Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has decided not to honor
legislation that would end U.S. aid to Egypt.

Officials said the administration would not implement a 2010 law that
stipulates the halt in U.S. aid to any country that undergoes a military
coup. They said the president has decided that the State Department would
not make such a determination.

“No determination [of a military coup in Egypt] has been made,” Sen. Bob Corker said. “It’s possible that no determination will ever be made.”

Corker’s remarks on July 25 came after he and other senior House and Senate members met Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. Burns is said
to have told the closed-door meeting that the State Department was not required to make a determination over whether the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi on July 3 represented a military coup.

Officials said most congressional leaders expressed understanding over the administration’s decision. They said Egypt would be allocated its usual $1.55 billion in annual U.S. aid for fiscal 2014, which begins in October.

“Egypt is a very strategic country in the Middle East and what we need
to be is an instrument of calmness,” Corker, the ranking Republican on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. “We need to deal with our laws in
such a way that allow us to continue to be that instrument of stability in
the region.”

The House, despite the Republican majority, also appeared to support
continued U.S. aid to Egypt. House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep.
Howard McKeon has supported the military ouster of Morsi and said Washington
should reward the move.

“They [military] are not looking to run the country, they want to run
the military, but they want the country to be democratic and that means in
the full sense of the word,” McKeon said. “I think we have to be very
careful to not do anything to disrupt their movement toward getting back to
democracy.”

Officials said the administration would probably limit its dismay over
the military ouster of Morsi through the decision to suspend the delivery of
four F-16 Block 50 multi-role fighters. They said the F-16s, scheduled to
arrive in Egypt in August, would probably be delayed for no more than
several months. Egypt has already received eight of the 20 F-16s ordered in
2010.

“It’s clear that the F-16s will arrive in Egypt, and the military there
understands that,” an official said.

Congress has been examining the revision of the law that mandates the
severance of U.S. aid to any country that underwent a military coup. They
said the House and Senate would deal with the issue when they return from
their vacation in September.

“It’s likely that very soon we will try to deal with this issue, which
is a quandary, legislatively,” Corker said.

  F-16 Block 50 multi-role fighters, Rep. Howard McKeon, Sen. Bob Corker, U.S. won’t define Morsi’s ouster as a coup, William Burns