Opinion
Some Context on Egypt
Re: The big news about the Muslim Brotherhood backing ElBaradei.
The Muslim Brotherhood is not what America thinks. Despite that scary scary name, they're not Al Qaeda, that's Egyptian Jihad—Ayman al-Zawahiri's former group. (Zawahiri, of course, is now Osama bin Laden's No. 2 at Al Qaeda.)
The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, was not behind the Sadat assassination in 1981. (A hodge-podge from Islamic Jihad and other radical groups was).
Founded in the 1920s, the Muslim Brotherhood are more like lefty Quakers (I exaggerate, but they're not militants.) Yes, 1950s/60s radical Islamist Sayyid Qtub was a member, but his writing is what gave birth to radical splinter groups, such as Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad, who rejected the Muslim Brotherhood. They think the Muslim Brotherhood are softies.
Just trying to bring some clarity to the situation.
1) Don't get too excited or nervous about the secular/Islamist fundamentalist get-together in Egypt because, frankly, the Brotherhood isn't a radical group.
2) Get excited because the radical groups aren't in play ... at least not overtly.
We all know that the U.S., Iran, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah, and yes, Zawahri's Islamic Jihad, have operatives on the ground. I don't know who the heck organized the arson at Mubark's party headquarters (or what is was intended to do), but that was clearly in highly-orchestrated op.
The Muslim Brotherhood is not what America thinks. Despite that scary scary name, they're not Al Qaeda, that's Egyptian Jihad—Ayman al-Zawahiri's former group. (Zawahiri, of course, is now Osama bin Laden's No. 2 at Al Qaeda.)
The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, was not behind the Sadat assassination in 1981. (A hodge-podge from Islamic Jihad and other radical groups was).
Founded in the 1920s, the Muslim Brotherhood are more like lefty Quakers (I exaggerate, but they're not militants.) Yes, 1950s/60s radical Islamist Sayyid Qtub was a member, but his writing is what gave birth to radical splinter groups, such as Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad, who rejected the Muslim Brotherhood. They think the Muslim Brotherhood are softies.
Just trying to bring some clarity to the situation.
1) Don't get too excited or nervous about the secular/Islamist fundamentalist get-together in Egypt because, frankly, the Brotherhood isn't a radical group.
2) Get excited because the radical groups aren't in play ... at least not overtly.
We all know that the U.S., Iran, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah, and yes, Zawahri's Islamic Jihad, have operatives on the ground. I don't know who the heck organized the arson at Mubark's party headquarters (or what is was intended to do), but that was clearly in highly-orchestrated op.
