The signing of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in March of 1979 began a period of heady illusion for the prospects of final, lasting peace in the Middle East.

The treaty’s unintended consequence however; was to create an opportunity for a group of dishonest American government officials to profit illegally from the provisions of the Peace accords. This group created a quasi-government that operated below the surface of official Washington, to corrupt Egyptian governments’ officials to serve American interests.

The group using our government’s resources, exploited the endemic corruption, found particularly in governments of the Middle East.

The peace treaty gave a largess to Egypt and Israel of billions of dollars in American aid and military assistance. Egypt was to receive over two billion dollars in aid annually, Israel would receive substantially more.

From the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978 through 2010 Egypt received over 45 Billion dollars in Military, and Civilian aid. A good portion of that aid, unknown billions of dollars, went into the pockets of Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak.

Following Sadat’s assassination, the money went exclusively to Hosni Mubarak and his close associates to ensure the continuing cooperation of the Egyptian government for United State interests in the Middle East. The military assistance, tanks, aircraft, vehicles, was to be shipped by sea using American freight carriers. A scheme was hatched by group of military and intelligence officers, to profit from the shipment of this material by gaining the exclusive contract to ship equipment to Egypt.

That was to be done with the agreement, and collusion of Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. These two men were paid millions of dollars in exchange for granting of the exclusive contract for shipping to an American company, Egyptian American Transport and Services Co., or EATSCO.

“I used to meet with Mubarak at his home in Cairo. Mubarak was Sadat’s helicopter pilot then. I brought, over a period of time, millions of dollars stuffed into suitcases. I would just hand them over to him. He would take his cut and pass the rest to Sadat. That’s how we got that contract (laughter).” – (Thomas Clines C.I.A. from an unpublished Playboy interview April, 1990).

“We would meet in Mubarak’s house in Cairo. Clines girlfriend, Shirley Brill, would be there; she (Shirley Brill) testified against Clines at his EATSCO trial. Mrs. Sadat would be there too. It was all very civilised.” (Edwin Wilson, C.I.A. field operative. 60 Minutes interview, Marion Federal Prison, March 1990)

Edwin Wilson the rouge C.I.A. agent, and the self-proclaimed mastermind of the scheme, was in Libya at the time the peace accords were signed. Wilson claims to have run the operation from there.

Wilson was only recently released from Federal Prison after serving twenty-two years for a bogus conviction, served largely in solitary confinement. He was falsely convicted, of the charge of illegally selling 24 tons of plastic explosive to Muammar Al Qathafi through perjury of the witnesses and false claims by the C.I.A.

Wilson has since been exonerated of the charge after documents from the C.I.A., assigning him to operations in Libya, were discovered by his attorney. Wilson’s conviction was engineered by the justice department and the C.I.A., to insure his silence concerning the EATSCO scandal.

Wilson claimed throughout his, trial, and his entire prison term, that he was working for the C.I.A. in Libya, and documents existed to support his claim. The documents that exonerated Wilson were discovered only after he had nearly completed his sentence.

Wilson claims that the Reagan White House knew of the bribery of Sadat and Mubarak, and knew how much each man, including Mubarak and Sadat, walked away with. Clearly if it were known then by the White House, it is known now at the White House.

The personal corruption of Mubarak, and his support for American policies through bribery, may be the reason for President Obama’s decision not to call for his immediate resignation. President Obama was sharply questioned by reporters at his news conference last week as to why he seemed less than enthusiastic in his support for the Egyptian uprising.

But Mubarak was our man in Egypt, and his loyalty, even if bought and paid for, at the expense of the Egyptian people, was to be rewarded.

The principal members of the group, who formed EATSCO along with, Tom Clines and Ed. Wilson, were Air Force General Richard Secord, and a senior official of the C.I.A. Richard Shackley. The group also included a close friend and business associate of Mubarak’s, Hussein Salem.

In 1987 Federal Investigator’s established that Eatsco had skimmed eight million in unearned profits from weapons sales to Egypt. The company paid three million in penalties, and Thomas Clines as the director of the company, paid 111 thousand in fines for filing false invoices with the government. Hussein Salem pleaded guilty to over-charging the Pentagon eight million dollars for the shipments.

Secord, the then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East was briefly suspended from duty in 1982 for his part in the scheme. He was later reinstated for lack of evidence to charge him with any wrongdoing, but he resigned his commission shortly thereafter. He retired from the Air Force with full pension and benefits, as a three star general.

During the 1980’s the United States held a series of military exercises with the Egyptian forces. Several American servicemen who participated in those exercises told of being ordered to “leave their equipment on the ground when they left” A helicopter pilot said in an interview. “I was told to leave my chopper on the ground, and just walk away”

Egypt was to receive only a preset amount of military assistance as agreed by the U.S. Congress. Leaving American military equipment in place after these exercises effectively circumvented the control of Congress, and allowed Egypt additional millions of dollars in uncounted and untraceable aid.

Throughout Mubarak’s tenure as Egypt’s President he amassed billions of dollars. Just how much is unclear.

The New York Times reports that his personal fortune is estimated between three and six Billion dollars. There are unsubstantiated rumours that he has as much as 70 billion dollars. Mubarak became, in his tenure as the Egyptian strongman, one of the world’s wealthiest men.

The New York Times also reports that Gamal Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak’s youngest son is a principle in Egypt’s largest investment bank. He now holds a majority share in a private equity fund company with ties throughout Egypt’s economy. The company’s interests stretch from Oil, to agriculture, to tourism.

Swiss official have begun to search for Mubarak’s hidden assets in Swiss banks. They have ordered a freeze on any assets that can be traced to Mubarak. But tracing Mubarak’s money will be a daunting task. Most transactions were kept private between Mubarak and his close associates.

The “National Association for Change” one of the opposition groups that forced Mubarak from power said: “We will research everything, all of them: the families of ministers, the family of the president, everyone.”

After Egypt privatised the economy in the 1990’s the Mubaraks and a couple of dozen elite families profited enormously from the sales of state owned business.

“The corruption of the Mubarak family was not stealing from the budget, it was transforming political capital into private capital” Samer Soliman, professor of political economy the American University of Cairo” (The N.Y. Times, Feb. 12th. 2011)

However; none of Mubarak’s wealth, even if discovered, can be returned to Egypt unless the new government conducts a criminal investigation and finds Mubarak criminally responsible for its theft. Only then can the government demand the return of any money he is proven to be guilty of stealing.

That may well be accomplished by Egyptian authorities calling for a new investigation of the EATSCO scandal. The principals, Clines, Secord, and Wilson are still alive and could be compelled to testify at a Mubarak trial.

Wilson claims to have seen a White House document that shows the amount of money Mubarak and Sadat skimmed from the American aid package, as well as the money Mubarak, and Sadat received to award the shipping contract to EATSCO.

If such a document exists the White House is compelled to make it available to Egyptian prosecutors in any legal proceeding undertaken by Egypt against Mubarak, his family, and the surviving members of Sadat’s family.
The man who built his villa at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, where Mubarak now resides, is his close friend and his business partner in the EATSCO affair, Hussein Salem.