White House refutes reports on cutoff of military aid to Egypt

Reports that the United States will halt all military assistance to Egypt are false, White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a press briefing here on Wednesday. As President Barack Obama said in his speech at the United Nations, "our overriding interest throughout these past few years has been to encourage a government that legitimately reflects the will of the Egyptian people and recognizes true democracy as requiring a respect for minority rights, the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, and a strong civil society," Carney said, adding: "That remains our interest today." The United States will continue to work with the interim government in Egypt "to promote our core interests and to support areas that benefit the Egyptian people," he said. However, "we are not able to continue with business as usual," Carney said. "And as you know, we have already announced that we are not proceeding with the delivery of certain military systems. Following on the results of the review directed by President Obama, we will announce the future of our assistance relationship with Egypt once we have made the appropriate diplomatic and congressional notifications." The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Obama administration plans to announce curbs on a significant part of nonessential military aid to Egypt within a few days. While officials speaking on condition of anonymity would not say how much of the annual 1.2 billion dollars in U.S. military aid would be withheld, they said the primary focus would be a hold on the shipment of a dozen AH-64D Apache helicopters from an order placed four years ago. "We will continue to support a democratic transition and oppose violence as a means of resolving differences in Egypt, and our relationship with the Egyptian government, including U.S. assistance to Egypt, will continue," Carney said. "But any announcement about the future of our assistance relationship will come after we have made the appropriate diplomatic and congressional notifications," he added.