Tag Archives: Egypt

Evidence Of The Decline Of America

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On Monday, the Washington Post reported that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out a series of airstrikes in Tripoli, Libya. Neither country informed the United States before taking action.

The article reports:

The airstrikes appear tied to fear over the growing muscle of Islamist militias. The region’s monarchies and secular dictatorships are increasingly alarmed about Islamist gains from Libya to Syria and Iraq. And the airstrikes may signal a new willingness by some Arab states to take on a more direct military role in the region’s conflicts.

Various groups in Libya have been battling for control of the main Tripoli airport, and the strikes may have been a failed attempt to keep the strategic facility from falling to extremists.

Our intervention in Libya was a mistake. The only true justification for America’s getting involved was to protect the oil fields that supply Europe with oil. There is also some questions as to whether of not Gaddafi was planning to begin to trade oil in currency other than American dollars. If he had done that, it would have crashed the American economy. Gaddafi had turned over his weapons of mass destruction after the United States had invaded Iraq. He was a horrible dictator, but there was no assurance that he would be replaced with anything less horrible. The Obama Administration’s decision to bomb Libya as part of the ‘Arab Spring’ only strengthened the grip of the multiple terrorist groups in Libya and surrounding areas.

President Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East has been a disaster. It will take years to restore the faith in the United States that our allies once had and to undo the damage President Obama has done by supporting the enemies of democracy.

Outlawed Again

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On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the government of Egypt has dissolved the political party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated. The name of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party was the Freedom and Justice Party. So much for truth in advertising.

The article reports:

The decision against the Freedom and Justice Party comes after a recommendation by the court’s advisory panel that noted the party’s leaders had already been accused, and in some cases convicted, of murder and inciting violence.

The recommendation added that the police investigation stated the party headquarters and offices were used to store weapons.

The Middle East news agency said the decision is final.

The court decision is part of a wider crackdown against the group and its members that landed thousands in jail, including a many sentenced to death on charges of inciting violence.

The government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group late last year, accusing it of orchestrating a wave of violence to destabilize the country after the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood member, in the wake of mass protests against him.

This is not the first encounter between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian government (and unfortunately it may not be the last).

The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al Banna. In 1923 when the Turkish empire was dissolved and the modern state of Turkey established, Mustapha Kemal, known as Ataturk, wanted to abolish the caliphate and set up secular rule. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in reaction to the secularization of Turkey.

Some of the bylaws of the Muslim Brotherhood:

…the need to work on establishing the Islamic State

…the sincere support for a global cooperation in accordance with the provisions of Islamic Sharia

The assassination of Anwar Sadat was carried out by a nationalistic group associated with the Muslim Brotherhood because Sadat had made a peace treaty with Israel.

The Muslim Brotherhood is active in America with a number of front groups. The Muslim Brotherhood plan for North America can be found in the exhibits in the Holy Land Foundation Trial that took place in Texas in 2007. There is also a list of unindicted co-conspirators that includes many groups now accepted as Muslim spokespeople by our government.

The danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood is worldwide–America is not exempt from that danger. The difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda is method–not goal. The Muslim Brotherhood did not support the attack on September 11, 2001, because they felt it was too early to attempt to destroy America with violence–they felt they needed more time to destroy America politically. That is an ongoing process.

Positive Unintended Consequences In The Middle East

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Paul Mirengoff at Power Line posted an article today about the Israeli invasion of Gaza. He mentions in the article that Israel did not go into Gaza until the latest attempt to broker a diplomatic settlement broke down.

The article reports:

According to Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, spokesman for the IDF, the ground offensive began at 10 p.m. Israeli time. It involves dozens of infantry, armed core, and artillery units, as well as air and naval support. Israel plans to call up additional reservist troops to bolster the 50,000 called up already.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Lerner’s statement is that the IDF’s activities along the southern part of the Gaza Strip are being coordinated with Egypt. Lerner did not elaborate on the extent of the cooperation.

As I suggested here, Egyptian cooperation is one reason why this Israeli offensive may produce more thorough and lasting results than previous ones.

If Obama had gotten his way, the Muslim Brotherhood would still run Egypt, and Israeli-Egyptian cooperation against Hamas would be out of the question.

Because the Egyptian military stood up to the Muslim Brotherhood, the people in Israel may eventually be safer from Hamas.

 

The Stakes In Israel Just Got Higher

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Yesterday the Jerusalem Post reported that one target of the recent Hamas rocket attack was Dimona, the site of an Israeli nuclear reactor. The Iron Dome stopped one of three rockets aimed at the facility. The two other rockets landed in open areas nearby. This is the furthest north that rocket attacks from Gaza have reached. Speculation is that during the time that President Morsi was in charge in Egypt, better rockets were smuggled into Gaza through tunnels in the Sinai peninsula. During Morsi’s presidency, the Sinai was not policed by Egypt for smuggling activity.

The Iron Dome has done a good job of protecting Israel, but at some time in the near future, Israel will have to fight back. Unfortunately, many of the rocket launchers in Gaza are located on the rooftops of civilian homes. The idea is to give the Palestinians a propaganda victory when those rocket launchers are destroyed and ‘innocent’ civilians are killed.

Picking The Wrong Horse (Again)

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The Obama Administration has had a habit of choosing the wrong side in situations we shouldn’t be involved in to begin with. Egypt is a prime example. Well, they have done it again.

The American Thinker posted an article yesterday about the recent election in India. The BJP party led by Narendra Modi has been elected to an absolute majority in India’s parliament. Mr. Modi is the former governor of the state of Gujarat, where his record was one of reform and economic growth.

