Matthew Axelrod reports_on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ Middle East tour:
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Egypt today in the first stop on a week-long tour of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. I suspect that Gates will make some unannounced stops in the region (to Iraq, perhaps), but I can’t verify that.
Gates set out three goals for his meetings in Egypt: (1) encourage stronger diplomatic ties with Iraq, (2) offer assurances that Washinton’s policy shift to engage Iran will not come at the expense of the region’s security, and (3) discuss progress and joint US-Egypt efforts on interdicting weapons smuggling into Gaza. These three topics are primarily political, even the Gaza border, which ultimately comes down to a political solution that solves the “demand” side of the problem…..
Check out the rest. Mr Axelrod has been researching the US-Egypt defense relationship as a Fulbright scholar and conducted lots of interviews with big-name people. His analysis is very well informed.
Filed under: Uncategorized
