Egypt in Perspective

What would you call a country with no external enemies, no border disputes, and no alliances that require military support and no peacekeeping obligations?

Lucky? Costa Rica? Egypt.

What would you call a country with no external enemies, no border disputes, and no alliances that require military support and no peacekeeping obligations?

Lucky? Costa Rica? Egypt.

Which makes the increasing evidence of Libyan-Egyptian nuclear cooperation – and the Administration’s lack of evident concern – most distressing. According to Middle East News Line (MENL), Libya was both the source for and the recipient of nuclear and missile technology and expertise from Egypt. MENL reports that inspection officials “said Egypt appeared to have been using Libya as a way-station for obtaining nuclear and missile technology and components from North Korea,” and the IAEA is still trying to determine whether Egypt received Pakistani nuclear weapons designs, including those for nuclear warheads. U.S. officials have reported that Libya, with help from North Korea, had developed and produced an extended-range Scud C missile with an 800 km range. The U.S. now has possession of them, but according to MENL, Washington also has evidence that the Scud C technology was relayed to Egypt.

The Egyptian dictator Mubarak is scheduled to meet with President Bush in April, but U.S. officials said they doubt the alleged Egyptian-Libyan missile and nuclear cooperation will be raised. We doubt it as well, but we propose that it be added to the list of items that SHOULD be on the agenda, including:

• Missile technology Egypt acquired from North Korea, including the 24 No-Dong missiles Egypt reportedly acquired in 2002.
• Egyptian development of the 1,200-mile range, liquid fueled missile known as Vector.
• Egyptian assistance to Libya for developing a 1,000+ km missile based on No-Dong technology.

Mubarak gets huffy when questioned about Egypt’s military intentions, claiming the right to decide for himself what form Egyptian “defense” should take. But since the U.S. has spent BILLIONS transforming Egypt from a Russian-based to an American-based military, including M1A1 tanks with depleted uranium rounds, F-16 jet fighters, MLRS, Harpoon Block II missiles, air-defense radars and more, we have some right to ask.

Right, hell. We have an obligation to ask why a poor, dictatorial, hostile country with a government maintained by force of arms over an oppressed and restless population is building an offensive force including missiles that have no evident target except Israel. The fact that it sits in a crucial geographic location is not good enough.

Egypt has not helped constrain Palestinian violence against Israel or policed the Gaza- Egypt border. It is not an ally in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them. It is not a participant in the Middle East Democracy Initiative. At best it is quietly belligerent toward all three American objectives – which isn’t good enough either.