For more than 30 years, Cairo has received billions of dollars of aid from Washington. Recently, this aid has become a topic of heated discussions, with US government officials threatening to pull the aid over uncertainties over whether or not to label Egypt’s recent uprising as a “coup.” Yet, here are four reasons why US aid to Egypt is here to stay, and why Egypt does not ‘need’ this aid. 1. Egypt Doesn’t Choose Where The Aid Is Spent Every year, the USA sends Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid, for Egypt’s military to spend on technology and infrastructure of its choice, right? Wrong. According to a government official, the US government decides exactly which weaponry to send to Egypt. The same government official states that often, Egypt is sent weapons that are not as advanced as those sent to neighboring countries like Israel. This fact was recently supported by an email sent to NPR from the State Department, which said “The U.S. decides which weapons to send to countries like Egypt in consultation with our partners’ own determination of their strategic and force structure requirements.” 2. …
