US to go ahead with missile deal with Egypt

The US administration Thursday night said it will go ahead in selling anti-ship missiles to Egypt, despite efforts by pro-Israeli circles to block the deal.

The sale of Harpoons is part of an ongoing, longstanding cooperation we have had with the Egyptian military.

This is a follow-on to a system that they already have, Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher said.

We have encouraged them to expand their capabilities in terms of being able to protect shipping in the Suez. And we see that as a value to shipping generally and to US warships that use this channel as well," Boucher noted, adding that the deal had been discussed with the Congress members, and that consultations would continue in this regard.

According to what was declared several days ago, the American administration intends to sell to Egypt surface-to surface missiles, and four military vessels used to launch the missiles. The deal is worth S 400 million.

Harpoon manufacturing company, Boeing, describes the satellite-directed anti-ship missiles as the most successful in the world.

Meanwhile, Boucher said that Secretary of State Colin Powell did not raise the recent claims about a secret arms deal between Egypt and North Korea during his meeting with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.

Boucher said he sees no contradiction in "our willingness to work with and support our partners in this cause in a variety of ways.

We are certainly aware of some of the economic consequences of the situation.

"We would consider the needs that Egypt had and see if there was something we could do for them," Boucher added.

On the issue of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, the spokesman said, it is "a treaty that we have with a number of countries, in order to provide a better channel for helping each other when it comes to investigations, court cases and criminal matters."

"But it does have significance in the current circumstances, because the kind of information exchange, documents exchange, evidentiary exchange that this treaty can help facilitate can be important in terms of our cooperation against terrorism," he added.

Asked whether the-treaty was a step forward towards an ultimate extradition treaty, Boucher said "not necessarily."