(Washington Times) Rowan Scarborough - Even as President Mohamed Morsi has decreed near-absolute power for himself and his supporters and opponents battle outside his palace, more U.S. battle tanks and jet fighters are on their way to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government. Analysts say Egypt's military buildup presents risks for Washington - and Israel - with the growing influence of the Brotherhood. Egypt is due another 200 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, bringing Egypt's inventory to 1,200. Egypt's 4,000 tanks make it the world's seventh-largest tank army. Also in the pipeline is a squadron of 20 F-16 Falcons that would increase Egypt's fleet to 240. The Pentagon has supplied more than 30 Apache attack helicopters. It also transfers to Egypt excess military gear valued at hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Frank Gaffney, a senior defense policymaker in the Reagan administration who now runs the Center for Security Policy, said, "There are two things that are troubling. One is the sheer quantity of the weapons that these enemies of the United States have inherited, let alone those they will be getting if we continue to make arms sales with them. The second is the quality of these weapons."
2012-12-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive