WASHINGTON: The top US military leader says Egypt’s ruling generals underestimated the US outcry after the crackdown on American nonprofit groups that promote democracy and its threat to the relationship with Washington.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the generals now understand the impact.
Dempsey recently met with Egypt’s generals and spent a day and half encouraging them to resolve the issue that could jeopardize more than a billion dollars in US aid to Egypt.
Egypt recently referred 19 Americans, including the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and 24 other employees of pro-democracy nonprofit groups to trial before a criminal court on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.
