Posted on 11/27/2001 8:39:46 AM PST by RCW2001
Nov. 27 — The Bush administration is planning to provide Egypt with highly accurate surface-to-surface missiles — and four patrol boats from which to fire them — in a $400 million arms deal.
The proposal has alarmed some of Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill, and several are trying to block the transfer.
IN A classified memorandum sent to Congress on Nov. 2, the administration notified lawmakers of its intent to provide Egypt with 53 Harpoon Block II missiles, a satellite-guided weapon described by manufacturer Boeing Co. as “the world’s most successful anti-ship missile.”
The missiles reportedly are accurate to within 30 feet and can be used against shore-based targets. They would be mounted on four “fast missile patrol craft” built by Halter Marine Inc. of Gulfport, Miss.
The United States gives Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid annually — a legacy of the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel — so in that respect the proposed arms transfer is nothing out of the ordinary But the Harpoon deal is proving more troublesome than most: With Arab-Israeli relations under severe strain and American Jewish groups, in particular, accusing Egypt of insufficiently supporting the war on terrorism, some key lawmakers are reluctant to provide the country with sophisticated new technology they say could blunt Israel’s “qualitative” military edge over its neighbors.
Earlier this month, Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to ask him “to provide a rationale for making the sale at this time,” according to Biden’s spokesman, Norm Kurz.
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the ranking Republican on the committee, also expressed concern about the proposed transfer, congressional aides said, as has Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee.
PROTECTING SUEZ CANAL
“A stable and prosperous Egypt is in our interest, while an arms race between Israel and Egypt is not in our interest,” Lantos said in an interview. “The State Department is sort of following a pattern of escalating the level of arms sales to Egypt, which in turn will mean escalating the number of arms sales and the sophistication to Israel.”
Spokesmen for the State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the administration’s proposal, citing its classified nature. But a U.S. government official familiar with its details defended the plan, saying the Harpoon missiles would enhance Egypt’s ability to protect the Suez Canal, an important transit point for American commercial and military ships.
“They’ve been a strategic partner with us,” the official said. “The administration would not recommend selling a weapons system if they thought it would undermine Israeli security, and we don’t think this one does.”
One point in Egypt’s favor is that the 199-foot, diesel-powered Ambassador-class patrol craft that would serve as a platform for the missiles are built in Mississippi, the home state of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R). Lott is a staunch defender of shipping interests there.
A source familiar with the proposed transfer said Lott has already “started to weigh in” in favor of the deal. Lott’s spokesman, Ron Bonjean, declined to comment.
Congress has long accepted the massive U.S. military and economic aid program to Egypt as the price of stability in the Middle East. The program runs at about $2 billion a year and includes about $700 million in economic assistance.
The purpose of the aid is to reward Egypt not only for becoming the first Arab state to make peace with Israel but also for supporting U.S. efforts to broker a broader Middle East settlement.
The aid has transformed the Egyptian military, which has junked much of its outmoded Soviet equipment in favor of F-16 fighter aircraft, M1A1 Abrams tanks, Patriot anti-missile systems and other state-of-the-art American weaponry. Israel has long accepted the arrangement with little public complaint, perhaps because it receives even more U.S. aid.
STRAINED RELATIONS
Over the last year, however, Egypt’s relations with Capitol Hill have been strained by the outbreak of Palestinian-Israeli violence, the subsequent deterioration in relations between Egypt and the Jewish state, and, most recently, the Sept. 11 attacks.
Although Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak promptly condemned the attacks, he initially offered only tepid public support for the American war in Afghanistan and has suggested that Israel deserves most of the blame for tensions in the region. In the meantime, he has been attacked by Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill and elsewhere for what they see as his failure to curb the anti-Israeli and anti-American venom that pervades much of Egypt’s state-dominated media.
The Bush administration has continued to support transfers of advanced weaponry to Egypt. Since July, the State Department has notified Congress of the administration’s intent to provide Egypt with 26 Extended Range-Multiple Launch Rocket Systems — mobile missile batteries — worth $354 million and kits for the assembly of 100 M1A1 tanks worth $590 million, among other things.