So why is the election of Mr. Modi a problem? The Obama Administration has barred him from entering the United States. The ban on Mr. Modi was the result of unproven allegations that he had involved in a riot of Hindus in response to Muslim violence. Hopefully the Obama Administration will lift this ban quickly–otherwise they run the risk of India aligning itself with Russia–something a Russian-controlled website called RT.com is already anticipating.

In the article in the American Thinker, Mr. Modi is described as conservative, pro free market, and anti-Islamist–exactly the kind of leadership we need in America. It would be a shame to see such a leader turn to Russia because an American President did not welcome him to the world community of leaders.

 

 

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The Ripples Caused By Bad Foreign Policy

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Fox News posted an article today about recent rocket attacks on Israel.

The article reports:

The 70 indiscriminate Qassam and Grad missile attacks are already 11 more than were mounted in all of 2013, and have prompted dozens of counter-attacks by Israel Defense Forces. But officials believe Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and not Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the territory, is behind the attacks. Hamas’ popularity in the strip is in freefall, as the economy struggles and other groups such as Islamic Jihad vie for public support.

The article explains the sudden increase in the attacks:

The escalation in cross-border fire reflects a power struggle going on in Gaza between the governing Hamas terror organization and other groups, such as the PIJ and other miltias associated with Al Qaeda. Hamas is on the verge of bankruptcy, sources said. The finances of the terrorist state have been decimated since the change of power in Egypt last year that saw General Abdel Fatah el-Sisi take power from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi.

Because Mohammed Morsi was driven out of power in Egypt, the financing of terror in the Gaza strip has decreased. President Obama withdrew American military support of Egypt after the military took control of the country when Morsi attempted to turn Egypt into a Muslim state ruled by Sharia law. As usual, President Obama was on the wrong side of democracy and freedom. Because Morsi is out of power, terrorists have less money. Unfortunately, the Arabs in Gaza will use any excuse to attack Israel. Meanwhile, Secretary of State is looking for a two-state solution. How about we require the Palestinians to recognize Israel’s right to exist and to stop lobbing rockets at Israel before we even consider peace talks? Also, lets stop funding the Palestinian security forces whose only purpose is to attack Israel.

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Let’s Follow Their Example

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The Muslim Brotherhood was founded by Hassan al Banna in 1928. The bylaws of the Muslim Brotherhood state include the following:

“The Muslim Brotherhood is an International Muslim body which seeks to establish Allah’s law in the land by achieving the spiritual goals of Islam and the true religion which are namely the following:

…F) The  need to work on establishing the Islamic State:

G) The sincere support for a global cooperation in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic Sharia.

The above is taken from the Official Muslim Brotherhood Website on 9/7/2010. It is referenced in the book, Shariah The Threat to America published by the Center for Security Policy in 2010.

Yesterday the Washington Post posted a story stating that the military government of Egypt has declared that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist group. The military government of Egypt is correct. The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt as an antidote to the secularization of Turkey after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The stated purpose of the Muslim Brotherhood is to form a worldwide caliphate under Sharia Law. It is implied in their by-laws that overthrowing existing governments is an acceptable means to this end. The military government of Egypt understands that fact and chooses not to be overthrown.

The article reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Hossam Eissa said that, in response to the bombing (a bombing Tuesday in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura), the government had decided to classify the organization as a terrorist group. Eissa did not provide evidence that the Brotherhood was involved in the bombing or any other recent attacks on security forces in Egypt.

“Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group,” Eissa said, according to the AP. “This was in context of a dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians [and] a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it still knows nothing but violence.”

“It’s not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism,” he added.

On Wednesday, a Sinai-based jihadist group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Ansar Jerusalem, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing, which killed 15 people, including 11 police officers, in one of the deadliest such attacks in Egypt in years.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a peaceful organization. The government of Egypt has realized that. It is time America woke up and realized the danger the Brotherhood represents to America.

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What Has Happened To Our Vetting Process For Public Office?

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Mohamed Elibiary is a member of DHS’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). On Friday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that when asked to name an Islamic country where non Muslims are treated with equality, Mr. Elibiary tweeted, “America and yes I do consider the United States of America an Islamic country with an Islamically compliant constitution. Move On!”

Wow. The U.S. Constitution is not Islamically compliant. Women in America have an equal voice in legal matters. Women in America are not subject to female genital mutilation. Women in America are not put in prison if they are raped. America does not recognize honor killings. That’s just the beginning.

The article reports:

Elibiary has expressed great support for the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming in a recent interview with Clarion that the organization is “pragmatic” and “non-violent.”

Supporters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have been cited for a range of violent crimes before and after the fall of Morsi, including the desecration of churches and other abuses.

“I believe that MB and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, has by and large acted responsibly, if not always effectively, during the democratic transition period that Egypt is in the very early stages of,” Elbiary told Clarion.

Elibiary has served on the DHS’ “Countering Violent Extremist Working Group,” as well as its “Faith-based Security and Communications Advisory Committee.”

Elibiary’s critics say that someone with his views should not be advising DHS, the country’s chief counter-terror agency responsible for advising local governments across the country.

“This isn’t just a foreign policy issue,” said Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project. “Elibiary’s beliefs are reflected in DHS training guidelines that leave counter-terrorism personnel unaware that the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood even exists.”

Neither Elibiary nor a DHS spokesperson responded to a Washington Free Beacon request for comment.

We will never win the war on terror if we refuse to understand who the terrorists are.

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Another Foreign Policy Disaster

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President Obama’s foreign policy has not improved America’s standing in the world–it has caused our allies to wonder if we will be there for them, and it has emboldened our enemies. President Obama has just taken another step in the wrong direction.

