EGYPT FAILS TO RECEIVE EXTRA U.S. AID
The Bush administration has failed to approve an
Egyptian request for additional military aid.
U.S. officials said Egypt would not receive additional civilian or
military aid for fiscal 2005. They denied reports in the Arab media that the
regime of President Hosni Mubarak received a pledge for $2.3 billion in
extra U.S. aid and loan guarantees over the next year.
Instead, Egypt would receive $300 million in aid pledged by Washington
in late 2003. That aid, scheduled to be relayed in fiscal 2004, was meant to
compensate Egypt for its cooperation in the U.S.-led war against Al Qaida
and Iraq.
"Whatever money is in the supplemental is done," U.S. Deputy Secretary
of State Richard Armitage said.
Egypt already receives about $2 billion in aid, about 65 percent of
which is military. Officials said that assistance will continue over the
next year.
Officials said the Mubarak regime requested additional military aid for
fiscal 2005. But they said that at this point congressional leaders have
opposed the request.
"Egypt is a strategic partner of the United States, and we value
President Mubarak's years of efforts on behalf of the peace and stability of
the Middle East," President George Bush said after meeting Mubarak in
Crawford, Texas on Monday. "The meetings we have just had focused on these
goals and on ways to make the Middle East safer and more secure."
The two countries also agreed to launch a strategic dialogue that would
be headed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Maher, officials said. They also said Cairo and Washington
planned to intensify cooperation in the war against Al Qaida and related
groups.
In an interview with the Cairo-based Al Ahram, Armitage said
Egyptian-U.S. relations have improved slightly after a lull of several
years. He said the improvement was detected as early as October 2003.
"They've gotten on the upswing," Armitage said. "We had a lull for a
couple of years, and I think they're on the upswing."
Mubarak was also meant to discuss U.S. military aid with Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Egypt has presented the United States with a
shopping list of advanced airborne, naval and ground-based weapons as part
of Mubarak's plans to establish a rapid-response force for missions
throughout the Middle East.
Officials said Egypt has also sought such platforms as the C-130J air
transport, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, and the AH-64D Apache Longbow
attack helicopter. The Egyptian list was also said to have included the
Joint Direct Attack Munition, a Boeing system which converts general-purpose
bombs into precision weapons, as well as the Advanced Medium-Range
Air-to-Air Missile, manufactured by Raytheon. Egypt intends to deploy the
AMRAAM on its F-16 fleet and officials said Cairo's F-16C/D fleet would have
to undergo an upgrade to accommodate the missile.