By Alaa Shahine LUXOR, Egypt, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Egypt, a key ally of Washington in the Middle East, voiced support on Monday for the U.S. plan to send more troops to Iraq to help the government improve security, especially in the capital. Egypt's support may give U.S. President George W. Bush some encouragement at a time when his strategy faces strong opposition in Congress, where Democrats and some Republicans said they doubted it would quell sectarian violence. Arab public opinion, too, is generally opposed to the plan. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he hoped the U.S. strategy would lead to the dismantling of militias that were "tormenting the Iraqi scene". "We are supportive of that plan because we are hopeful that the plan would lead to ensuring the stability, the unity and the cohesion of the Iraqi government," he told a joint news conference with Rice in the southern Egyptian town of Luxor. Egypt "understood the dynamics" behind the U.S. strategy as a result of his talks with Rice, he said. "The Iraqi militias on Iraqi territory are a danger to the Iraqi people, the Iraqi state and the Iraqi government. Therefore these militias should be dealt with and their presence on the ground should end," Aboul Gheit said. Bush announced last week he was sending 21,500 extra U.S. troops to Iraq and, in a rare admission, said he had made a mistake by not deploying more troops sooner. American patience over Bush's handling of the war has been running thin. Bush said his new strategy was for Iraqis to try to take responsibility for security in all 18 provinces by November, up from three now. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak initially advised the United States not to invade Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, saying this would lead to chaos. Egypt was friendly with Saddam in the 1980s but fell out with him over Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. About Gheit said he hoped the U.S. strategy would help build a strong and more united Iraqi government. "Of course helping Iraq to help itself is to work for certain amendments to the constitution in order to allow all factions and all Iraqi colours and all Iraqi forces to be on board in the process," he said. Aboul Gheit said Egypt was also concerned about foreign interference in Iraq, which he said had a "negative impact". He said that issue would be on the table at a meeting between Rice and Arab foreign ministers in Kuwait on Tuesday. "There are indications that there are elements seeking to interfere in Iraq," he said. "Regional powers should be stopped from working in Iraqi territory, and I believe that this issue will be discussed in tomorrow's meetings in Kuwait."
