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Al-Ahram Weekly 5 - 11 August 1999 Issue No. 441 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 5 - 11 August 1999 Issue No. 441
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Interview Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Keeping the military
By Amira Ibrahim
balance skewedArms sales to Egypt worth $764 million were recently announced by the US administration, which said that these would enhance Egypt's military capabilities, support US foreign policy and national security goals, and would not adversely affect the military balance in the Middle East. The deals include the upgrading of five E-2C Hawkeye aircrafts, two Black Hawk helicopters, with parts and communications systems, and 100 M1A1 tanks.
The agreement "will certainly support the security of a friendly country that has always been, and will remain, an important power for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," a Pentagon spokesman said.
The new sales come on top of those agreed five months ago during a visit by US Secretary of Defense William Cohen to Egypt, when the US agreed the sale of $3.2 billion worth of weapons, including 24 F-16 fighter jets, 200 M1A1 tanks and 32 Patriot anti-missile missiles.
The F-16 fighter jets will boost a group already being used by the Egyptian Air Force. The tanks, which cost nearly $700 million, will be assembled in Egypt, while the Patriot-3 missiles consist of eight firing units, each containing four missiles.
Since Egypt's signing of a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, the country has received large amounts of US economic and military aid. The new deal is also the latest of several arms offers to America's allies in the region. In addition to the recently announced Egyptian deal, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been offered advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM), while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently planning to buy 80 of the earlier F-16 fighter aircrafts for $6 billion, together with a package of AMRAAM and other air-to-air missiles for a further $2 billion.
At Cohen's March news conference in Cairo, he denied the suggestion that the United States was fuelling a Middle East arms race, and said that Washington was ready to help its allies in the region by responding to legitimate requests for military modernisation.
Past US military aid to Arab countries has, however, usually been met with strong protests from Israel. These are often translated into Israeli demands for more military aid, backed up by the Israeli argument that it needs to maintain military superiority in the region.
During Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's visit to the US last month, the administration announced that the two countries would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to restructure US bilateral assistance to Israel. The text of the MOU states US intentions to sustain its current annual military assistance to Israel, and incrementally to increase it by one-third over the next decade to $2.4 billion. Further military contacts between the two countries were also agreed, which would take place through a Defence Policy Advisory Group. This would coordinate cooperation between the US and Israeli defence departments.
The additional $1.2 billion military aid package to Israel has three components: assistance to Israeli defence forces, including projects which will be managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers; assistance in meeting Israel's broader strategic requirements, including Theatre Missile Defence (TMD), helicopters, communications equipment and munitions; and assistance in meeting the increased cost of Israeli counter-terrorism efforts.
In this context, the MOU confirmed that the US would provide funding for Israel's acquisition of a Third Arrow missile battery, develop new technologies and systems designed to deal with ballistic missiles and establish a Strategic Policy Planning Group (SPPG). The group would develop measures to bolster Israel's defense and to minimise costs and risks in order to enhance Israel's security. It will report to Barak and Clinton at four-monthly intervals.
Although the arms sales to Egypt appear large, they should not be seen as contributing to a new arms race in the region, a charge made by some Israeli officials.
According to Abdel-Halim Mahgoub, a strategic and military expert, the situation in which Middle Eastern states were, during the Cold War, torn between the US and the Soviet Union and involved in the 50-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict, has now changed. Each state now maintains a military force only in order to convince other countries that if necessary it is prepared to defend its national security interests.
"Egypt, Israel, Syria, Iran and Turkey are examples [of this policy]. Each draws up its own plans to face certain threats, but only Israel draws up its plans to face every possible threat from all the states in the region and aims to be superior to all of them," he said. "Responding positively to Israel's demands, the American administration has guaranteed its superiority, particularly by providing it with more traditional arms, advanced electronic systems and new generations of F-15s and F-16s."
But Israel's most significant achievement, however, is to have convinced the US administration of the alleged threat posed to it by Iranian and Syrian missile capabilities. Iran possesses 200 Scud-B and 100 Scud-C missiles, and is reportedly working with North Korea to develop its missile batteries. It has already obtained SS-4 and SS-25 Cruise missiles from Russia. Syria possesses 600 Scud B and C missiles, partly manufactured by Syria with the cooperation of China and North Korea. In view of this, last month Israel was offered 50 modified F-16 jet fighters by the US, and it managed to push through the US-Israeli Third Arrow missile battery programme.
Against this background the recent Egyptian arms sales, which are mainly made up of traditional weapons and are intended only to modernise the military, reflect the US conviction that strengthening Egypt's military capabilities is important and necessary to the stability of the region.
But US military assistance to Egypt will not be allowed to reach a level that could challenge Israel's military superiority. Moreover, US policy is not likely to allow Egypt and other Arab states to develop a new, more effective military strategy.
American opposition to military developments involving Arab countries is evidence of this. "The US strongly opposed an Egyptian-Argentinian project to manufacture Theatre missiles. And the Damascus Declaration, which was supposed to lead to a joint Arab security system, faces similar opposition," commented Mahgoub.
"Whereas military aid to Israel has been increased by one-third, guaranteed directly in cash, Egypt receives its military aid accompanied by strict conditions," he added.
