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| Egypt: In Recording attributed to Mubarak, he says he refused U.S. Bases | | | Egypt: In a recording attributed to Egypt's toppled President Hosni Mubarak that appeared on YouTube on Wednesday, the ousted president said that he turned down the United States' request to deploy military bases to Egyptian soil.
"The United States has always pressured us to put military bases in Egypt and I always strongly refused," Mubarak said in the low-quality recording uploaded by a channel that goes by the name "An7a".
The toppled president added that former Defense Minister Abdel Haleem Abu Ghazala told him once that the United States asked to deploy military bases in Egypt and he agreed.
"I answered him saying, 'you do not have the authority to agree and neither do I. You do not own this land and neither do I.'"
He added that he met with the U.S. Secretary of Defense during his visit to the United States and learned from him that Abu Ghazala did in fact agree on the military bases idea.
"I told him that the Egyptian constitution does not allow for this to be done - neither by Abu Ghazala nor by me personally - such a matter requires the parliament's approval and even if the parliament were to agree, the people would have to vote on it."
Mubarak added that the U.S. had also asked to launch an electronic network for the military but he told the defense minister to say no.
The ousted president also said that Washington asked in 2006 or 2007 for a FM frequency, threatening not to send $270 million of aide if their request was not answered, but his government refused and the money was sent despite the threat.
"They, of course, wanted the FM frequency to spy on everything," he said.The authenticity of the recording is yet to be confirmed. |
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