At the onset, and in the immediate aftermath of the revolution in Egypt, it seemed as though every government expert and media commentator, on both the right and the left, was confident that the end result in Egypt would be positive. On the right, there was the unshakeable notion that the Bush doctrine had succeeded; a freedom movement had sprung up in the heart of the Middle East. On the left, there was the equally naive but altogether expected claims that through Facebook and the generic, heroic and youthful “protester,” salvation had come to Egypt.
On February 6, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama, on Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Show tried to downplay the prospect of the Muslim Brotherhood ascending to power: “They don’t have majority support in Egypt.”
Dr. Timothy Furnish, scholar of Islamic history, in an article entitled “Misunderestimating the Muslim Brotherhood: Media Malfeasance at its Most Malignant,” has done an excellent job of gathering together a handful of other such embarrassing predictions.
Now that the smoke has cleared, despite all predictions to the contrary, the Muslim Brotherhood has swiftly risen to the highest levels of power in Egypt, and Hillary Clinton has just returned from warmly welcoming them to the table. Let’s take a moment to remember how embarrassingly far off these so-called experts were from recognizing what was coming down the pike.
In an article posted on Jan. 31, 2011, titled “Fears of a Muslim Brotherhood Takeover of Egypt are Overblown,” Chris Harnisch, an “al-Qaida expert” and former staffer for Vice President Dick Cheney said that there is an “exaggerated fear that militant Islamists might fill a void left by an ousted President Hosni Mubarak.”
On the same day, I also wrote an article for WND entitled “What’s next in the Middle East?” in which I took precisely the opposite position of Harnish, apparently from the position of “exaggerated fears”:
“… in the short term, the Brotherhood, the ideological child of Sayyid Qutb and Hassan Al-Banna, will be the biggest winner. After the dust settles and the Egyptian government is reformed, the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan) will certainly ease their way into significant positions of power, not at all unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon. This could take as long as a few years, as it did with Hezbollah, but in all likelihood it will be a rather quick rise.”
Ten days later, Feb. 10, 2011, Adam Serwer, of the Washingtopn Post, in an article titled “Poll: No Constituency for Muslim Brotherhood Takeover in Egypt,” claimed that, “[T]he argument that a transition to democracy in Egypt will lead to an Islamist takeover doesn’t seem to hold much water.”
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Three months later, the experts remained adamant. Michelle Dunne, editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on May 23, 2011, in a Voice of America interview, piled onboard the Pollyanna bandwagon:
“I think it is very unlikely that there would be an Islamist president in Egypt. … if you ask the Muslim Brotherhood their goal, they say it is not to establish and Islamic state but rather to function within a democratic system.”
Finally, and perhaps the most embarrassing of all, came the mocking of Max Fisher (associate editor, International Channel), who on July 26, 2011, in “Chart of the Day: Muslim Brotherhood Deeply Unpopular in Egypt,” shot himself in the foot when he ignorantly jabbed that, “The Big Bad [Muslim] Brotherhood isn’t much more popular in Egypt than it is on Fox News.”
So here we are a mere year later. Where have all of these experts gone? Have they learned their lesson? Sadly, no. Now that the Brotherhood has in fact risen quickly to power, precisely as they claimed would never happen, they have simply adjusted their arguments to claim that the Muslim Brotherhood is not nearly as bad or radical as some of the ignorant right-wingers and fear-mongers would suggest.
Well, just for clarity, let’s take a moment to pause and consider the words of the newly elected Egyptian president. Remember, this is the man the Obama administration is now openly welcoming to power and promising to support. The following speech made by new President Muhammad Morsi himself was captured and translated by MEMRI during the election on May 13, 2012:
[In the 1920s, the Egyptians] said: “The constitution is our Quran.” They wanted to show that the constitution is a great thing. But Imam [Hassan] Al-Banna, Allah’s mercy upon him, said to them: “No, the Quran is our constitution.” The Quran was and will continue to be our constitution. The Quran will continue to be our constitution. The Prophet Muhammad is our leader. Jihad is our path. And death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration. Above all – Allah is our goal. The Shariah, then the Shariah, and finally, the Shariah. This nation will enjoy blessing and revival only through the Islamic Shariah. I take an oath before Allah and before you all that regardless of the actual text [of the constitution] … Allah willing, the text will truly reflect [the Shariah], as will be agreed upon by the Egyptian people, by the Islamic scholars, and by legal and constitutional experts. … Rejoice and rest assured that this people will not accept a text that does not reflect the true meaning of the Islamic Shariah as a text to be implemented and as a platform. The people will not agree to anything else.
The full clip can be seen in the following YouTube clip:
After my prediction that the Muslim Brotherhood would indeed quickly rise to power in Egypt, I added the following comment: “In a dramatic and portentous shift, the U.S. and even Israel will be forced to recognize and deal with the strengthened Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] Party in Egypt.”
So here we are. A little more than one year later, exactly as predicted, it has come to pass. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just completed her meetings with President Morsi, and on behalf of the Obama administration has welcomed him and his party to power. As the Daily Beast reported, it is now clear that despite our longstanding policies to the contrary:
“The United States has been impelled to evolve with the Arab world, engaging with Islamist groups it once shunned and hedging its bets with governments that bear no track record.”
Of course, the claim that the Brotherhood has no track record is simply silly. This is the group, after all, that is responsible for the assassination of Egyptian President Sadat. It also helped to spawn al-Qaida. And now the man who Hillary sat down with is seen on film openly stating, “Jihad is our path. And death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.”
How is this any different than sitting down with President Ahmadinejad or Osama bin Laden?
The lunatics are truly running the asylum. Our country is being led by fools. Its high time that all Americans fall to our knees and ask the Almighty God (of the Bible) to forgive us for our outright complicity with wickedness. Lord have mercy on this nation. Forgive us of our sins, and in the days to come, give us righteous and wise leadership.
