One week after the dramatic announcement on July 3 by Egypt’s Minister of Defense Abdul Fattah al-Sisi that Egypt’s democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi had been deposed, the country is still locked in the grip of a ferocious and important argument: Was what happened in Cairo a military coup or a popular revolution in which the army had no choice but to intervene out of a sense of responsibility for the future of Egypt and the safety of its people, who were on the brink of a civil war?

Last week I held a series of conversations with a few of my friends, all Egyptian students and journalists. They were infuriated by the very use of the words “coup” or “military intervention,” so much so, in fact, that they even threatened to break off the conversation when those words came up. Much of their ire was directed at the US government’s position, and especially the Obama administration’s response. The US seemed to have been caught on the Fourth of July with its pants down — or more precisely, in its bathing suit on the deck of its yacht.

All the people I spoke with over the last few days interpreted the White House’s response as a clear offer of support to the Muslim Brotherhood. It is a radical interpretation of the American response which was, in fact, a cautious floundering.

“The Americans are calling on us to restore Morsi’s civilian government,” an Egyptian colleague wrote to me a few days ago. “Which civilian government do they mean?” she asked. “After we finally deposed that insolent man, they want us to restore him to power.”