Suspend Aid to Egypt Now

[cali]

When Egyptian police opened fire on protesters in Cairo over the weekend, they ended not only scores of lives but also any chance of a peaceful resolution to Egypt’s burgeoning civil war. They also further exposed the Barack Obama administration’s hypocritical policy of maintaining aid to the regime, despite U.S. law requiring a suspension.

The day before the killings, the administration had declared that it would circumvent the law, which mandates a cutoff of aid to any country whose legitimately elected leader is overthrown in a military coup. The U.S. would not determine whether the Egyptian military’s coup against legitimately elected President Mohamed Mursi was what it was. “Legal obligations” were important, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. It’s just that unspecified “national security interests” were more important.

Left unmentioned were the financial interests at stake: If the U.S. severs Egypt’s aid, it will be on the hook for billions of dollars in U.S. military contracts meant for Egypt. And if Egyptian aid is not renewed, U.S. military contractors will lose an important client.

This situation emerges from Egypt’s privileged position among U.S. aid recipients. Not only is Egypt one of the biggest recipients of U.S. aid, receiving $1.55 billion annually, $1.3 billion of which goes to the military. What’s more, Egypt and Israel alone are allowed to use something called cash-flow financing to acquire defense goods and services from the U.S. This enables them to make contracts for the future based on expected aid. Egypt pays the U.S. for the goods out of its aid, and the U.S. pays the contractors.

The U.S. won’t give an estimate for the total value of outstanding contracts. A $2.5 billion deal with Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) in 2010, however, is representative. The company agreed to deliver 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt by December 2014. Through June 30, it had delivered 14. Through April, the U.S. has committed $797 million toward the contract, leaving it liable for the remaining $1.7 billion.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/suspend-aid-to-egypt-now.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Its all about recycling US taxpayers money into their own MIC.

[East Coast Pirate]

3. But Egypt needs F-15s

for something.

[cali]

2. kick

[Dustlawyer]

4. K&R! Off subject a little, but reading about Egypt's US aid (So we can access the Suez Canal and

keep access open for us to name one reason for the aid), I start thinking about the damn MIC and then saw the mention in the post above. Why not have a rotating group of non-govt. anonymous private citizens to negotiate these contracts, after we get control of our govt., back from the 1% and the corporations, including that same MIC! They could also have some oversight into whether the weapons are necessary and/or needed!
Sorry, get off track while waiting for coffee to be ready. Ahh, better now! We need to figure out what the right thing to do is and then do it in Egypt. Of course, here would be an area where Obama could have weighed in on the side of the people in Egypt and helped our relations with Muslims of several countries. Instead, we will support the army and give them what they need to keep their people down so our MIC can make money
SUPPORT PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS, LET'S FIGHT THE POLITICAL CORRUPTION!!!

[pampango]

5. I had never heard of "cash-flow financing" for aid. We will still be on the hook for the cost of

military aid, even if we cut it off. The government pays the military contractors then gets 'repaid' by Egypt and Israel when they send us back the 'aid' funds we send to them. No aid funds - no repayment.

If the U.S. severs Egypt’s aid, it will be on the hook for billions of dollars in U.S. military contracts meant for Egypt.

That's a new one.