White House Seeks $200 Million Arms Sale to Egypt
February 18, 2021
The request to Congress comes days after relatives of a prominent Egyptian
American activist were arrested and jailed.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Feb. 4. (State Department, Freddie
Everett)
By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams
On the same day that the Biden administration published a statement
supporting a declaration against arbitrary detention - and days after
relatives of a prominent Egyptian American activist were arrested and jailed
- the U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced the proposed sale of
nearly $200 million worth of shipborne surface-to-air missiles to Egypt's
authoritarian regime.
In boilerplate language, the State Department said the $197 million sale of
up to 168 Raytheon Rolling Airframe missiles "will support the foreign
policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the
security of a major non-NATO ally country that continues to be an important
strategic partner in the Middle East."
The State Department further explained that the sale, which is subject to
congressional approval, "will support the Egyptian Navy's Fast Missile Craft
ships and provide significantly enhanced area defense capabilities over
Egypt's coastal areas and approaches to the Suez Canal."
For decades, successive U.S. administrations have supported authoritarian
governments in Cairo. Former President Donald Trump reportedly called the
country's current leader, former army general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, "my
favorite dictator."
President Joe Biden, however, has vowed to hold Egypt's rulers accountable
for their security forces' human rights violations - which, according to a
2019 State Department report, include arbitrary extrajudicial killings,
forced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention.
Surface-to-air firing from USS Green Bay during tests off Hawaii, 2009.
(U.S. Navy, Larry S. Carlson)
After relatives of Virginia-based Egyptian American human rights activist
and regime critic Mohamed Soltan were arrested last year, then-candidate
Biden called the move "unacceptable" and vowed, "no more blank checks for
Trump's 'favorite dictator.'"
Days after Biden's election, Egyptian authorities released five of Soltan's
relatives who were imprisoned when the exiled dissident - who is a former
prisoner of the Egyptian regime -sued former Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi
in a U.S. court. However, on Sunday, security forces raided the homes of six
of Soltan's family members, arresting two cousins in what critics of Egypt's
regime are calling an act of open defiance of Biden's calls to respect human
rights.
The arrests of Soltan's cousins are part of a wider pattern of Egyptian
authorities targeting relatives of exiled regime critics. The Washington
Post reported Tuesday that at least three family members of Chicago-based
activist Aly Mahdy were arrested after he tweeted support for the 2011 Arab
Spring revolution that ousted longtime former Egyptian military dictator
Hosni Mubarak.
Security forces also recently raided the home of Taqadum al-Khatib's parents
after the academic - who now lives in Germany - tweeted that el-Sisi's
regime "will be seen on the wrong side of history."
President Donald Trump greets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, 2017.
(White House/Shealah Craighead)
At a Tuesday press briefing, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said
the administration was "looking into" the arrests and that it takes
"seriously all allegations of arbitrary arrest or detention."
"We will bring our values with us into every relationship that we have
across the globe," Price said, according to Al Jazeera. "That includes with
our close security partners. That includes with Egypt."
Underscoring its claimed commitment to human rights - and what critics call
its hypocrisy - the State Department on Tuesday published a statement from
Secretary of State Antony Blinken applauding a Canadian-led declaration
against the use of arbitrary detention and condemning the practice as "a
heinous act against. human rights."
Citing rights violations committed in the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war in
Yemen, the Biden administration - which announced last week that it was
ending support for "offensive operations" in the conflict - said last month
that it would temporarily suspend the sale of billions of dollars worth of
arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, including nearly half a
billion dollars worth of Raytheon bombs.
Greg Hayes, the CEO of Raytheon - on whose board Defense Secretary Lloyd
Austin III sat until his nomination - shrugged off the suspension, telling
investors that "peace is not going to break out in the Middle East anytime
soon," and that the region - which includes Egypt as a key arms
importer-"remains an area where we'll continue to see solid growth."
This article is from Common Dreams.