333. Telegram From the Embassy in Egypt to the Department of State and the White House1

1813. Subj: Letter From President Sadat to President Carter on Egypt’s Military Supply Requests.

1. Secret-entire text.

2. Vice President Mubarak summoned me to meet with him at 1800 local today2 (Saturday, January 26) to hand me the following letter from President Sadat to President Carter. Signed original will follow by pouch.3

3. Begin text:

Dear President Carter:

I have received a detailed report from Vice President Hosny Moubark on his last visit to the United States and his extensive talks with you and with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and other personalities of the administration.4

I am gratified to know that we share the same analysis of the international situation and the dangers with which we are all confronted as a result of the new Soviet offensive which must be checked if the peoples of the world, and of our area in particular, are to live in peace [Page 1077] and freedom, and contribute their full share to the welfare of the international community.

Based on this common analysis, I remain confident that you will continue to support our efforts aimed at establishing an era of just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

Dear President Carter,

I do not need to reiterate the friendship and confidence which my people and I feel towards you personally as well as the great American people, and our determination to strengthen our relations and our cooperation in furthering our common aims, while maintaining the tradition of frankness and candour which has always prevailed between us.

It is in this spirit that I wish to tell you of my disappointment with regard to the reaction of the administration to our requests concerning weapons and in particular aircraft.

The importance of Egypt in any real effort to oppose the communist threat in the Arab world and in Africa is an irrefutable reality.

Despite the apparent success of the Soviet-inspired efforts to isolate us, Egypt remains the only power which, if properly helped, can oppose attempts to destabilize and to impose communist domination in our region. No other country in the area can assume this responsibility. Especially not Israel, as the lessons of the history of the last decades clearly show. Everytime the Western world has allied with her to defend its interests, this alliance has been counterproductive.

Dear Friend,

In the light of all these considerations, which I am sure that you share, I must ask you to give personally your most serious and urgent consideration to our demands concerning the acquisition by Egypt of the F–15; the increase in the number of F–16s which are to be provided and the speeding up of their delivery; and the spare parts of the F–4’s which have had to be grounded for lack of spare parts.

In the present circumstances, this is the way to strengthen Egypt’s position in its determination to fulfill its national obligations which coincide with those of all peace and freedom loving nations who feel duty-bound to oppose all attempts to impose Soviet hegemony.

Yours truly,

Mohamed Anwar el Sadat

End text.

Atherton
  1. Source: Carter Library, Plains File, President’s Personal Foreign Affairs File, Box 1, Egypt, 11/77–11/81. Secret; Niact Immediate; Nodis. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the White House Situation Room. Carter initialed “C” in the upper right-hand corner, indicating that he saw the telegram.
  2. Atherton commented separately on his January 26 meeting with Mubarak, in which the Egyptian Prime Minister emphasized that the points made in Sadat’s letter were “vital and important.” (Telegram 1814 from Cairo, January 26; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P900086–1915)
  3. A signed copy of Sadat’s letter is in the Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, President’s Correspondence with Foreign Leaders File, Box 5, Egypt: President Anwar al-Sadat, 1–6/80.
  4. See Document 330.