Egypt's ruling generals are playing a risky game of brinksmanship by cracking down on American nonprofit groups that promote democracy, threatening a relationship with Washington that has brought the military billions of dollars in aid over the past three decades. The generals may be betting the US cannot afford to cut relations with Egypt — a cornerstone of American Mideast policy. But the ruling military council may also fear it has much more than foreign aid to lose if it fully embraces a democratic transition that could bring civilian oversight of its substantial financial assets and curb its long-standing domination of politics. Egypt on Sunday referred 19 Americans, including the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and 24 other employees of pro-democracy nonprofit groups to trial before a criminal court on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country. The referral came one day after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Egypt that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of American aid. The depth of the tensions was evident when an Egyptian government delegation abruptly canceled meetings in Washington with US lawmakers set for Monday and Tuesday. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, admonished the Egyptians, calling their referral to trial a “slap in the face to Americans who have supported Egypt for decades and to Egyptian individuals and NGOs who have put their futures on the line for a more democratic Egypt.” Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said that Cairo ignores at its own peril a provision he authored about US aid to Egypt. The provision requires the Secretary of State to certify to Congress that Egypt is supporting the transition to civilian government by holding fair elections and establishing policies “to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law” before Cairo gets $1.3 billion in military aid this year. “Unless they're following what we put in the amendment, there's no way they should be getting any money. Right now they're not following what we put in there,” Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's foreign operations subcommittee, told reporters. Egypt and the United States have been close allies for more than three decades. But Cairo's campaign against the pro-democracy groups could seriously damage relations with far-reaching ramifications in a region already shaken by the political realignments arising from Arab Spring revolts. Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, demanded that Egypt return all assets and funds seized in the raids of the NGOs, allow them to reopen their offices and end the investigations and prosecutions. “The Egyptian government's actions cannot be taken lightly and warrant punitive actions against certain Egyptian officials, and consideration of a cutoff of US assistance to Egypt,” she said. Besides the $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid, Egypt also receives about $250 million in economic aid every year.