Power Line reported yesterday that President Obama has cut American aid to Egypt. The President has decided to withhold a shipment of a dozen AH-64D Apache helicopters that were part of an $820 million order back in 2009.

The article reminds us that when President Morsi was in charge of Egypt and was moving the country toward an Islamist state, aid was never cut off. Now that the military is moving the country toward a secular state, the President has cut aid.

The article reports:

So the cutoff isn’t driven by legal considerations.

This leaves two possible explanations. First, Obama is tilting towards the Muslim Brotherhood in its life and death struggle against the current Egyptian regime. Second, Obama is trying to incentivize the regime to be more democratic.

Frankly, I believe that Obama favors the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. His administration seems to consider it the wave of the future in the Middle East and perhaps wants it to be. Never mind that the Brotherhood is an anti-U.S., Israel-hating, Islamist organization with fascist tendencies.

…Topping this off with a punitive reduction of aid to a pro-American government that’s successfully fighting Islamists would destroy what little confidence our friends in the region still have in us. As Charles Krauthammer says, “If you’re an ally of the United States now, you’re wondering, ‘can we count on anything the Americans are going to do?’”

I fear that the answer, as long as Obama remains president, is “no.”

I am not sure how long it will take to undo President Obama’s foreign policy once he leaves office.

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Connections Americans Need To Know About

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Yesterday the Washington Free Beacon posted a story about Gehad El-Haddad, a former employee of the William J. Clinton Foundation. Mr. El-Haddad was arrested in Cairo on Tuesday and charged with inciting violence.

The article reports:

Gehad el-Haddad served as one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s top communications officials until Egyptian security forces seized him as part of a wider crackdown on officials loyal to ousted former President Mohamed Morsi.

Before emerging as a top Brotherhood official and adviser to Morsi, el-Haddad served for five years as a top official at the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit group founded by former President Bill Clinton.

…He was raised in a family of prominent Brotherhood supporters and became the public face of the Islamist organization soon after leaving his post at the Clinton Foundation.

However, much of his official work with the Brotherhood took place while he was still claiming to be employed by the Clinton Foundation.

“It was only a matter of time before Gehad el-Haddad was arrested,” Egypt expert Eric Trager told the Washington Free Beacon. “Many of the other Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen have been apprehended, and in addition to decapitating the organization, the military-backed government has been specifically targeting the Brotherhood’s media wing, including by shutting down its T.V. stations at the time of Morsi’s ouster on July 3.”

This is not the only connection between the Clintons and the Muslim Brotherhood. Huma Adedin, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top adviser, has strong family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The article further reports:

El-Haddad represented the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative in Egypt during his overlapping tenure, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He additionally “setup the foundation’s office in Egypt and managed official registration,” “supervised policy-making workshops & presented foundations views,” and “presented projects to high-level government officials,” among many other duties.

El-Haddad left the Clinton Foundation in August 2012, two months after Morsi assumed the Egyptian presidency.

He was appointed a “senior adviser and media spokesman” to the Muslim Brotherhood in January 2013 and served in that role until his arrest.

It seems as if the military rulers in Egypt are more aware of the threat to democracy represented by the Muslim Brotherhood than our own elected officials.

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Freedom Of Religion Is Not A Part Of The Islamic Philosophy

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Yesterday ABC News posted a story about recent events in Dalga, Egypt. The article explains that the town was taken over by the supporters of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

The article reports:

With the army and police already fighting a burgeoning militant insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, there are growing signs that a second insurgency could erupt in the south — particularly in Minya and Assiut provinces, both Islamist strongholds and home to Egypt’s two largest Christian communities.

The takeover of Dalga has been disastrous for the Christian community in the town, located 270 kilometers (160 miles) south of Cairo in Minya, on the edge of the Nile Valley near the cliffs that mark the start of the desert.

In the initial burst of violence, the town’s only Catholic church was ransacked and set ablaze, like the Monastery of the Virgin Mary and St. Abraam. The Anglican church was looted.

Since the Morsi supporters took over the town, Christian homes have been looted and burned. Some homes have been spared because the Christians living in them have paid their Muslim neighbors to protect them.

This is an example of the government that can follow the removal of a Middle Eastern dictator. Unless we are prepared to take over a country until a moderate government can be established, we should not intervene in a civil war in the Middle East.

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The Syria Debate Continues

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Chances are that America will do something in Syria. Hugh Hewitt has stated that he feels an attack will come on Tuesday. He supports American action. Another voice that does not support American action is Frank Gaffney who heads the Center for Security Policy.

This is a video of a conversation between Frank Gaffney and Glenn Beck taken from the Center for Security Policy Website:

Frank Gaffney points out that although our reasons for attacking Syria may be morally compelling, the aftermath of the attack will not be good for America. Mr. Gaffney states that the outcome will bring either the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, or Iran to power in Syria. Glenn Beck points out that if we were doing this for humanitarian reasons, we would be helping the Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Please watch the video above. Frank Gaffney gives one of the best arguments I have heard for the concept of “peace through strength.” He points out that if your enemies know that you have the will and the way to take action, they are less likely to create a problem.

I don’t know what the right answer in Syria is. I have a son-in-law in the military, so I have a personal concern. The only answer I have is to pray that our leaders have wisdom in dealing with this situation.

 

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The Fight For Democracy In Egypt

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The thing to remember when watching events in the Middle East is that the propaganda war is as important (if not more so) than what is actually happening on the ground. This was made evident recently with a video that has gone viral.

The Blaze posted the story and the video today:

It is amazing how a supposedly seriously wounded man could push away medical help with his foot! The video is also available on YouTube.

