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Here is what being fed to America by our MSM and El Baradei:
Yet here is what is being said by the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in interviews to Iranian News, as reported in the Jerusalem Post today:
A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel, according to the Hebrew-language business newspaper Calcalist.
Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.” He added that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel,” saying the world should understand that “the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.”
Ghannem praised Egyptian soldiers deployed by President Hosni Mubarak to Egyptian cities, saying they “would not kill their brothers.” He added that Washington was forced to abandon plans to help Mubarak stay in power after “seeing millions head for the streets.”
In my initial post on Egypt, A 3 A.M. Phone Call From Egypt, I said that Obama needed to get out in front events by calling on Mubarak to institute specific democratic and economic reforms on a short time table or to step down and let a caretaker government formed from the military to do it, and that Obama's entire focus needed to be on allowing time for secular opposition groups sufficient time and space to form.
I would add today that events have already gone too far too fast for Obama to do anything other than to call for Mubarak to make a quick exit and the military to form the transitional government until September elections. If Obama vacillates further, even that option will likely disappear. Allowing the deeply disingenuous Islamic snake, el-Baradei, tool of Iran and partner with the Muslim Brotherhood, to form part of a transitional government would be a catastrophic mistake, yet one that becomes ever more likely as Obama vacillates in the White House.
Update: Now this is what I would expect from the man serving out Jimmy Carter's second term. This from Hot Air:
In order to stay ahead of the crisis in Egypt, the Obama administration yesterday signaled that it supports the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian politics as long as they renounce violence and commit to democracy:
The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.
The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week. . . .
About that renouncing violence bit - somebody needs to point out to Obama that Ghannem's remarks about "preparing for war" with Israel ought to be a clue as to the Muslim Brotherhood's take on violence. And these are the same people who advocated that Egypt go to war against Israel during Israel's war with Gaza in 2007. For Obama to say he will support the Muslim Brotherhood as part of a transitional government if they will only "renounce violence" is pure fantasy.
Why is Obama asking Egypt to violate its constitutional separation between Mosque and State at this point? Whether or not that makes sense in Egypt down the road, for now, Obama is repeating the mistakes of Carter in allowing the radical Islamists to get their foot in the door while the secular opposition parties are nascent and disorganized. As I said from Day 1, Obama should be focused like a laser on buying the time and space for Egypt's secular parties to develop, even if that means just buying them time until the September elections scheduled to be held in Egypt.
Hot Air later quotes NRO's Duncan Currie, who states
“I fully expect the Muslim Brotherhood to do well in any election,” Gerecht tells me. “They have a fairly substantial following.” He has no illusions about the group’s Islamist agenda, or about its virulent anti-Americanism, or about its hatred of Israel. In his view, calling for U.S. “engagement” with the Brotherhood is like calling for engagement with Ayatollah Khamenei. But Gerecht insists that allowing Brotherhood members to participate in a democratic process is the sine qua non of Egyptian political maturation. The country will never achieve real progress, he says, without first creating the political space necessary for a momentous debate over God and man. Indeed, Egypt’s secular liberals must defeat the Islamists in the public square, rather than through military repression. They must win the battle of ideas. …
If Egyptians voted the Brotherhood into a position of serious power, that would generate a kaleidoscope of problems for America and Israel (and Egypt). No serious analyst should pretend otherwise. But Gerecht’s logic is inescapable: You can’t have authentic Egyptian democracy while disenfranchising the country’s largest opposition movement. If you aren’t willing to countenance Brotherhood electoral participation, you shouldn’t be demanding representative government.
All well and good. I don't disagree with any of that. But if there is no organized secular opposition, then what we will see is a repeat of Iran circa 1979, with a well organized radical Islamist movement eventually instituting a democracy of "one vote, one time."
Update II: As over a million protesters line Cairo's streets, it appears Mubarak will be announcing that he will not run for another term. That point is moot now, I think. I doubt he will last out the week, with the question being who or what replaces him. It seems not everyone is enamored of El-Baradei leading up a transitional government. This from a French news agency: "The intellectual community of Egypt calls on Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, and Sami Enan, Chief of the Egyptian armed forces, to act as leaders of the opposition." These individuals are apparently even getting the thumbs up from the Brotherhood. I would assume that is tactical, as they hope to see all restrictions on religious organizations removed prior to the September elections. But as I said above, that would be about the best situation we could hope for.
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