<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/captive-nation-egypt-and-the-west-by-david-edwards">http://www.zcommunications.org/captive-nation-egypt-and-the-west-by-david-edwards</a></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000"><br></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">…In an article for Huffington Post, Hartung added more detail:<o:p></o:p></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">‘Aside
from some leftover Soviet equipment from the pre-Camp David era (before
1979), the Egyptian military is virtually made in the USA. Fighter
planes (Lockheed Martin F-16s), tanks (General Dynamics's M-1A1s),
missiles (Harpoon, TOW, Hellfire, and Stinger, made by Boeing, Raytheon,
and Lockheed Martin), howitzers (United Defense), aircraft engines
(General Electric) have all been purchased for the Egyptian armed forces
with U.S. taxpayer dollars. The biggest winners have been Lockheed
Martin ($3.8 billion); General Dynamics ($2.5 billion); Boeing ($1.7
billion); Raytheon ($750 million); and GE ($750 million).’<o:p></o:p></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">According
to Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Britain sold £16.4m worth of arms
to Egypt in 2009 - 81 export licences were approved for a wide range of
weapons systems components.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000"><b>Alas,
the US is not eager to cut its supply of weapons to Mubarak.</b> Admiral
Mike Mullen, the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, said the US
should wait before suspending aid:<o:p></o:p></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">‘There
is a lot of uncertainty out there and I would just caution against
doing anything until we really understand what's going on. I recognise
that [$1.3bn] certainly is a significant investment, but it's an
investment that has paid off for a long, long time.’<o:p></o:p></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">
<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">Paid
off for whom? Leading Arab scholar-activist <b>Gilbert Achcar explains:
‘the truth is that the army as an institution is not “neutral” at all.
If it has not been used yet to repress the movement, it is only because
Mubarak and the general staff did not see it appropriate to resort to
such a move, probably because they fear that the soldiers would be
reluctant to carry out a repression’.</b></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt"><font color="#000000">…</font></span></div></body></html>