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The Obvious Answer Is Not Always The Best One

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First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People. That is an example of graffiti found in Muslim countries around the world. We are now seeing that idea acted out in Egypt. The Jewish population has already been driven out, now the Muslim Brotherhood is going after the Christians. There are two stories up at the Drudge Report this morning that illustrate that principle in action.

One of those stories was posted yesterday in the U.K. Mail. The story relates the story of an Islamist mob in Egypt that attacked a Christian school, knocked the cross off the gate, and paraded the nuns from the school through the streets as prisoners of war.

The article reports:

Police told Sister Manal that the nuns had been targeted by hardline Islamists, convinced that they had given Muslim children an inappropriate education.

‘We are nuns. We rely on God and the angels to protect us,’ she said. ‘At the end, they paraded us like prisoners of war and hurled abuse at us as they led us from one alley to another without telling us where they were taking us.’

Siblings Wardah and Bedour, two Christian women employed by the school, also found themselves having to fight their way through the mob while being groped, hit and insulted by the extremists.

So far two Christians have been killed since the military-backed government moved against protesters calling for former president Mohamed Morsi’s reinstatement.

And dozens of churches, homes and businesses owned by Christians have been attacked and razed to the ground.

The second story, from The Christian Science Monitor, was also posted yesterday.

That article reports:

The Saint Virgin Mary church in Al Nazla is one of 47 churches and monasteries that have been burned, robbed, or attacked since Aug. 14 in a wave of violence against Christians since the brutal police crackdown on the former president’s supporters, according to Ishak Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. He adds that dozens of Christian schools, other religious buildings, homes and shops have also been attacked and burned, and seven Christians killed. Police have done little to stop the attacks.

The victims say the attackers are Morsi supporters angered by the deaths in Cairo, and spurred on by Islamist rhetoric blaming Christians for Morsi’s ouster. The attacks are a realization of the long-held fears of many Christians and have prompted deep worry about widening religious violence in Egypt.

Had President Morsi remained in power in Egypt, these events would have been condoned by the Egyptian government. Although the bloodshed in Egypt is horrendous and will probably continue for a while, there would have been bloodshed if President Morsi had remained in office. A parallel to the coup in Egypt would have been a coup that ousted Hitler shortly after he came to power. Would the world have supported the leaders of that coup? That is the choice we are faced with.

This is not the time to deny aid to Egypt’s military. Egypt’s military will eventually bring stability to Egypt. It would not be wise for the United States to alienate them–they support peace with Israel, they keep the Suez Canal available to American warships, etc. I know our law says we will not give aid to a country after a coup, but we need to look at what this coup removed. The Obama Administration has had a habit of making up laws as they go along and ignoring the actual law. In this case that would be a good idea.

To deny aid to Egypt at this time would be a serious mistake in foreign policy.

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Some Objective Commentary On America’s Foreign Policy In The Middle East

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One of the best sources of objective information on the Middle East is the Middle East Forum. The Middle East Forum posted an article last week entitled, “America‘s Problems in the Middle East are Just Beginning.” The article is not particularly encouraging, but it is frank and objective.

The opening paragraphs of the article state:

It’s 2015, and there is a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas), financed by Iran, wins an election on a platform demanding the expulsion of the Jews from Israel. Iran meanwhile smuggles shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to terrorist cells in Palestine that can take down civilian airlines at Ben-Gurion airport. With backing from the Egyptian military, Fatah throws out the elected Hamas government and kills larger number of Hamas supporters. What will Washington do? Given the track record of both the Obama administration and the Republican mainstream, one would expect America to denounce the use of violence against a democratically-elected government.

Such is the absurdity of both parties’ stance towards Egypt: the Egyptian military is doing America’s dirty work, suppressing a virulently anti-modern, anti-Semitic and anti-Western Islamist movement whose leader, Mohammed Morsi, famously referred to Israelis as “apes and pigs.” It did so with the enthusiastic support of tens of millions of Egyptians who rallied in the streets in support of the military. And the American mainstream reacted with an ideological knee jerk. America’s presence in the Middle East has imploded.

It is obvious to even the most casual observer that America’s Middle East policy is a disaster. It has been so dictated by our dependence on oil and by our lack of understanding of the civilizations and organizations we are dealing with that we have absolutely no moral authority or solid ground to stand on. Our government has been infiltrated and influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1990’s (see government exhibit 3-85.pdf–as it was called during the first part of the Holy Land Foundation Trial). The first half of the exhibit is in Arabic, you have to scroll about halfway through it to find the English translation. The document explains how to present Islam as a civilization alternative with the goal of bringing America into a world-wide caliphate.

The article at the Middle East Forum concludes:

America cannot bear to think about its own Civil War because the wounds are too painful; in order to reunite the country after 1865, we concocted a myth of tragic fratricide. Wilsonian idealism was born of the South’s attempt to suppress its guilt for the war, I have argued in the past. That is an academic consideration now. America’s credibility in the Middle East, thanks to the delusions of both parties, is broken, and it cannot be repaired within the time frame required to forestall the next stage of violence. Egypt’s military and its Saudi backers are aghast at American stupidity. Israel is frustrated by America’s inability to understand that Egypt’s military is committed to upholding the peace treaty with Israel while the Muslim Brotherhood wants war. Both Israel and the Gulf States observe the utter fecklessness of Washington’s efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The events of the past week have demonstrated that America’s allies in the Middle East from Israel to the Persian Gulf can trust no-one in Washington–neither Barack Obama nor John McCain. Those of us in America who try to analyze events in the region will be the last to hear the news, and the value of our work will diminish over time.

