Ambassador Fahmy: Egypt Needs the U.S.

Dr. Nabil Fahmy has been Egypt’s Ambassador to the United States since 1999. In a wide-ranging interview conducted on November 6th, Ambassador Fahmy detailed the current state of U.S. - Egyptian relations.

How would you characterize the strategic basis of the US-Egyptian relationship?

I think it is relationship that is strategic for both of us in a sense that Egypt wants to promote itself as an active player besides our own regional interest in the Middle East. We have a national interest in pursing peace in Middle East and you have a fundamental role in either the success or failure of the peace process, not because you are responsible for it, but because you are the main sponsor, and if I can say the most effective interlocutor if the parties allow you to play that role and you allow the parties to enable you to play that role. So globally or regionally, Egypt needs the U.S.

President Mubarak is widely considered to be the region’s senior diplomat. Some observers feel, though, that President Mubarak’s participation in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has reflected growing frustration. How do you see his role in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the next year?

The President’s position and outlook is one, on the one hand, determined, because he knows it is in the national interest, so whether it is easy or difficult he is determined to pursue peace. On the other hand, I agree with you, he is frustrated that it has taken so long. That after having moved so far from where we were, we are now talking about the details of our agreement, where we have stopped in our tracks and are actually falling backwards in the process. And rather than bringing it to closure people are talking about whether peace is possible or not.

So he is determined that he will continue and you will find him again trying to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together to the negotiating table which is the only way to solve this. But you are right he is frustrated because where we are today is very uncomfortable.

Since the September 11th attacks, what role has Egypt played in helping find the terrorists responsible?

Many things, from our own experience we understand this will be a multi-disciplinary effort. There will always be a security dimension. In your case it will be military, in our case it was police because it was domestic. But there is also an aspect which involved intelligence. Which has been ongoing with the U.S. before, during, [September 11th] and continues. Terrorism has targeted Egypt as it has the U.S. in the past and it has targeted Europe before that. We have to deal with the whole problem through international efforts. And there are other issues, how to ensure that terrorists do not find safe haven that their resources do not flow easily through our civil society and enable them to work actively. All of these problems, freezing accounts, safe haven, you name it, we have dealt with these issues domestically and we have tried to address them with foreign partners.

So, we have conveyed to the U.S. our own experience, we have shared with them intelligence information. We continue to do that regularly.

What would you say to some Members of Congress who want to curtail military and arms sales to Egypt?

I feel there is widespread support for Egypt’s position in Congress, especially after September 11th. I think people in Congress recognize that what we have done after September 11th, that the U.S. and Egypt are strong friends. Whether we differ on some tactical issues or not is marginal in terms of when the going gets tough Egypt is always there for America, and we have proven that on matter of principle every single time there has been need. So I don’t see support for Egypt decreasing, I see it increasing.

For whoever has concerns about the military program, if we were not strong we could not support the U.S. We are the cornerstone of peace in the Middle East. All of the security elements factor into making us a strong foundation for peace. So there is no contradiction whatsoever in terms of a continued robust Egypt and U.S. interests.

Some Members of Congress – specifically Sen. McConnell of Kentucky - are concerned that Egypt is not a democracy. In fact, McConnell has claimed that President Mubarak has led "an assault against freedom with a not so hidden agenda to propagate Arab hatred against Israel and to muzzle democracy and civil society in Egypt." Senator McConnell said only Secretary Powell’s intervention kept him from introducing an amendment in the Senate to cut assistance to Egypt. How do you respond to Senator McConnell and those who may share his feelings in the Senate and House?

Obviously I disagree with the Senator. On the peace process, two days ago, who gathered Arafat and Peres together? It was Egypt. There was no one else doing this. Even when we have had problems, we have been doing this in good times and bad. Everyone else gets distracted with their own priorities and when other things happen – we do not. We have pursued peace and we will need to pursue peace.

On the House side, some Members of Congress have raised the issue of anti-Semitic statements and cartoons in government-owned press. How do you answer those charges?

Simply there is no government censorship, we do not censor the press, we do not manage the press. When somebody in the press publishes something about a faith, whether it be Christian or Jewish, occasionally we will call the editor. Just as I will call editors here when they say something that I find offensive. It is up to them to do what they want to do about it.

I have seen numerous offensive articles about Islam, about the Arab world since September 11th here in the press. I’ve talked to publishers; they have apologized to me. They have not fired anybody; we will not fire anybody. If people are intolerant, in our press we address it in the context that the press is free to publish what they want; we will disagree with them when we have to.—