USA Today February 02, 2011
U.S. and Egyptian militaries have much at stake in crisis
By Tom Vanden Brook and Mimi Hall
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is hopeful that whatever the outcome of the Egyptian crisis, the two militaries will continue working together on protecting the region from threats.
"We have had for decades a very close relationship with the Egyptian military, and we certainly hope that relationship can continue," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They have been an important partner in the region, and thus far, they have acted very professionally in this crisis."
The U.S. military has a deep relationship with the Egyptian army that includes spending $1 billion annually to equip its forces and conducting joint operations to sending ships through the Suez Canal. Also crucial: Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, which has helped limit tensions in the Middle East.
U.S. military aid to Egypt, which totals more than $1.3 billion annually according to the State Department, has equipped its Army with the M1A1 Abrams tanks, Apache helicopters and the F-16 fighter jets that roared above demonstrators in Cairo.
The Egyptian air force also flies U.S. F-4 fighter jets, C-130 cargo planes and Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters. Its Army drives Humvees, shoots American artillery and fires Hellfire missiles. Its Navy sails U.S. ships and fires American torpedoes.
The Egyptian military hosts exercises with U.S. troops, including Bright Star, which combines land, sea and air forces.
That Egypt's military hardware bears an American stamp isn't lost on protesters, said Thomas Donnelly, a military analyst with the American Enterprise Institute. U.S. defense officials have been working hard to ensure that those weapons won't be used to put down a political opposition movement, he said.
"Our generals are no doubt spending a lot of time talking to their Egyptian counterparts," Donnelly said. "We'll see what years of investing in the Egyptian military means in this time of crisis."
The Pentagon depends on Egypt to move materiel through the Middle East to sustain wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Losing its cooperation could be costly to the United States, said Jon Alterman, a Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"If you don't have that option, or you unreliably have that option, you have to do a whole range of things differently as you look to contain Iran, sustain a war in Afghanistan and wind down a battle in Iraq," Alterman said.
Peace with Israel has allowed Egypt to focus on other threats, including internal militant groups. If Egypt were to break its treaty with Israel, its U.S. military aid would vanish, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org. Egypt would then be forced to fend for itself against the well-armed Israeli military, a prospect it would not welcome. "Egypt would have to have real military, and they'd have to pay for it themselves," Pike said.
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