I don’t know if democracy is possible in the Arab world. Turkey did a reasonable job of it for a while, but the Islamists are in the process of taking over Turkey, and democracy and Sharia Law are not compatible. Western civilization promotes freedom, property rights, and individual achievement. Those values are not part of Sharia Law. Until we acknowledge that there is such a thing as a superior civilization, we will continue attempting to negotiate with people who simply want us dead or under their control.

Please follow the link above to the Middle East Forum and read the entire article. It is not encouraging, but it is honest.

 

 

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Remaining Focused While Watching The Events In Egypt

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Unfortunately, the bloodshed in Egypt is just beginning. The Muslim Brotherhood will not go quietly–that is not their style. The thing to remember is that the Muslim Brotherhood had set up camps to protest the ouster of President Morsi. We need to consider what was happening in these protest camps. Terrorists were being trained, suicide missions were glorified, and preparations were being made for the propaganda war after the camps were broken up. That is the Muslim Brotherhood way.

Yesterday Andrew McCarthy posted an article at National Review Online reminding us how the Morsi supporters were behaving.

The article states:

When not similarly ignored, Islamic supremacist aggression against Egypt’s Christians — which was a prominent feature of Muslim Brotherhood governance — is disingenuously reported. Take this AFP report of the fact that the Brotherhood and its allies are torching Coptic churches. The AFP endeavors to exculpate the Islamic supremacists by editorializing, in the report, that these were “reprisal” attacks. But the Brotherhood was not ousted by the minority Copts. To be sure, the Copts far prefer to take their chances with a largely secular, technocratic government backed by the armed forces than the rampant persecution they endured while the Brotherhood was running the show. But it is the army, not the Copts, who ejected Morsi. AFP tries to obscure this by recounting that “the Coptic church backed Morsi’s removal, with Patriarch [i.e., Pope] Tawadros II appearing alongside army chief General Fattah al-Sisi as he announced the military coup.” As I observed in writing about the coup in the August 5 edition of National Review, however, Pope Tawadros was hardly alone — General Sisi also gathered by his side significant Islamic supremacist leaders: Grand Mufti Ahmed al-Tayeb of al-Azhar University and leaders of the Salafist al-Nour party (in addition to prominent secularists).

Men, women, and children are dying in Egypt as I write this. Some are innocent Coptic Christians, but many are Muslims being used as human shields in the ongoing propaganda war. It is truly unfortunate that lives are being lost in this struggle, but we need to understand that this struggle will eventually come to us. The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is a world-wide caliphate. The Brotherhood plans to include America in that caliphate. There are many Muslims high in our government working toward that end. If you doubt that, watch the final episode of “The Muslim Brotherhood in America.” This 10-part series details the strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood to bring Sharia Law to America. The series is documented and provides proof of the claims it makes.

The military in Egypt is attempting to bring a democratic government to Egypt. I don’t think they had a choice but to close down the pro-Morsi camps. The people of Egypt are partially to blame for what is happening–they elected Morsi and they elected a parliament that wrote a constitution that would eventually turn Egypt into an Islamic state similar to Iran. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), the Egyptians began to realize that President Morsi was undoing what they had hoped would be a democracy. Egypt is a mess and will continue to be a mess until the Muslim Brotherhood is convinced that they have to go back underground. The lesson that needs to be learned here is that Sharia Law and democracy are incompatible. Sharia Law is also incompatible to our representative republic. We need to remember that.

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Our Current Foreign Policy Toward Egypt Has A Problem

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Yes, I know that there was a coup in Egypt. If a coup is defined as a group of unelected people seizing power from an elected group of people, there was a coup in Egypt. However, when the elected group (the Muslim Brotherhood) begins to change the government to end democracy, someone has to act to preserve democracy. That is what happened. in Egypt. The problems that led to the problem begin almost immediately after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011. To understand exactly what happened, it is important to look at the history of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. It was founded to re-establish the imperial Islamic state. It was established as a reaction to the fact that the government of Turkey was established as a secular government after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to establish a world-wide caliphate through political and violent means. If you google the exhibits in the Holy Land Foundation Trial and read them, you will discover the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan for America.

Under Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood was in jail in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat after he signed a peace treaty with Israel, and the military put Hosni Mubarak in power. Mubarak put the Brotherhood in jail.  When President Obama spoke in Cairo in 2009, he put the Muslim Brotherhood in the front row–signaling to the Brotherhood that he would support them. Despite vague statements from the Obama Administration to the contrary, that support has not changed.

On Friday, a website called The Middle East Forum posted a story about how the average Egyptian feels about what is going on in his country and the role America is playing in Egypt.

The article in the Middle East Forum reports:

First, most offensive to Egyptians—and helpful to the Brotherhood’s cause—is McCain‘s insistence on calling the June 30 Revolution a “military coup.” In reality, the revolution consisted of perhaps thirty million Egyptians taking to the streets to oust the Brotherhood. McCain is either deliberately misconstruing the event, or believes the story as manufactured by Al Jazeera and promulgated by Ambassador Anne Patterson. In this narrative, at least an equal amount of Egyptians supported Morsi, and the military overthrew him against popular will. Al Jazeera has actually broadcast images of the millions of anti-Morsi protesters and identified them as pro-Morsi protesters, disinformation which was quickly adopted by Western media.

Several Al Jazeera correspondents have resigned due to Al Jazeera acting as the Brotherhood’s international mouthpiece.

