- WASHINGTON: Former State Department officials and foreign policy experts told Congress that the United States should use the billions in aid it sends to Egypt to force a transition to democracy.
In Congress' first hearing since massive anti-government demonstrations in Egypt, the experts sought to provide answers on a vexing problem for both the Obama administration and lawmakers — how to embrace a powerful democratic movement while dealing with its demand for the ouster of longtime ally President Hosni Mubarak.
Some in Congress have called for cutting off US aid.
Experts such as former State Department official Elliott Abrams said the US should make clear to Egypt that the aid is conditional and would end if Cairo turns into another Tiananmen Square, the site of the violent 1989 crackdown by China.
