State Department refuses to delay delivery of F16s to Egypt

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 28, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The State Department has finally responded after prominent lawmakers voiced concern over the Obama administration's quote, "gifting" of American made F-16s and tanks to the radical regime in Egypt.

Now in a letter sent to Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, the State Department denied the request to delay the delivery of the deadly fighter jets, writing, quote, "Egypt is a strategic partner with whom we have a long history of close political military relations that have benefited U.S. interests.

Delaying or canceling deliveries of the F-16 would, quote, "undermine our efforts to address our regional security interests through a more capable Egyptian military and send a damaging and lasting signal to Egypt's civilian and military leadership."

And that letter went on to praise the country's new Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, who let's not forget called our allies in 2010 in Israel, the descendents of apes and pigs.

But this should not surprise us, after all, this is the same State Department that allowed radical extremists to flourish throughout the Middle East and in North Africa, which seems to now be the new safe haven for Al Qaeda.

Joining me now with reaction is Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. Senator, welcome back to the program. Good to see you.

All right, so I'm trying to understand this. Here a guy, a former terrorist said this about the Israelis in 2010 is now getting gifts of F-16's and our best tanks? Help me out, Senator, it seems really dumb.

SENATOR JAMES INHOFE, R-OKLA: Sean, those guys in the State Department and I think in the administration, somehow they think that Mubarak is still there. We had a pretty good relationship and in the Middle East, and you know how long that was, Sean? That was 30 years, 1981 on up to when Morsi took over.

Now, he's been a stabilizing force there, but all of a sudden as you point out you had the Muslim Brotherhood there, andI hate to say it, just in the last weekend, in the last three days, he's completely lost control there in Tahrir Square, in Port (INAUDIBLE) and Suez and that area. I can't even keep track of how many people are dead.

Ever since he came along and sentenced 21 people after the soccer match to death, then rioting started all over again. It never really stopped, it started all over again, and in a more exaggerated way. And here they have a total loss of control of their own country. And we're giving this guy 20 -- and four went out. And the fact I got a response from someone down in the bureaucracy, it's pretty disturbing, so I sent another letter, this one of course to the president.

And haven't the received anything back it yet from them. But somehow they think it's our friend there, a stabilized force. And right now, people are being killed as you and I are speaking right now in the streets of Tahrir Square.

HANNITY: We were promised this would be the establishment of democracy and they referred to it -- it was total and utter complete meltdown and chaos all weekend long. And this guy was part of a terrorist organization, and he's established a dictatorship based on Sharia law and now we're arming them and in the end, correct me if I'm wrong, won't they have more F-16's than Israelis, our ally?

INHOFE: No, the Israelis and Turkey have more. They're the only ones who have more than they will have at the end of this.

HANNITY: At the end of the 20?

INHOFE: They have 220 now, and at the end of the 20, the 16 more that are being -- a few more and, yes, right now, they're number three in line in terms of the number of F-16s flying in combat, and again, this is one of the best fighting machines in the world, and we're giving it to a guy, Muslim Brotherhood, who has lost control of his own country. And the use he would have for it is getting his own country under his control, and then what kind of a regime do you have? And so, I keep thinking, these guys in the White House and the State Department. Somehow they think that Mubarak is still there.

HANNITY: Obviously. And this is seems to be a great danger and why do I think one day we're going to be back on this program and those F-16s are going to be used for nefarious purposes, somewhere against one of our allies and the likelihood is pretty great considering his extremism.

Why can't they see that? Why don't they extract a demand from them to acknowledge Israel's right to exist and sit down at the table and make proclamations, something for what we're giving them here on top of $1.5 billion?

INHOFE: Yes, that's, that's the point. There's actually more than just the, well, you had the Abrams tanks, some 200 in this grouping, and you have more than that over and above what we're giving them of our material, such as the F-16s and the Abrams tanks, money in addition to that.

So it's just as if nothing has changed from the way it's been in the past and it could be a disaster. You stop and think about how they could be using these F-16s against people who are our friends in the Middle East. It's a scary thing, and I haven't heard back, by the way, from the White House on this, decided to go up another step, but they're kind of laughing before, so, I'm not looking for anything serious.

HANNITY: And one of the -- I will tell you, this country, we don't tap into our natural resources with the -- with the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. We have more oil, we can be energy independent and I've contended for a long time that the countries in the Middle East must think we're stupid. Now they really must think we're dumb because this is dumb.

INHOFE: We're the only country in the world not developing our own resources, we could be totally independent in a matter of weeks and forget all about the Middle East, but it's crazy.

HANNITY: It's a serious thing right now.

INHOFE: They're in -- dangerous equipment in the hands that are certainly questionable.

HANNITY: All right, Senator, appreciate you being with us. Thank you.

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