Fortunately, some American officials have formally rejected this false narrative. A new congressional resolution states:

Whereas in recent weeks, an estimated 30,000,000 Egyptians in a majority of Egypt’s 27 provinces gathered to protest the widespread failures of former President Mohamed Morsi and the Government of Egypt and its violations of the most basic rights of all Egyptian citizens, including Egyptian women, minorities, and those publicly dissenting from its views and policies; Whereas the participants in the June 30, 2013, popular protests far outnumbered those involved in the protests and demonstrations of January and February 2011 …

Even the Obama administration has been sensible enough not to call the June 30 revolution a “military coup.” Nevertheless, McCain rejected John Kerry’s statement that “the [Egyptian] military did not take over.”

What happened in Egypt was a movement by the people of Egypt to attempt to form a democracy in the face of an elected government trying to undo the concept of democracy. In supporting the idea of even letting the Muslim Brotherhood take part in the Egyptian government, we would be supporting persecution of Christians and other minority religions, the institution of Sharia Law, which takes away the equality of women, and the formation of an Islamic state similar to Iran. I really don’t think that is in the best interest of the Egyptians, the Americans, or peace in the Middle East.

We need to remember that terrorists in the Middle East (and other places) have learned to use the weapon of propaganda very well. The Middle East Forum is one of the few reliable sources for unbiased information on what is going on in the Middle East.

 

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The Muslim Brotherhood Is Not Going Quietly

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CBN News posted a story today about the current unrest in Egypt. The ousting of President Morsi may have technically been a coup, but the people of Egypt were genuinely concerned about the direction that he had chosen for the country. The latest propaganda from the Islamists who supported President Morsi is that the Christians in Egypt were responsible for removing him from office. That propaganda has resulted in increased attacks on Christians in Egypt.

The article reports:

On Thursday, the body of a Christian merchant was found decapitated in a cemetery. Last Saturday, a Coptic Christian priest was shot by gunmen in an outdoor market.

Also, days after the military coup that removed Morsi from office, Muslim extremists in southern Egypt burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed four believers to death.

“It’s part of the Brotherhood’s mobilization that they are targeting Christians, that they are renouncing them as behind this. If the Brotherhood is able to portray what happened as a Christian-dominated or Christian-driven protest, then they get to gain massive support in the streets,” Tadros (Samuel Tadros, a research fellow for the Hudson Institute) explained.

The former pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community encouraged believers to stay out of the public eye and politics for fear of backlash.

The military-backed government of Egypt has ordered the arrest of the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and nine other members. The Muslim Brotherhood is suspected of instigating the violence outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo this week.

If Egypt is to be free, with all minorities having equal rights, the Muslim Brotherhood has to be kept out of power. The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to turn Egypt into a state similar to Iran–with Sharia Law, which does not allow religious freedom. Hopefully the people of Egypt who support freedom for everyone will make their voices heard.

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Democracy In Egypt

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Andrew McCarthy is one of the best authorities on the Muslim Brotherhood and how the Middle East works. He posted an article at National Review yesterday about the latest developments in Egypt.

The article reports:

Al-Ahram is reporting that Haze El-Beblawy has been appointed Egypt’s interim prime minister.

Andrew McCarthy then goes on to explain that after Hosni Mubarak was ousted Haze El-Beblawy was deputy finance minister and, later, finance minister, under the government led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

The goal of the military currently in charge of Egypt is to establish a stable, functioning government that writes a constitution that will insure rights for all religious groups and then move to elections. Because the elections were rushed after Mubarak was removed, the only really organized political party was the Muslim Brotherhood. They wrote the constitution, ran a candidate for president (after promising that they would not do that), and took over the country. The idea this time is to move more slowly, allow other political parties to get organized (which should be interesting, since the Brotherhood removed a lot of the opposition leadership), and have an election after the rights of minorities have been guaranteed by the new constitution.

So what are the chances?

Andrew McCarthy comments:

There is a good chance that it won’t work. After all, this is Egypt and, given the opportunity, Egyptians have repeatedly shown that they will vote by lopsided margins for anti-democratic Islamic supremacists over pro-Western democrats and progressives. As Mark trenchantly observed yesterday, “Egypt is imprisoned less by its passing dictators than by its own psychoses.” Nevertheless, what’s done is done, and the present course is the best chance some semblance of democracy has to take root. We should be cautiously encouraging it. 

…So now, as the mosques stoke opposition to the transition government against a background of shooting on the streets and an economy in ruins, there will also be a vivid sense that the leaders elected by the people have been shoved aside in favor of politicians decisively rejected by the people. This is going to be very uphill.

Democracy only happens with well-informed, rational voters. If the culture is not leaning in the direction of freedom (or if freedom is being denounced from the pulpits of the mosques),  the chances of establishing a democracy are reduced drastically. Until the voters in Egypt can get past the idea that voting for their own freedom is a betrayal of their religious beliefs, there will be no freedom in Egypt.

Watching the unfolding of the “Arab Spring” gives me a whole new appreciation of the gift to America that the Founding Fathers were. The wisdom and selflessness of America’s Founding Fathers is the only reason America has lasted as long as it has.

 

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Will Mohammed ElBaradei Be Prime Minister Of Egypt?

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Politico posted an article yesterday (updated today) about the recent political turmoil in Egypt.

The article reports:

But underscoring the sharp divisions facing the untested leader, Adly Mansour, his office said it was naming Mohammed ElBaradei, one of Morsi’s top critics, as interim prime minister but later backtracked on the decision.

Mansour’s spokesman Ahmed el-Musalamani denied that the appointment of the Nobel Peace laureate was ever certain. However, reporters gathered at the presidential palace were ushered into a room where they were told by an official to wait for the president who would arrive shortly to announce ElBaradei’s appointment.

