US media sound discordant note on US-Egypt ties

WASHINGTON: US media sounded a discordant note on Saturday, with some newspapers calling for a reevaluation of US-Egyptian relations after violent protests in Egyptian cities and others advocating caution.

Currently, US military aid to Egypt equals $1.3 billion annually, most of which is spent on modernizing weapons systems, according to a Congressional Research Service report."Rather than calling on an intransigent ruler to implement 'reforms,' the administration should be attempting to prepare for the peaceful implementation of the opposition platform," The Washington Post said in an editorial.

The paper said the US government should be reaching out to former UN nuclear official Mohamed ElBaradei who Friday was reported to be under house arrest - and other mainstream opposition leaders. "And it should be telling the Egyptian army, with no qualification, that the violent suppression of the uprising will rupture its relationship with the United States," The Post opined.

But The Los Angeles Times said that Egypt and its President Hosni Mubarak are strong US allies in a region rife with anti-Americanism.  "By signing a peace treaty with Israel, the late President Anwar Sadat reduced dramatically the possibility of a major Arab-Israeli war, and Egypt under Mubarak continues to play a broker's role in the pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace," The Los Angeles Times said.

"No one expects the United States to advocate regime change," the paper said. "Nor is it likely to condition the more than $1 billion in economic and military aid it sends to Egypt each year on political reform (though that is a course we would support)."  Meanwhile, a prominent Middle East expert, quoted by The New York Times, warned the downfall of Mubarak could pave the way for Islamist radicals eager to increase their clout in Egypt.

"If we don't back Mubarak and the regime falls, and the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of Egypt and breaks the peace treaty with Israel, then it could have dramatic negative ramifications for American interests in the Middle East," Martin Indyk, a Middle East peace negotiator during the Bill Clinton administration, told The Times.