Egyptian-American group to lobby Congress

An Egyptian-American group intends to lobby the U.S. Congress to stop providing financial support to the Egyptian military, a leader of the effort said Monday.

The bipartisan, inter-faith American Egyptian Strategic Alliance plans to appeal to Congress to halt the annual flow of $1.3 billion in aid to the Egyptian military, which the group says is stifling dissent in the country by harming and killing protesters.

"I'm angry and I'm going to Egypt next week to meet with the revolutionary leadership," alliance leader Kais Menoufy of Sacramento told The Sacramento Bee

At 29, Menoufy left Egypt as a computer programmer. Now 65, he is chief executive officer of Delegata Technology Consulting and Systems Integration. He has been asked to act as president of the growing alliance, whose members include Nobel Prize winners.

"We are not asking Congress. We are telling them to stop supporting the bad guys right now," Menoufy said. "The old and traditional Egypt is trying to kill the modern and new. Totalitarianism in its ugliest form is doing its best to stifle Democratic aspirations of the young and healthy in Egypt."

Egypt has been in turmoil since a popular uprising led to the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak several months ago.