The struggle in Egypt is between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the military attempting to set up a secular democracy similar to what  Mustafa Kemal Atatürk set up in Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt as a response to that government model–it was a protest to the idea of a secular government in a Muslim country.

ElBaradei is considered to be someone who would run the country as a secular nation, and the ultraconservative Salafi el-Nour party objected to ElBaradei’s appointment. Talks between the two sides are continuing.
Meanwhile, there are riots in the streets as both sides protest–one in favor or returning Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to leadership and the other in favor of removing Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Which side is the United States on? The State Department is officially not taking sides, but we might take a look at some of the details of President Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo to answer that question.

On June 3, 2009, Fox News reported that 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc received official invitations to attend President Obama’s speech.

The article at Fox News notes:

The Muslim Brotherhood, though, has a complicated history.
Though the hard-line group, which calls for an Islamic state and has close ties to the militant Hamas, is officially banned in Egypt, its members have considerable sway in the country and its lawmakers, who run as independents, hold 88 seats in Egypt’s 454-seat parliament.

The Brotherhood renounced the use of violence in the 1970s and now says it seeks democratic reform in Egypt. It is the most powerful opposition movement in the country, and many analysts argue Washington should engage the Brotherhood directly to show it is open to dealing with nonviolent Islamist movements.

The group is not on the State Department’s official list of foreign terrorist groups.

Keep in mind that the Muslim Brotherhood traditionally practices two types of jihad–violent jihad and civilization jihad. Civilization jihad involves taking over a country by infiltrating its government and quietly seizing power. The goals of both types of jihad are the same–to create a caliphate under Sharia Law. By specifically inviting the Muslim Brotherhood to his speech in Cairo in 2009, President Obama may well have paved the way for the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Unfortunately, things in Egypt may get worse before they get better.

 

A Major Part Of Any War (Particularly In The Middle East) Is The Propaganda

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The Muslim Brotherhood is not going to to quietly. They will use any and every weapon they have to get power back in Egypt. Their goal is a worldwide caliphate. They work on a military level and a political level. In America, we have the exhibits from the Holy Land Foundation Trial that reveal their plan to infiltrate the American government and use our legal system and political system against us (if you have not read the exhibits, look them up). CAIR was established to use the American legal system to introduce Sharia Law, and the infiltration of Muslim Brotherhood members into some of our highest political circles is an ongoing thing. The Center for Security Policy details this in their series “The Muslim Brotherhood in America.”

So a story in yesterday’s Washington Post is no surprise–but it is almost humorous in its content. The headline in the Washington Post reads, “Muslim Brotherhood site says Egypt’s new president is secretly Jewish.” In America that probably wouldn’t really mean much–Joe Lieberman ran for Vice-President, and no one really cared that he was Jewish–but to a devout Muslim, it is a serious charge.

In January of this year, The Blaze posted an article about Mohammed Morsi‘s comments that the Jewish people as “descendants of apes and pigs.” President Morsi has said this numerous times over the years.

According to the article in The Blaze, this is the context of those remarks:

Found within the Quran itself are numerous verses citing Allah’s hex on the Jewish people and their subsequent damnation to live as the aforementioned swine, and primates. Quran verse 5:60 is the key to the kingdom in this regard and serves as the basis for all modern-day iterations. The Hilali-Khan Quranic translation of this verse reads as follows:

Say (O Muhammad SAW to the people of the Scripture): “Shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the recompense from Allah: those (Jews) who incurred the Curse of Allah and His Wrath, those of whom (some) He transformed into monkeys and swines, those who worshipped Taghut (false deities); such are worse in rank (on the Day of Resurrection in the Hellfire), and far more astray from the Right Path (in the life of this world).”

This is the context of the charge that Adly Mansour, the interim President of Egypt is Jewish. In the eyes of the radical Muslims who make up the Muslim Brotherhood, he is a descendent of apes and pigs.

It is interesting to note that the article, posted at IkhwanOnline, the official Web site of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, has since been taken offline. It must not have gotten the desired results.

According to the Washington Post, the article at IkhwanOnline also explained the world-wide conspiracy behind the removal of President Morsi:

The article goes on to connect Mansour’s appointment as president to a global conspiracy involving the United States, Israel and Mohamed ElBaradei. According to a translation by the site MBInEnglish, which is run by Cairo-based journalists and dedicated to translating Brotherhood-penned articles into English, the article claimed that ElBaradei had refused to participate in a conference that denied the Holocaust. This, it says, was “a token gesture offered to the Jews by ElBaradei so that he can become President of the Republic in the fake elections that the military will guard and whose results they will falsify in their interests. All with the approval of America, Israel and the Arabs, of course.”

It’s always a good idea when reading news reports from the Middle East to consider the fact that propaganda plays a large role in events in that part of the world. It took more than ten years for the true story of Muhammad al-Dura, the Palestinian child who appeared to have been gruesomely killed at his father’s feet in Gaza on September 30, 2000, to come out (see rightwinggranny.com). Whatever is reported by the press about events in Egypt should be viewed cautiously.

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In Case You Thought Egypt Would Quiet Down Now That The Muslim Brotherhood Has Been Removed From Power

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This video appears on the website Gates of Vienna and on YouTube:

The comments made do not bode well for the future. The Muslim Brotherhood is Shiite Muslim. They are naturally aligned with Iran. The are part of the dream of a worldwide caliphate. If they are removed from power, part of Egypt’s economic problems will be solved with aid from Saudi Arabia—Sunni Muslims who fear the increased power of Iran. Saudi Arabia is the home of the Wahabi branch of radical Islam, and also the original home of Al Qaeda. Frankly, the Egyptian military is the only possible pro-American and pro-Israel group in this bunch. This is going to be a nasty civil war. I seriously doubt the Muslim Brotherhood will go quietly.