The proposed Harpoon transfers have aroused particular concern on Capitol Hill. While Egypt already has an earlier version of the missile, the Harpoon Block II is the latest model. It is equipped with a 500-pound warhead that “delivers lethal firepower against a wide variety of land-based targets, including coastal defense sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft, port-industrial facilities and ships in port,” according to Boeing promotional literature.
Israel opposes the deal but has decided against doing “anything high-profile” to prevent it, according to an Israeli official in Washington. “In the post-September 11 world, we understand there are larger strategic interests,” the official said. “Having said that, if we are asked for our opinion, there are concerns in Israel. In numbers and equipment, we’re always outgunned, so all we have in Israel is the qualitative edge.”
Israel’s concern is shared by major American Jewish groups, including the Zionist Organization of America, which is lobbying members of Congress to block not only the Harpoon deal but all military aid to Cairo, said Morton Klein, the group’s president.
“Who is [Egypt] planning to go to war against?” he asked yesterday. “I can tell you, the only country we can think of is Israel.”
That argument has found an especially sympathetic ear in Biden, who declared himself “proud to be a Zionist” during a speech to Klein’s organization in Philadelphia on Nov. 4, according to a news release from the group. “There’s no question that Biden has heard from us on that issue,” Klein said.
‘MARITIME BORDERS’
Nabil Fahmy, Egypt’s ambassador to Washington, said, “We are a nation with long maritime borders and significant port facilities, which are used fundamentally for peaceful purposes but which need to be protected.” The Harpoons, he added, “will not be used against anybody who does not attack us.”
A U.S. government official defended Egypt’s record as an ally, describing its cooperation with anti-terrorism efforts as “excellent.” Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the official said, Egypt has eagerly shared intelligence, quickly granted permission for U.S. military overflights en route to Central Asia and responded promptly to President Bush’s plea for action against terrorist financial networks.
Egypt’s perceived ambivalence about the Afghanistan campaign, the official said, is a function of Egyptian domestic politics. “They’ve got a tough problem,” the official said. “They are much more cooperative with us than their public wants them to be.”
Under existing rules, the State Department memo alerting Congress to the proposed Harpoon deal — classified “confidential” — triggered a 20-day comment period. If the administration decides to proceed with the deal, it will publicly notify Congress of its intent.
Lawmakers then would have 30 days to pass a resolution opposing the arms sale, but the president could veto the resolution. Congress therefore would need a two-thirds majority to block a proposed sale or transfer — a level of opposition that has never been reached, congressional aides said.
Thursday, 15 November 2001
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Linthicum, Maryland, was awarded on 8 November 2001, a $6,688,304 firm-fixed-price contract for 468 vehicular intercom systems, spare parts and a field service representative for the Saudi Arabia National Guard Retrofit Program.
Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland, and completion is expected by 30 December 2003. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.
*Halliburton wins a $140 million contract to provide services for Saudi Aramco Qatif Field development project
Wednesday, 14 November 2001
Halliburton’s Energy Services Group, through its Halliburton Energy Services and Landmark Graphics business units, announced today that it has been awarded an $140 million contract to provide services for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company’s (Saudi Aramco) Qatif Field development project in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.
The initial scope of the three-year project to drill producing oil and water wells will include using a wide range of technologies, such as drilling optimization software and extended-reach drilling and the installation of several multilateral systems.
*Boeing begins $60 Million upgrade of Saudi Arabia's AWACS fleet
Wednesday, 22 August 2001
The Boeing Company has begun installing new mission computers and other hardware and software on the Royal Saudi Air Force's (RSAF) fleet of five AWACS aircraft, as part of a contract worth approximately $60 million.
Work will be done in Seattle, with the first two aircraft retrofitted this year and the next three in 2002, said a Boeing statement today.
