Algunos datos acerca de Egipto, el segundo mayor receptor de ayuda de EEUU después de Israel, y cómo gasta los $ 2 mil millones que recibe anualmente.

En el 2010, $ 1,3 mil millones fueron a reforzar las fuerzas armadas egipcias frente a 250 millones de dólares en ayuda económica

Los EE.UU. le ha dado a Egipto un promedio de $ 2 mil millones al año desde 1979, muchos de ellos en ayuda militar, según el Servicio de Investigación del Congreso. El total combinado hace que Egipto sea el segundo mayor receptor de ayuda de EE.UU. después de Israel.

La Casa Blanca dijo el viernes que revisaría la ayuda de EE.UU. a Egipto sobre la base de cómo avancen los eventos en los próximos días en medio de protestas masivas dirigidas a poner fin a 30 años de gobierno del presidente Hosni Mubarak.

Éstos son algunos datos acerca de la ayuda:

• En el 2010, $ 1,3 mil millones fueron a reforzar las fuerzas egipcias frente a 250 millones de dólares en ayuda económica. Otros $ 1,9 millones fueron para la capacitación destinada a fortalecer la cooperación militar a largo plazo entre Estados Unidos y Egipto. Egipto también recibe cientos de millones de dólares extras en equipos militares del Pentágono.

• La administración de Obama ha pedido al Congreso que apruebe sumas similares en ayuda para el año fiscal 2011.

• La co–producción del tanque Abrams M1A1 Battle entre Estados Unidos y Egipto es uno de los pilares de la asistencia militar de EE.UU. Egipto planea adquirir 1.200 de los tanques. General Dynamics Corp es el contratista principal del programa.

• Lockheed Martin Corp está construyendo 20 nuevos F–16C / D aviones de combate avanzados para Egipto. El último F–16 egipcio bajo contrato se deberá entregar en 2013, uniéndose a los 240 que Egipto ya ha adquirido, de acuerdo con Lockheed Martin, el mayor proveedor del Pentágono por ventas.

• Egipto fue el primer país árabe en comprar aviones F–16, considerados ampliamente como un símbolo de los lazos políticos y de seguridad con los EE.UU.

• Los EE.UU. también han suministrado helicópteros de transporte Boeing Co Chinook CH–47D, aviones Northrop Grumman Corp E–2C Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning Command & Control y sistemas Patriot de defensa aérea construida por Lockheed y Raytheon Co.

• Parte de la ayuda económica de EE.UU. se destina a programas de “promoción de la democracia” en Egipto, una política que ha generado controversia en los últimos años. "En principio, el gobierno egipcio rechaza toda ayuda de EE.UU. para las actividades de promoción de la democracia, sin embargo ha aceptado a regañadientes un cierto grado de programación", dijo Jeremy Sharp del Servicio de Investigación del Congreso en un informe de antecedentes actualizado el 28 de enero.

U.S. Military Faces Test of Influence in
the Egyptian armed forces

Washington – The officer corps of Egypt’s powerful military has been educated at defense colleges in the United States for 30 years. The Egyptian armed forces have about 1,000 American M1A1 Abrams tanks, which the United States allows to be built on Egyptian soil. Egypt permits the American military to stage major operations from its bases, and has always guaranteed the Americans passage through the Suez Canal.

The relationship between the Egyptian and American militaries is, in fact, so close that it was no surprise on Friday to find two dozen senior Egyptian military officials at the Pentagon, halfway through an annual week of meetings, lunches and dinners with their American counterparts.

By the afternoon, the Egyptians had cut short the talks to return to Cairo, but not before a top American Defense Department official, Alexander Vershbow, had urged them to exercise “restraint,” the Pentagon said.

It remained unclear on Saturday, as the Egyptian Army was deployed on the streets of Cairo for the first time in decades, to what degree the military would remain loyal to the embattled president, Hosni Mubarak.

But among the many fears of the United States was the possibility that, despite the army’s seemingly passive stance on Saturday, the Egyptian armed forces would begin firing on the protesters – an action that would probably be seen as leading to an end to the army’s legitimacy.

“If they shoot on the crowd, they could win tomorrow, and then there will be a revolt that will sweep them away,” said Bruce O. Riedel, an expert on the Middle East and Asia at the Brookings Institution, who predicts that in any event, Mr. Mubarak will step down.

A possible successor – and a sign of how closely the military is intertwined with the ruling party – is Omar Suleiman, head of military intelligence, who state media said had been sworn in as the new vice president.

Mr. Riedel, a former C.I.A. official who led the 2009 White House review of United States strategy in Afghanistan, said that the Egyptian military would be a critical player in any negotiated settlement to remove Mr. Mubarak from power.

At the Pentagon on Saturday morning, American military officials said that the Egyptian Army was acting professionally and that they had no indications that it had swung over all to the side of the uprising. At the same time, the officials noted, the army has not cracked down on the protests.

“They certainly haven’t inflicted any harm on protesters,” said Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “They’re focused mainly on protecting the institutions of government, as they should be.”

United States military officials said there was no formal line of communication between the Joint Chiefs and the Egyptian military, although they said there might be conversations if the crisis deepens. Admiral Mullen had been scheduled to meet on Monday in Washington with Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, who is both the Egyptian defense chief and the chief of staff of the Egyptian Army. But General Enan was the leader of the delegation of senior Egyptian officials at the Pentagon and had left abruptly for Cairo on Friday night.

The question now is how much influence the United States has on the Egyptian military and exactly what, given the chaos on the streets of Cairo, it would like the Egyptian armed forces to do other than exercise restraint.

“Are relations good enough for us to raise questions about excessive repression?” said Anthony H. Cordesman, an expert on the Egyptian military at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Yes. Is it a force that will listen to us if there is a military takeover and we want them to move to a democratically elected government as soon as possible? They will listen. But this is a very proud group of people. The fact that they will listen doesn’t mean we can in any way leverage them.”

American military officials said on Friday that they had had no formal discussions with their Egyptian counterparts at the Pentagon about how to handle the uprising. “No guidance was given,” said Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “In other words, we didn’t say anything to them about how they should handle it, and they didn’t tell us about how they were going to handle it.”

But, General Cartwright said, “hallway” discussions did take place with the Egyptian military about the protests, and American military officials said contingency plans had been made should American Embassy in Cairo have to be evacuated.

Unlike the feared Egyptian police forces, which had mostly withdrawn from central Cairo on Saturday, the army is considered professional, not repressive and a stable force in the country’s politics. Egyptian men all serve in the army, which for the most part enjoys popular support.

But the military is also loyal to Mr. Mubarak, who led the air force before becoming president. The three other presidents who served since the 1952 military coup that overthrew the monarchy have also been generals.

“The Egyptian military is the regime, and the regime is the Egyptian military,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. “Mubarak’s successor is likely to either be his son, someone else from the military or someone blessed by the military.”

Since 1978, the United States has given Egypt $35 billion in military aid, making it the largest recipient of conventional American military and economic aid after Israel.

Egypt now receives about $1.5 billion in United States aid annually; the Obama administration warned Mr. Mubarak on Friday that it would review that aid.

Most recently, Egypt bought 24 F–16 fighter jets from the United States as well as a Patriot surface–to–air missile battery.