White House attempts to soften Obama's Egypt ally remarks

The White House on Thursday toned down remarks by US President Barack Obama that Egypt was not a US ally, DPA reported.

Spokesman Jay Carney said the US does not have an "alliance treaty with Egypt" and said the word ally "is a legal term of art" after questions arose about remarks made by Obama in a television interview aired Wednesday.

"I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy," Obama said on broadcaster Telemundo when asked about Egypt in the wake of violent protests outside the US embassy in Cairo and the killing of the US ambassador to Libya and three others in Benghazi.

Carney however stressed, "As the president has said, Egypt is a longstanding and close partner of the United States, and we have built on that foundation by supporting Egypt's transition to democracy and working with the new government."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland acknowledged that Egypt remains a major non-NATO ally.

Obama remarked in the interview that Egypt still had to prove itself by its actions and that it would have to demonstrate that it takes seriously the responsibility to protect US diplomatic interests on its territory.

"They are a new government that is trying to find it's way. They were democratically elected. I think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident. How they respond ... to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel," he said.

"So far at least, what we've seen is that in some cases at least they've said the right things and taken the right steps. In others, the various things they've said might not be aligned with our interests. So I think it's still a work in progress."