Where Has American Money Gone in Egypt?

Many voices have been raised in the West asking American President Barack Obama for a “Marshall Plan” for the Middle East, or for any American assistance for the nations suffering the consequences of revolution and the upheaval of transitioning to democracy. The Americans have promptly decided to inject $1 billion into the Egyptian state, with $400 million set aside for civil organizations.

Since the signing of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, the Americans have funneled funds worth $2.1 billion into Egypt annually. We know that $900 million of those funds goes to help the economy and the rest goes to the army. But we didn’t know until now where all the American money, or even non-American money, that was poured into Egypt in the Mubarak era went.

The issue is not limited to government corruption but extends to society as a whole. The Americans contribute, in their own mysterious way, to widespread corruption in Egypt through their donations. Can the Americans tell us where “the other $400 million” went, or if it went to any of those civil organizations? Can you brief us on the list of beneficiaries? Working in darkness does not support democracy, the basis of which is transparency. Your money, gentlemen, supports an elite rotten to the core and at the mercy of their own greed.

When I was in Washington in 1997, I saw two significant displays of greed. The first was the desire of Ambassador Ahmed Maher, Egypt’s then-Washington ambassador and later Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was trying to persuade the U.S. Congress to deliver aid directly to the Egyptians via check by using American advertising companies, even if the support for the check was less than he’d anticipated: “The government wants the check.” Such was his request that day, made in the language of revolutionary slogans. The Americans refused to give the Egyptians the check, but they didn’t stop trying. The Egyptian government did not want any American oversight on the funds after they’d given them the check, despite little supervision, which finally led the Americans to divert these funds from their original purpose.

The second was of a woman with her hair done up like Cindy Crawford who submitted a proposal to the U.S. government. The multifaceted proposal would aim to foster a “culture of women” in Upper Egypt by moving them away from the world of female genital mutilation into the world of modernity and was worth more than $100 million over two years. When I met with her, I asked her if she was originally from Upper Egypt. She pushed a lock of her hair from her forehead and said: “I’ve spent some of my life in Upper Egypt, but I dread going there, with such barbaric people.” Of course she addressed me in the context of the interview, where she had been speaking at Georgetown University. She did not expect to surprise me since I too am a Georgetown professor, and yet what she said wounded me, and wounds me still.

It’s important to note that Upper Egypt was “dough” for the ladies of Zamalek and Garden City. They didn’t visit Upper Egypt, instead founding hundreds of organizations that aimed to develop Upper Egypt, at least on paper, and with that came the “dough,” as Egyptians say.

Those ladies looked for any way that they could “milk the cow” of American aid, money which is essentially spent on the pageantry of the ladies’ societies in Cairo, though they haven’t been to Upper Egypt even once. This is a monumental story of fraud and corruption. After all that, do the Americans really want a Marshall Plan for Egypt?

After WWII, specifically in 1948, the U.S. decided to help rebuild the war-torn European economies. America backed the Europeans with a $13 billion plan named after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Marshall. It was later known as the Marshall Program for the Reconstruction of Europe — in short, the “Marshall Plan.” This money was provided to the Europeans in addition to another $12 billion in emergency funds, distributed previously by the Americans. We’re talking about $25 billion, which took Europe from a war-torn landscape to the state of affairs we see now.

Since the signing of the treaty between Egypt and Israel, the U.S. has given Egypt nearly $55 billion. If you add the Egyptian debts cancelled by George Bush Sr. that amounted to $10 billion, plus some intermittent support here and there, we’re talking around $70 billion. These funds are equal in value in today’s dollar to the Marshall Plan — the plan that built Europe — but have done little in Egypt. Do you see where the money went? Did it go directly into the pockets of the rulers? Perhaps this is the reason Mubarak’s wealth was estimated at $70 billion. Even if American support was calculated incorrectly, the question remains: Where did all this money go?

The Americans have opened up Egypt today in an unprecedented way, and I don’t ask them to not support us. It’s just that we want names and a list of those who receive support so that we know: We want transparency. First Lady Michelle Obama, America’s money has helped prolong the life of a 30-year dictatorship; we don’t want your money to build another one.

“The people want transparency… and names, please.”