U.S. supports role for ‘non-secular’ groups in Egyptian government

Mercury News:

By Paul Richter and Peter Nicholas

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON–The Obama administration said Monday 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 “non-secular” groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis enveloping Egypt for the past week.

The statement was an acknowledgment that any popularly accepted new government would probably include groups that are not considered friendly to U.S. interests, and a signal that the White House is prepared for that probability after 30 years of reliable relations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Monday’s statement was a “pretty clear sign that the U.S. isn’t going to advocate a narrow form of pluralism, but a broad one,” said Robert Malley, a Middle East peace negotiator in the Clinton administration. U.S. officials have previously pressed for broader participation in Egypt’s government.

The Bush administration pushed Mubarak for democratic reforms, but a statement in 2005 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not specifically address a role for Islamists.

“This is different,” said Malley, now with the International Crisis Group. “It has a real political edge and political
meaning.”White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said a reformed government “has to include a whole host of important non-secular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be (a) stable and reliable partner.”

Gibbs said the U.S. government has had no contact with the Muslim Brotherhood because of questions over its commitment to the rule of law, democracy and nonviolence. But the Brotherhood is not listed on U.S. terrorism lists, as are the Hamas and Hezbollah organizations.

His remarks came after a White House meeting at which administration officials briefed outside Middle East experts, leaving some of the participants with the impression that the administration was not counting on Mubarak to remain in power.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and best-organized Egyptian opposition group, with an estimated 600,000 members, many of them educated, middle-class men. It has disavowed terrorism and violence, but its inclusion in any government would likely be deeply controversial among U.S. allies, especially in Israel, because it advocates tearing up Egypt’s peace treaty with the Jewish state.

Its members run for elective office as independents. It won 20 percent of the seats in parliament in 2005. But in elections in November, Brotherhood members didn’t win a single seat in balloting that was tainted by allegations of fraud.

In addition to its political efforts, the Muslim Brotherhood runs social and economic programs that help fill the gaps in Egypt’s public services. It rejects the possibility of a woman or a Christian being president of Egypt, and would press for stricter adherence to Islamic codes.

U.S. conservatives such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have warned about its rise, and many draw comparisons to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. But others contend that fears of the Brotherhood, which has been suppressed for decades by the Egyptian government, are overstated.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

4 Replies to “U.S. supports role for ‘non-secular’ groups in Egyptian government”

  1. ”White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said a reformed government “has to include a whole host of important non-secular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be (a) stable and reliable partner.”

    Do they believe this bull, and do they expect us to believe it?

  2. This is more evidence that the White House has a takkiya/kitman practicing Muslim in high places, perhaps the highest place of all.

    Any concessions to the Muslim Brotherhood, or indeed any Muslim group is a sign of capitulation to Islam. It tells the OIC that we are willing to accept sharia law and the universal caliphate and submit. That is how they will interpret this policy and act upon it.

    Its as if Wall Street bankers would accept Marxist analysis or if Jews would accept what the Nazis had planned.

    Islam is poised to strike the west from a united Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian, Saudi, Lybian, Turkish and North African front after first trying to wipe out Israel. Given the chance, these countries will strike at southern Europe while a weakened northern Europe deals with militant Muslim populations. This is the grand jihad for Europe as I interpret it.

    For the White House to come out and accept the terrorist-spawning Muslim Brotherhood as a political entity in Egypt is a base violation of all that the US stands for.

    Yet no-one will stand up to his royal O’s policy for fear of more 9/11s.

    Its come to this: accept sharia law creeping into the US and the west or fight with everything we have, just as Israel has to.

    If we even look favourably at the Muslim Brotherhood, which has sworn to create a universal caliphate and wipe out all other ideologies other than Islam, then we have lost the battle and the war.

    We cannot in good conscience let Egypt fall into Islamist hands. Ever.

    Otherwise we will not only put more fear into an already unstable part of the world, but threaten over 8,000 years of Egyptian history as well. Already Muslims are destroying artifacts all over the country, especially in the museums.

    No. Accepting any Muslim groups is wrong for the world. Dead wrong.

  3. International Crisis Group? How does one get into these shady outfits? How much saudi money must one accept?

    FYI – Simon Malley ( father of Robert Malley- jewish/arab descent) was called a sympathizer of the PLO by Daniel Pipes.

    Robert Malley, is one of Clinton’s jew boys; along with Sandy Berger, Ambassador Martin Indyk, Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and former State Department Senior Advisor Aaron David Miller.

    They are no good and quite frankly, I believe that no jews should be in the White House or close to it. They are, in general, “North East lib pansies” and will sell out the USA, if they have not already.

    I am Jewish so I am not anti semetic. All of those names are sympathetic to the palestinians and of course their muslim kenyan boss, who is willing to throw mubarak under the boss, in respect to his muslim masters.

  4. RRWest here are a few facts to throw into your analysis, 1) Israel has over 200 nuclear warheads, 2) Israel has 5 or more diesel powered missile subs, 3) Israelis are talking about the Sampson option. Yes I know this is what Amadidajad (sp) wants, he wants hell on earth s0 the Mahdi will return, well if Israel is going down so is Islam. That is the nightmare I have had for several years, and the chances of it happening are getting better. The only thing that can possibly prevent this is for the US to do what it always has and fly in massive amounts of ammo once the shooting starts. I like Israel and the Israeli military are world class, but it is a small nation and can’t afford to stockpile the ammo needed for a medium or short term war.