U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Discusses USAID to Egypt on Al-Jazeera TV

The following are excerpts from an interview with US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 2, 2005. Subtitles are taken from the original English.

Interviewer: Why do our domestic affairs and policies concern you? Why did Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen endorse, on February 17, legislation or a decision to express the anger of the House of Representatives on the arrest of Ayman Nur, of the Egyptian opposition, or to endorse a number of laws? We do not interfere and send monitors to the Florida elections, and we do not talk about the 2000 Florida elections. So why do you interfere in our affairs? Did you appoint yourself guardians of the world?

Ros-Lehtinen: Well, thank you for that question. I'll take it in a positive way. You have to remember that Egypt and many other countries receive US funds. Egypt has received not millions but billions of dollars in US funds. That means that the people in my congressional district, the people whom I represent, pay taxes, and those taxes not only go to support the education here in the United States but they help the citizens of Egypt as well, and so we don't want to have a hostile attitude to say: we're going to impose our will and our system on another country, but what we're saying is, if you are going to receive US taxpayer dollars, we think that we should have a positive relation and with a better understanding of our countries. That better understanding will bring peace, stability, and good will. We don't want to have ill will with Egypt or with any country in the Middle East. We are a country that stands for freedom, for democracy. Not a perfect country, no country is, but we're not saying to other countries: We're going to meddle in your affairs, we're going to manage your relations. We're not saying that, but we are saying that you as a country are receiving our dollars and we want to have good relations with you. We are not going to buy and sell good relations. What we're saying is better relations bring about a better world.

Interviewer: Just a short follow-up to the last question: Is the solution that President Mubarak would say: Keep your aid to yourself. We will take nothing from you. Will you then leave him to do as he pleases?

Ros-Lehtinen: No, what we're saying is President Mubarak is a free man. He is, of course, very able and free to criticize US policies, and he has, many times. Every leader of every country is free to criticize the United States, and we would like to criticize and to give helpful advice to other countries, whether you're a recipient of USAID or not, there is no denying that the United States is a very powerful country, but we don't go around and punish other countries. What we're saying is that communication builds trust, and trust builds respect for human rights, tolerance breeds… is the enemy of terrorism, tolerance is the enemy of un-democratic societies, so what we want is that good will. We will accept President Mubarak's criticism and I think that it will be well intentioned, I don't think he means bad for the United States, and we certainly don't think ill of any country in the world. We want to be better neighbors to every country.