Under the contract, Boeing will upgrade the aircraft's mission computer and software to the same level currently in use by U.S. Air Force AWACS fleet and provide RSAF operator training.
Saudi Arabia's AWACS fleet is part of the Peace Sentinel program that had started in 1981. It included the five AWACS aircraft and eight KE-3 refueling tanker aircraft, along with spare parts, trainers and support equipment. The first Saudi E-3s were delivered in June 1986, with deliveries of the remaining E-3s and tankers completed by September 1987. Currently carried on-board militarized 707
Why is that?
Why is that, sweetie? I agree with them. Frankly, a whole lot of "America Firsters" will only condemn the $2 billion dollar aid package to Egypt when reminded to do so and constantly whine about how worthless Israel is to us, I haven't seen anyone tell us about what a great friend of the US Egypt is. And, just to remind everyone, it wasn't only Palestinian children who celebrated when our people were murdered on September 11. There were some in Egypt who celebrated as well.
Maybe you could explain how this answers Veronica's question? After that, maybe you could explain why we should care about this?
HUNDREDS of Palestinians carried pix of Bin Laden and danced for joy, while Egyptians yelled BULLS-EYE!!!
By Lamia Radi CAIRO
STORY WAS CENSORED FROM THIS WEEK'S EDITION
"Egyptian students, taxi drivers and shopkeepers crowded round television sets stacked up in electrical store windows in downtown Cairo September 11, celebrating a string of elaborate attacks on New York and Washington.
"Bullseye," commented two taxi drivers as they watched footage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York shrouded in plumes of smoke after two presumably hijacked planes slammed into them earlier in the day.
Another Egyptian man, Gawish Abdel Karim, told AFP he was pleased with the wave of violence in which another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, the heart of the U.S. Defense establishment.
"Nice work," said Abdel Karim, who drives a car for an Asian embassy.
"The Americans have forgotten that God exists. They have us by the throat and now they find themselves in a science fiction film scenario, but this time Rambo's not there to save the White House."
Anti-US sentiment has mushroomed on the streets of Egypt and other Arab countries over its widely perceived support for Israel over the Palestinians in the past 11 months of violence in the Middle East. As with other US facilities around the world, workers at US government offices and Egyptian citizens were taking security precautions, with only "non-essential" operations set to be covered on Wednesday.
However, US officials said there had been no credible or specific threat against US citizens or interests here.
Abdel Karim hailed the attacks as "the best thing that's happened since the October War," referring to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war when Egyptian forces made a surprise attack on the Israeli army across the Suez Canal.
"Mabrouk! Mabrouk! (congratulations)", shouted a crowd of people huddled round the shop window. Egypt, considered one of the "moderate" countries in the Middle East, is one of the United States' strongest allies in the region, being the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
But people on the streets do not necessarily see themselves as US allies. "The Americans are cowards. They use other countries to hit us. They don't have the courage to meet us face to face," said Khalil Matar, 43, who works in a state-run soap factory. "The myth of the indestructible United States has gone up in smoke." Polytechnic student Amira Ryad also vented her anger.
"We saw the tower crash down," she said, referring to one of the two towers of the World Trade Center, both of which were razed by the attack.
"I only wish (US President) George Bush and his dear little baby (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon had been buried in there too," she added.
Fellow student Murad went as far as speculating that the United States was behind the attacks, "to find an excuse for the National Missile Defense system" that Bush wants to deploy to protect the United States from so-called rogue states, despite widespread global opposition. "Those people are capable of killing their own people to prove they're right," he said.
Egyptian President Hosni "Mubarak should know that the people can no longer be humiliated, but of course he'll never declare war" on Israel, the student said. Another taxi driver said he was going to make special prayers to thank him for the attacks against the US."
And this is the censored version.
Really. There were Arabs who actually posed for pictures? Do you have a link to them?
Such utter scum.
Gotta agree with you here, Wheezer. Those Arabs are scum. I knew there were some in Patterson, NJ, who celebrated, but I didn't know they posed for pictures with the WTC in the background.
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