Via FLC
"...Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey spoke with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and other members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year.
Official statements on the meeting gave no details on their talks about the grim backdrop of the visit ...Details on the meeting were scarce....Privately, Pentagon officials said that Dempsey would deliver a stern message on the NGO issue. Publicly, the Pentagon struck a different tone, pitching the visit as a meeting of old friends....
Sameh Seif al Yazal, a retired Egyptian general and frequent commentator on the military, played down the political dimensions of the problem.
He said the uproar in Washington over the case has obscured what he considers four simple linchpins of the case: some of the NGOs operated without licenses, some opened offices in other provinces without government approval, they received money through back channels, and allegedly funneled money earmarked for poverty and healthcare initiatives to U.S.-friendly political parties.
"It's not political. They broke the law," Yazal said. "If some Egyptian broke the law in the United States, they'd punish the Egyptian.... Egypt wants America and America wants Egypt, so this trivial matter won't affect the deep, long-term strategic relations between the countries," Yazal said. "It wouldn't be wise for either side to further complicate the issue."
Uprooted Palestinian 
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