When he signed the Camp David treaty with Israel, President Anwar Sadat promised the Egyptian people that this would bring peace and prosperity. He assured American policymakers that as a leader in the Arab world, he would be in an opportune position to play a role in the region as an intermediary between the U.S. and Egypt's Arab-Moslem neighbors, and to act as a bridge for peace between Israel and its Arab adversaries. Among many of Egypt's Arab sister states, however, Sadat became known as a traitor, and his country became profoundly alienated from them. Since Sadat's assassination, this condition has not improved. In fact, in recent years Egypt seems to have lost influence and prestige in the international as well as the regional community, and domestic problems have mounted, adding to the growing crisis of legitimacy which surfaced around the time of Sadat's death. For example, during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Egypt was exposed as utterly powerless to influence U.S. policy against Israeli aggression. Needless to say, it had even less influence over Israel's actions. Moreover, and perhaps more important in terms of the longterm survival of the regime of Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarek, Egypt is still afflicted by the kinds of economic problems and Muslim fundamentalist opposition which in combination produced his predecessor's demise.1 The purpose of this paper is to analyze the continuing American-Egyptian alliance as a focal point of U.S. interests since Mubarak assumed power. These interests pertain a priori to the Camp David accords, Egypt's utility as a staging point for the Rapid Deployment Force's (RDF) access to the oil-rich Persian Gulf and the strategic Horn of Africa, in addition to Egypt's role as a defender of American foreign policy in an Islamic region of increasing anti-American sentiment and fierce cold-war competition. However, because Egypt's internal viability is inseparable from its capability to perform as an ally of the United States, Egypt's economic crisis and Muslim fundamentalist opposition are also encompassed within the scope of this discussion.