The New American Fans of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
There is only one major question facing U.S. policy makers: Do we succeed in pushing President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to institute both significant reforms and accept the necessity of eventual resignation and creation of a transitional government? Or do we find that we are forced to find a new “democratic” government in office as the regime crumbles, and that the only organized political force existing at present uses its clout to in essence become the new Egyptian regime?That force, as we all know, is the Muslim Brotherhood. On these pages, Barry Rubin has aptly noted that one outcome could be that:
The Muslim Brotherhood throws its full weight behind the rebellion. Soldiers refuse to fire at or join the opposition. Eventually, a radical regime emerges, with the Muslim Brotherhood as either ruler or power behind the throne. Remember that the “moderate democratic” leaders have been largely radical and willing to work with the Brotherhood. In that case, it is a fundamental transformation.
Egypt protests: Should the world fear Egypt’s Islamic Brotherhood?
Islam hooah al-hal, read the pamphlets being handed out by the Muslim Brotherhood on the streets of Egypt’s cities: “Islam is the Solution.”
Eighty-three years after that slogan was coined, the party that invented it could be poised to take power. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had little role setting off the tidal wave of rage that threatens to sweep President Hosni Mubarak from power. But if Egypt does hold democratic elections, few doubt the Brotherhood will be one of the key beneficiaries – perhaps the beneficiary.
The reason for that is simple: the Brotherhood commands resources which other contenders for power lack. It has a disciplined following; a formidable patronage, a network of schools, clinics and charities; propaganda networks which reach deep into rural Egypt.
Leaders of the world’s oldest Islamist party – which mentored Osama bin-Laden and thousands of other jihadists across the world – claim it has cut off its toxic branches. But no one knows for certain if the Brotherhood’s commitment to democracy is genuine – or whether, as the historian Bernard Lewis put it, the Brotherhood wants “one man, one vote, one time.”
For policy makers in the West, this prospect is disquieting.
