[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3725 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3725
To prohibit United States military assistance for Egypt and to express
the sense of Congress that the amount of military assistance that would
have been provided for Egypt for a fiscal year should be provided in
the form of economic support fund assistance.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 21, 2004
Mr. Weiner introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit United States military assistance for Egypt and to express
the sense of Congress that the amount of military assistance that would
have been provided for Egypt for a fiscal year should be provided in
the form of economic support fund assistance.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Egyptian Counterterrorism and
Political Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Egypt is not a reliable ally in the war on terrorism.
(2) The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
reports that only two weeks before the September 11, 2001,
attacks, the Egyptian Government daily newspaper Al-Akhbar
published a column that stated: ``The Statue of Liberty, in New
York Harbor, must be destroyed because of following the idiotic
American policy that goes from disgrace to disgrace in the
swamp of bias and blind fanaticism.''.
(3) According to the Middle East Media Research Institute,
the Egyptian Government weekly newspaper Al-Ahram Al-Arabi
published on September 22, 2001, an op-ed article that stated:
``For many long years, America made many peoples in the world
cry. It was always [America] that carried out the acts; now,
acts are being carried out [against] it. A cook who concocts
poison must one day also taste that poison!''.
(4) In the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel,
signed after the Camp David Accords, each party agreed ``to
ensure that acts or threats of belligerency, hostility or
violence do not originate from and are not committed from
within its territory . . . against the population, citizens, or
property of the other party.''.
(5) The Israeli Defense Forces have repeatedly found arms
smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. More than
40 tunnels were discovered in 2003. Some of these tunnels
originate in Egyptian army and police outposts.
(6) Egyptian President Mubarak publicly stated that
Hezbollah had a ``right'' to attack Israelis in Southern
Lebanon.
(7) The Middle East Media Research Institute reports that
Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, recently appointed by the Egyptian
Government to be the Mufti of Egypt, told a conference at the
University of Cairo in March 2003 that ``martyrdom operations,
in which the Palestinians blow up targets of the Israeli
occupation, are actions that are 100 percent permitted
according to Islamic religious law, and it is forbidden to
facilitate attack of a Muslim country . . . Any attempt to
invade Iraq is forbidden by Islamic religious law and by
morality, and Islam forbids it, and even commands its believers
to resist attempts at invasion and occupation.''.
(8) According to the Middle East Media Research Institute,
on August 17, 2001, the Egyptian Government daily newspaper Al-
Akhbar contained an editorial that stated: ``All that we have
left to say to the sons of Palestine . . . Kill your enemies
wherever you may find them. This is a life and death conflict
between you and them and it will not be over through calming
attempts. The only thing that will force your enemy to
surrender and to accept your demands is force, whatever the
sacrifices may be.''.
(9) On May 9, 2003, President Bush stated: ``Over time, the
expansion of liberty throughout the world is the best guarantee
of security throughout the world. Freedom is the way to peace.
. . . We're determined to help build a Middle East that grows
in hope, instead of resentment. Because of the ideals and
resolve of this Nation, you and I will not live in an age of
terror. We will live in an age of liberty.''.
(10) In November 2003 President Bush stated: ``The great
and proud nation Egypt . . . should show the way toward
democracy in the Middle East.''.
(11) The United States Government's Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI) ``champions an expanded public space where
democratic voices can be heard in the political process, and
the people have a choice in governance''.
(12) Egypt is a dictatorship. The due process and
separation of powers key to any functioning democracy have been
stifled in Egypt since Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency
more than 22 years ago. The so-called emergency powers he
renews every three years allow him to arrest political
opponents, their family and friends. Some experts believe that
President Mubarak's refusal to name a successor or vice
president suggests his intention to have his son, Gamal
Mubarak, succeed him.
(13) Egypt regularly tortures its citizens. According to
the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights approximately 13,000
to 16,000 people are detained without charge on suspicion of
security or political offenses in Egypt each year. Amnesty
International published a report last year stating that
``everyone taken into detention in Egypt is at risk of
torture''.
(14) The Washington Post reported on January 6, 2004, that
14 people have been allegedly tortured and killed in Egyptian
jails over the course of the past 2 years.
(15) The Coptic Christian minority of between 6 and 10
million in Egypt is victimized regularly, and remains without
protection. The Government of Egypt has never taken
responsibility for the arrest and torture of more than 1,200
Copts in late 1998 in the wake of sectarian violence.
(16) In the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel,
each party agreed ``that the normal relationship between them
will include full recognition, diplomatic, economic and
cultural relations, termination of economic boycotts, and
discriminatory barriers to the free movement of people and
good, and will guarantee the mutual enjoyment by citizens of
the due process of law''.
(17) As a member of the Arab League, which maintains a
boycott against Israel, Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel
in November of 2000, putting immense strain on the diplomatic
relations established between the two countries 25 years ago at
Camp David.
(18) In the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel,
each party agreed that ``the Parties shall seek to foster
mutual understanding and tolerance and will, accordingly,
abstain from hostile propaganda against each other''.
(19) The American Jewish Committee reported that the
government controlled newspaper, Al-Ahkbar, published two
award-winning columns entitled, ``Thanks to Hitler''. The
Middle East Media Research Institute reported that another
government controlled paper, Al-Ahram, suggested that
``responsibility for [the August bombing in the Iraqi city of
Najaf] is Western responsibility--and more specifically,
American''.
(20) The television series ``Knight Without a Horse'' was
broadcast on Egypt's state-run television during Ramadan 2002.
The television program was based on the Protocols of the Elders
of Zion, an anti-Semitic document that suggests that Jews are
planning to take over the world.
(21) On March 23, 2003, The Washington Post reported: ``The
most popular singer in Egypt is Shaaban Abdel-Rahim, an
illiterate man whose tape `I hate Israel' has sold more than 5
million copies. One of the most successful plays, `Mama
America', a virulently anti-American piece by well-known artist
Mohammed Sobhi, has been running for months.''.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE FOR EGYPT.
(a) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for
fiscal year 2005 and subsequent fiscal years, United States military
assistance may not be provided for Egypt.
(b) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of subsection
(a) for a fiscal year if the President determines and certifies to
Congress that it is in the national security interests of the United
States to do so.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the amount of United States military assistance that
would have been provided for Egypt for a fiscal year but for
the application of section 3(a) should be provided for Egypt
for such fiscal year in the form of economic support fund
assistance under chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 and further that such assistance should be in
addition to economic support fund assistance already proposed
to be provided for Egypt for such fiscal year;
(2) funds for economic support fund assistance for Egypt
should not be used by the armed forces of Egypt;
(3) 30 days prior to the initial obligation of funds for
economic support fund assistance for Egypt for a fiscal year,
the President should certify to Congress that procedures have
been established to ensure that the Comptroller General will
have access to appropriate United States financial information
in order to review the uses of such funds; and
(4) the agreement among the United States, Egypt, and
Israel to decrease the overall amount of United States foreign
assistance for both countries should continue.
SEC. 5. DEFINITION.
In this Act, the term ``United States military assistance'' means--
(1) assistance for nonproliferation, anti-terrorism,
demining and related programs and activities, including
assistance under chapter 8 of part II of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (relating to anti-terrorism assistance) and
assistance under chapter 9 of part II of such Act, section 504
of the FREEDOM Support Act, section 23 of the Arms Export
Control Act, or the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for demining
activities, the clearance of unexploded ordnance, the dest