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 In a letter to Obama, Kay Granger, chairwoman of the House of
Representatives State and Foreign Operations Appropriations
subcommittee, said Egypt needs F-16 aircraft, M1A1 Abrams tanks and
other weapons that have been held up since 2013. Granger has the
power to place holds on foreign aid, including general assistance
and weapons shipments.
Granger urged the administration to give Iraqi Kurds tools and
training to fight Islamic State and to make providing weapons to
Jordan a priority, according to the letter, seen by Reuters on
Friday.
Dated Thursday, the letter criticized the administration as Congress
is about to consider Obama's request for formal authority for a
military campaign against Islamic State.
Republicans, who took control of the U.S. Congress in January, have
pressed for more robust U.S. military involvement in fighting the
militants, who have killed thousands of civilians while seizing
territory in Iraq and Syria.
"As Egypt, Jordan, and the Kurds retaliate and defend themselves
against ISIL's heinous acts, U.S. security assistance is being held
or delayed by bureaucratic processes and ill-advised policy
decisions by your administration," Granger wrote, using an acronym
for Islamic State.
The U.S. State Department referred requests for comment to the White
House, where officials did not immediately respond.
AID TO JORDAN
Granger said she was calling on the White House to "immediately
release" remaining weapons and funds to Egypt, provide Jordan with
weapons it had requested and ensure the Kurdish Peshmerga have
equipment they need.
"I am prepared to do everything within my power to make sure this
occurs, including placing holds on Congressional Notifications
(spending plans) and drafting legislation to hold your
Administration accountable," Granger wrote.
Egyptian warplanes bombed sites in Libya on Monday in response to
the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Islamic State militants
there.
Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N>, which makes the F-16, said the
aircraft built for Egypt were part of a foreign military sales
agreement between the United States and Egypt. The Abrams tanks are
made by General Dynamics Corp. <GD.N>
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Twelve of 20 F-16s built by Lockheed under its last contract with
Egypt are in storage at Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas, facility. They
have been formally transferred to the U.S. government, which is
paying Lockheed to store and maintain them.
The current U.S. policy on Egypt is to hold up many shipments of
big-ticket weapons until Washington can certify that Cairo has made
progress on human rights.
Granger represents the district where Lockheed’s facility is based,
but the company would not necessarily profit from a move to release
the planes since the U.S. government has already paid Lockheed for
them.
U.S. officials said last week that planning was well under way to
help replenish Jordan's supplies of ordnance. Jordan's King Abdullah
visited Congress earlier this month, the same day Islamic State
released a video of the murder of a Jordanian pilot.
The administration has said it is supplying guns and ammunition to
the Kurds, who are fighting Islamic State in northern Iraq, but it
is channeling them through Baghdad. Some Republicans have said the
supplies should go directly to the Kurds.
(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Roberta Rampton; Editing
by David Storey, Toni Reinhold)
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