This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/5171
February 1, 2012
February 1, 2012 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - An article authored by Brian Katulis, a Sr. Fellow at the Center for American Progress - the Soros funded, John Podesta guided, hiring center for Team Obama - entitled, Support Pluralism in Egypt's Transition, was today republished by Ikhwanweb, the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood's English website [see, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=29613].
That is never a good sign.
Katulis was previously employed by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs [NDI, see http://www.americanprogress.org/aboutus/staff/KatulisBrian.html] - a backwater of the most extremist wing of the Democrat party. For example the operation is run by Madeleine Albright, Clinton's dull-witted Secretary of State. The organization's luminaries include a roster of failed Dem politicians, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Tom Daschle, Howard Dean, Donna Brazile and the like [see, http://www.ndi.org/board_of_directors].
Regardless of Mr. Katulis' ideological lineage, one might hope for a bit more candor from someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in the Middle East [including Gaza and Egypt].
Rather than bearing witness to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis' power grab in Egypt [which is so obvious that even the New York Times admits as much, see, Islamists Win 70% of Seats in the Egyptian Parliament, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/world/middleeast/muslim-brotherhood-wins-47-of-egypt-assembly-seats.html] Katulis writes glowingly, "...Despite the small wave of gloomy and pessimistic articles in the United States about the risks posed by the rise of Islamist political parties in Egypt...What I observed is hope about the historic opportunity tempered with the realism of the challenges of advancing a more pluralistic society that respects the wide range of views and building a new governing system that can deal with the growing economic and social problems..."
It might first be helpful to define pluralism, which is a Western political concept pitting competing elites against each other so as to ensure that all sides of a controversy are represented. At the same time the theory posits that this broad-based intellectual exchange will check whatever possible excesses might come out of the process. In short form, pluralism is the necessary foundation to establish and maintain a republican democracy - a path which Egypt's Islamists have no intention of following.
In order to cloak itself in the mantle of respectability, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood created the Freedom and Justice Party as its above ground tool to extend Islamist hegemony. That the MB has always been a terrorist organization [it created Hamas1 for example and a splinter MB group was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat] bespeaks the reality behind the facade of a name. Demonstrating that affinity, Mohammed Morsi, the MB's leader recently entertained Hamas chief, Khaled Meshaal, accepting the terrorist's "congratulations," over the MB's huge electoral victory [see, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=hamas1252012101%2Ehtm Hamas Chief Meshaal Congratulates Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi On Huge Islamist Win In Egypt].
To Katulis, "...the Muslim Brotherhood," is simply, "a large Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928," which apparently to the author offers a chance of providing an "...answer to the Egyptian populace's...genuine desire for moderation and calls for building unity and cohesion among Egypt's diverse groups."
Nowhere in the piece does Mr. Katulis even mention the MB's history of spreading the ideology of revolutionary Islamic jihadism [the organization has chapters in over 100 countries, including the United States]. Also ignored is the Ikhwan's motto, "Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
Most likely, sensing the absurdity such a statement might engender, Katulis refrains from stating that pluralism actually exists within Egypt's political structure. Instead he falls back on the most threadbare diplomatic bromide, that we must remain engaged in the process regardless, "Egyptians now have a chance to shape a new political order, and the pathway forward is unclear and will take some time...We may strongly disagree with some positions the Muslim Brotherhood stakes out, but it would be foolish for the United States to disarm ourselves so early in Egypt's transition by stopping diplomatic engagement..."
Hope is one thing, however conjuring up silly notions that the MB might refrain from totally dominating Egyptian politics and that a diverse polity will spring from the loins of Sayyid Qutb is quite another matter.
End note:
1. Regarding Hamas, Mr. Katulis has recommended "...pragmatically dealing with Hamas is necessary for getting to some de-escalation of the current violence " [source, http://thinkprogress.org/security/2008/05/02/175082/hamas-engagement/]
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http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=progress212012101%2Ehtm
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/5171