in that country while “under-estimating the influence of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”

Strong financial and political support from these two countries, he argued, allowed the Egyptian military to go ahead with the crackdown.

The New York Times also reported that three key states in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israeli backed the Egyptian military.

Israel even used its influence in the US Congress to prevent US sanctions.

US laws require the administration to suspend all assistance to a country where the military topples an elected government but the Obama administration has refused to call the Egyptian takeover a military coup.

Senator McCain, who recently went to Egypt to defuse tensions between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, said the Obama administration had lost credibility by refusing to cut off aid.

The country’s generals, he said, were “acting with confidence” that there will be no US reprisals for their actions.

Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican who went to Egypt with Mr McCain, also backed the call for the suspension of aid, warning that the Egyptian military was creating new martyrs in the Middle East.

Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said the Muslim Brotherhood would be marginalised at the ballot box if elections were held now. Otherwise “we’re going to have a failed state in Egypt” as the current situation was “an absolute disaster in the making.”

The military ousted Egypt’s first elected president, Mohammed Morsi, on July 3 after millions of Egyptians protested against his Muslim Brotherhood party’s religious policies and its failure to revive the country’s ailing economy.

Initially, the US refused to criticise the military takeover but this week’s bloodshed has forced many in Washington to demand the suspension of US aid to Egypt.

“I think the actions of the last week no doubt are going to cause us to suspend aid,” Senator Corker said on ABC.

Two other Republicans, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Rand Paul also backed the demand for suspending aid.

But Democrats urged caution, warning that there were no easy choices to make.

Senator Richard Blumenthal said on Fox News Sunday that the US should condition future aid on Egypt making specific steps to return to the rule of law.

“Obviously, we cannot let what’s been happening just happen, but I think we have to be careful and not cut off our nose to spite our face,” said Congressman Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman Pete King, who chairs the House panel on counter-terrorism and intelligence, agreed. “We certainly shouldn't cut off all aid,” said the Republican lawmakers while urging the Obama administration to use its influence to get democracy restored.