Experts: Don’t cut aid to Egypt

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The United States should use its billions in aid to Egypt as leverage to force a transition to democracy, foreign-policy experts told lawmakers Wednesday in Congress’ first hearing since massive anti-government demonstrations for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The Obama administration and Congress have struggled with the vexing problem of how to embrace a powerful democratic movement while dealing with longtime ally Mubarak, who clings to power despite the clamor for him to step down. Lawmakers have played a limited role in a foreign-policy crisis that has gripped the White House and State Department for weeks, offering statements but largely deferring to the administration.

Deciding on whether to give U.S. taxpayer dollars to Egypt is the exception; Congress will decide.

Summoning former State Department officials and other experts, the House Foreign Affairs Committee focused on the aid to Egypt, which is at least $1.5 billion a year in military assistance, the implications if the Muslim Brotherhood is part of a future government and the prospects for September elections.

As protests roil Egypt and the government signals they won’t be tolerated much longer, some lawmakers have called for an immediate suspension of aid until there is concrete evidence of a move to democracy.

Elliott Abrams, a senior State Department official in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, said the United States should use aid like a cudgel and make clear that it won’t abide any violent crackdown on protesters.

“We’re not going to pay for the suppression of democracy,” Abrams, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the committee. “Now is the time to signal to them this aid is conditional. I wouldn’t cut it off today. First I would send that message that we’re watching, and it could be cut off any day if you guys do a Tiananmen Square in Cairo.”

In 1989, Tiananmen Square was the site of the government’s bloody effort to rein in protesters.

Yet some lawmakers argued for cutting off aid as the Egyptian government has been slow to produce real concessions. Strikes and protests occurred throughout Egypt on Wednesday.