Truth Or Consequences -The Two Faces Of The Muslim Brotherhood – Part One
On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, officials from the Obama Administration met in the White House with a delegation from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is a conservative, Islamist group that has been the driving force behind political Islam since the Brotherhood’s inception in 1928. From the early days of Nasser until the overthrow of Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt and its members killed or imprisoned. Even Khairat el-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in Egypt’s Presidential election, has served time in prison for his activities as a member of the Brotherhood.
Despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s long history of conflict with the government of Egypt, including an attempt by one of the Brotherhood’s members to assassinate Nasser, their membership has grown steadily. The Brotherhood has openly supported radical Muslim terror organizations and espouses a virulent hatred of Israel. Never the less, the White House openly welcomed the Brotherhood’s Delegation. In the words of National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor: “We believe that it is in the interest of the United States to engage with all parties that are committed to democratic principles, especially nonviolence. In all our conversations with these groups, we emphasize the importance of respect for minority rights, the full inclusion of women, and our regional security concerns.”
The White House was quick to justify the meeting in the name of dialog and American interests, but one might wonder which Muslim Brotherhood attended the meeting? Did the English speaking Brotherhood that claims to support Democracy attend or was it the Arabic speaking Brotherhood that has called for a worldwide Islamic caliphate and the destruction of Israel?
While the Muslim Brotherhood has learned its lessons well and is spreading the charm like butter during its American visit, it is hard to ignore comments like the one made in 2011, when Dr. Muhammad Badi, supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said: “The Brotherhood is getting closer to achieving its greatest goal as envisioned by its founder, Imam Hassan al-Banna. This will be accomplished by establishing a righteous and fair ruling system, with all its institutions and associations, including a government evolving into a rightly guided caliphate and mastership of the world.”
It would be interesting to ask the good Dr. Badi exactly what his plans are for the more than 5 billion non-Muslims on the planet but the Brotherhood is expert at playing the political game. They have scrubbed their website of potentially offensive material and when the Brotherhood addresses non-Muslims, we are treated to promises of Democracy, religious tolerance and equality for all including women.
In one telling incident, when pressed by CNN’s Brianna Keilar about the incredible prevalence of female genital mutilation in Egypt, where 91% of the women between 15 to 49 are mutilated, Abdel Mawgoud al-Dardery said: “The Egyptian people will decide for themselves what is good for them. It is not acceptable for anyone to tell the Egyptian people how to think this way or the other way.”
The use of clever doublespeak, as Mr. al-Dardery so eminently demonstrated when he justified female genital mutilation as a sovereign right of the Egyptian people, is a great example of how well the Muslim Brotherhood plays the game, especially when it deals with West and non-Muslims. At the same time, the Brotherhood has to please their Muslim supporters and then the rhetoric takes a different tone. While speaking to Political Commentator Eric Trager, Sobhi Saleh, one of Brotherhood’s top legal thinkers, had this to say about who was responsible for 9/11: “The Jews and the Zionist lobby did it.”
Raymond Ibrahim, editor of The Al Qaeda Reader, “notes that Muhammad himself described war as deceit and that Muslim Brotherhood disciples, past and present, merely duplicate the everlasting words of Allah, as iterated in the Qur’an.” Nowhere are the two faces of the Brotherhood’s deceit shown more clearly then after Bin Ladin was assassinated. In English, they supported the killing of Bin Laden with this comment: “With Bin Laden’s death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practiced in the world has been removed,” Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s governing body, told Reuters.
At the same time, the comments in Arabic were the exact opposite. Brotherhood leader, Dr. Kamal Helbawy had nothing but praise and support for Bin Ladin, saying: ‘We appreciate him as a rich man living in Saudi Arabia, who left this luxurious life and moved to a hard life in mountains and caves. He helped his Afghan brethren and participated in Afghan jihad effectively.’ Dr. Helbawy also accused the U.S. of being behind the 9/11 attacks, saying, ‘I think that what the Americans claim about September 11th was a trick and a bait they accused Al-Qaeda of. All evidences and indications refer that the Americans are the ones who planned this matter. I ask Allah to have mercy upon Osama Bin Laden, to treat him generously, to enlighten his grave, and to make him join the prophets, the martyrs, and the good people.”
There is ample proof that the Muslim Brothers are not just talking from both sides of their face, but that they are actively involved in subversively spreading their Islamist message in the United States. During the Holy Land terror funding trial, the prosecutors introduced documents linking the Muslim Brotherhood to CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association and 26 other American based Islamic groups that work to support the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood. The evidence showed a clear connection between American Muslim advocacy groups and the Brotherhood. Government lawyers and expert witnesses successfully traced the flow of funds that ended up in the hands of Muslim Terrorists. The prosecution made its case and the trial resulted in lengthy prison sentences for several of the defendants.
It is just this sort of doubletalk and deceitful behavior that has many in the West wondering why Obama is so anxious to engage with the Brotherhood. Their track record over the last 84 years is anything but peaceful, democratic or inclusive of women and other religions. From their early use of terror and their attempts to kill President Nasser, they have shown a willingness to use violence. Their support for Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is consistent and well documented. The Brotherhood’s proclivity for saying one thing to please the West in English and the exact opposite to please Muslims in Arabic is proof positive of a devious agenda. The attempts to use American Muslims to spread their radical Islamic supremacist ideology has been proven in a court of law.
We hope that the President and his advisers will not fall for this world class con job. The evidence is overwhelming that the Muslim Brotherhood has anything but benign, Democratic intentions. Their leaders have already called for Sharia as the source of all law for Egypt and they have spoken openly about their desire to terminate the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. We believe that it would be a colossal mistake for the United States to give Egypt billions of dollars in foreign aid prior to the formation of the new government and the ratification of Egypt’s new Constitution. Any foreign aid should incremental and predicated on good behavior and positive developments for all the citizens of Egypt.
More importantly, we certainly should not turn over more weapons to Egypt. Re-arming or upgrading Egypt’s military is the last thing the world needs as country after country in the Middle East and Africa is embracing a government based on Islam and Sharia. If the citizens of these nations truly want to live under a religious dictatorship, they have the right. They don’t have the right to be armed to the teeth by the United States and use the weapons to kill anyone who rejects their tyranny.
This is part one of a two part article on the Muslim Brotherhood
Conflict, Manipulation And Fear – Politics In The Modern World is a Twice Weekly Column by Wolff Bachner about Government, Leadership and the Pursuit of Power.
