CAIRO [MENL] -- The U.S. investigation into the crash of EgyptAir 990
continues to be delayed by concern that its conclusions will harm relations
with Egypt, diplomats said.
The diplomats said Egypt continues to strenuously object to the
determination being reached by U.S. investigators that the Boeing 767 was
downed intentionally. They said Egypt has stopped cooperating with the FBI
in a key portion of the investigation.
U.S. officials said they have ruled out other causes for the crash, such
as mechanical failure or a bomb. That leaves the possibility that the plane
was deliberately plunged.
But Egyptian leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak, have pressed
hard to stop the FBI from formally taking over the investigation. The result
has been that the FBI has entered the investigation but has maintained a low
profile.
The FBI, however, has been stymied by an Egyptian refusal to interrogate
EgyptAir employees regarding those on board Flight 990. Egyptian authorities
said they don't want the FBI to ask any questions regarding the background
of Gamil Batouti, the copilot suspected of downing the passenger jet.
Egyptian sources said the FBI apparently wants to prove its theory that
Batouti took the plane on a suicide flight. An FBI team has spent a week in
Cairo investigating the crash and talking to officials and EgyptAir
executives.
The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily said Egyptian authorities want
to approve any questions posed by the FBI to EgyptAir pilots and crew
members who knew Batouti or other pilots on board. The Al Ahram government
daily in Cairo carried a similar report on Sunday.
Instead, Egyptian leaders are pressing Washington to change the
direction of the investigation to consider that a bomb or missile downed
Flight 990. "There are two possibilities that would cause the tail unit to
split off," EgyptAir's chief pilot Tarek Selim told the state-owned Al-Ahram
English-language weekly. "Either a bomb was attached to the tail or it was
hit by a missile. I believe the speculation fueled by leaks of information
from the cockpit tape recorder are ridiculous."
Selim is one of the Egyptian investigators now in the United States to
help in the probe.
Still, Egyptian leaders have signalled to the United States that they
don't want the EgyptAir probe to harm relations with Washington, officials
said.
