Joint Chiefs Chair Heads to Mideast
ABC News reports:
With Egypt's military leading a hoped-for drive to democracy, President Barack Obama's senior military adviser was heading to the Mideast on Saturday to reassure two key allies — Jordan, facing its own rumblings of civil unrest, and Israel, which sees its security at stake in a wider transformation of the Arab world.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was stopping first in Amman for meetings Sunday with senior Jordanian officials, including King Abdullah II. Jordan has seen five weeks of protests inspired by unrest in Tunisia and later Egypt, though the numbers of marchers has been decreasing.
Mullen was then scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv for meetings and ceremonies Sunday and Monday marking the retirement of his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. Mullen had no plans to visit Egypt on this trip.
Israel is deeply worried about the prospect that Hosni Mubarak's ouster could lead to the emergence of a government less friendly to the Jewish state.
Israel and Egypt fought four bitter wars before a peace treaty was reached in 1979. Mubarak, who gave up power Friday after 30 years of rule, steadfastly honored the peace deal after succeeding Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Egyptian extremists two years after signing it.
Netanyahu has warned that any new government in Cairo must maintain their peace deal — Israel's first with an Arab nation.
A great deal is at stake for the U.S. in the outcome of Egypt's drive to create a democracy out of the autocratic system over which Mubarak presided for three decades, with Washington a key political and financial supporter. Both Egypt and Jordan have played leading roles, along with the U.S., in seeking a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. Egypt also controls the Suez Canal, a key route for global oil shipments.
The U.S. has provided $1.5 billion a year to Egypt, largely in the form of military assistance, and the White House has said the possibility of changing that would depend on how the current crisis unfolds. The assistance has done more than buy tanks, planes and other weaponry for the Egyptian armed forces. It has built a tradition of close ties with the U.S. military establishment, with Egyptian officers attending American academies that emphasize the primacy of civilian control in a democracy.
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