20101231
reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military has resisted U.S. pressure to modify its strategy to counter new regional threats, stressing the country's national security was "a red line" the United States could not cross, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables showed.

Egypt has received over $36 billion in U.S. military aid since in 1979 when it made peace with Israel, the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. But the cables showed Washington and its Arab ally disagreed on how the money should be spent.

U.S. defense officials said Egypt's army was outdated and needed to be re-focussed to counter "asymmetric threats" such as terrorism, the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, piracy and support U.S. policy towards Iran, a February 9, 2010 cable showed.

"While the U.S.-Egypt military relationship remains strong, the Egyptian military has been resistant to our efforts to adjust its focus to reflect new regional and transnational threats," said a February 28 2010 cable.

But Egyptian military officials said threats facing their U.S. ally were different from Egypt's.

The Arab country's defense policy priorities were "Egyptian land and the Suez Canal," and keeping "a strong conventional army to counter other armies in the region," Major-General Mohammad al-Assar said in the February 9 2010 cable.

While Egypt preferred "to purchase its weapons and armaments from the United States," its "national security was a red line" Assar said, adding that they "could go elsewhere if they had to," the memo showed.

Much of the annual $1.3 billion military aid to Egypt goes towards acquiring U.S. equipment to modernise its aging army.