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Was It A Coup?

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The Tampa Tribune posted an article today entitled, “Was the overthrow of Egypt’s government a coup?” Sounds like a very technical question, but right now it is a very important one. USA Today is reporting tonight that Egypt’s military suspended the constitution Wednesday, put President Morsi under house arrest,  and ordered new elections.

The article in USA Today reports:

Al-Sisi  (Army chief of staff Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, speaking on national television in front of a row of prominent political and religious leaders) said the chief judge of the constitutional court, backed by technical experts, would have full powers to run the country until the constitution is amended and new elections are held. Adli al-Mansour, the 67-year-old head of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, is to be sworn in Thursday as interim president, state media.

The Tampa Tribute reminds us:

“U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree,” U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a key decision-maker on U.S. foreign aid, said Wednesday. He said his foreign assistance committee “will review future aid to the Egyptian government as we wait for a clearer picture.”

As soon as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was removed from office, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) began consolidating their power in Egypt. Their goal was to set up a country ruled by Sharia Law, similar to Iran. Elections were held quickly because the MB was the only organized group in the country that could mount a successful campaign. The MB quickly took over the parliament and wrote Sharia Law into the constitution. There really was never to true chance for democracy in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood.

The people of Egypt are dealing with an economy that has collapsed. That may be part of the reason for their going back to Tahrir Square. The military has at least temporarily brought some order to the country, but it remains to be seen where we will go from here.

Much of the Egyptian military has been trained in the United States, and many members of the Egyptian military have positive feelings toward America and its people. Having the military run the country for a while would not be a bad thing for either America or Israel.

The military has at least temporarily taken over Egypt, but I am not sure what they did is an actual coup. It will be interesting to see what the Obama Administration does in terms of aid to the military during this transition period.

 

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Egypt A Year After The Revolution

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It has been a year since Mohamed Morsi became President of Egypt. Egyptians are not happily celebrating that anniversary. Yesterday the Christian Science Monitor reported that as large crowds protested in Cairo, a small crowd attacked the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The article reports:

A Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad El Haddad, said on Twitter that a group of “thugs” was attacking the headquarters, and said two police captains left their posts protecting the headquarters to join the attack. No eyewitnesses reported seeing police engage in the attack. But Morsi has struggled to bring the security forces, long used for suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood, under his control. The police’s refusal to protect the Brotherhood headquarters and other Brotherhood offices are a telling sign.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al Banna. Hassan al Banna was killed in 1949 by Egyptian security services. A ban on Muslim Brotherhood activities was lifted in 1951. In 1952, the Muslim Brotherhood worked with Gamal Abdel Nasser and some young officers who overthrew King Farouk. Nassar began a crackdown on the Brotherhood in 1954, and much of the organization left Egypt and began operating worldwide. In the past, when Egypt had a leadership crisis, the military took control, and whomever they supported took power. However, President Morsi quickly moved to prevent that from happening.

In August, I reported (rightwinggranny.com) that President Morsi ordered Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to retire.

I stated:

This move essentially transfers power away from the military and strengthens the power of the President and the Parliament. The Parliament that was elected in Egypt was largely fundamentalist Islamists who support Sharia Law. Taking control of the military breaks down the last barrier to Sharia Law and to Egypt becoming what Iran became after the 1979 revolution there. The next step will be the official breaking of the treaty with Israel (which will only happen when Egypt feels that it has gotten all the U. S. foreign aid money it is going to get).

By taking power away from the military, President Morsi consolidated his power within Egypt. However, the people who began the revolution in 2011 were not all supporters of Sharia Law. Many of them wanted democracy. Democracy does not mean one election and then tyranny. Because it has become evident that President Morsi is steering Egypt toward being a caliphate, many of the people who originally wanted a change in government do not like the change they got.

It remains to be seen whether or not Morsi will hold power. The Muslim Brotherhood is very powerful and is not above using force to maintain power. It would be wonderful to see freedom come to Egypt, but I seriously doubt that will be the way this ends.

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What Happens When Our Government Does Not Understand The Culture It Is Dealing With

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Front Page Magazine posted an article today showing the cultural differences in the way America and Egypt view our foreign aid to that country.

The article reports:

As earlier suggested, the wonderful thing about Salafis—those extra “radical” Muslims who seek to emulate as literally as possible prophet Muhammad’s teachings and habits—is that they are so unabashed and frank about what they believe.   Such is the degree of brainwashing that they have undergone.  Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded much earlier, doublespeak is not second nature to the Salafis.

The most recent example comes from Al Hafiz TV, an Egyptian Islamic station.  During a roundtable discussion on the U.S. and foreign aid to Egypt, an Islamic cleric, clearly of the Salafi bent—he had their trademark mustache-less-beard—insisted that the U.S. must be treated contemptuously, like a downtrodden dhimmi, or conquered infidel; that Egypt must make the U.S. conform to its own demands; and that, then, all the money the U.S. offers to Egypt in foreign aid can be taken as rightfully earned jizya.

For those of you who may be new to this site, I need to explain what these terms mean. Under Sharia law, which is the legal system the Salafis want to bring to Egypt, non-Muslims are to be given three choices–convert to Islam and conform to Sharia, submit as second-class citizens (dhimmis), or be killed. The jizya is the money paid to the Muslims by the dhimmis every year in a ceremony which is designed to demean them as people and to remind them that the government is generously allowing them to keep their heads. There is no honor in being a dhimmi.

The article further reports:

When the host asked the sheikh “Do the Americans owe us jizya?”  he responded, “Yes,” adding that it is the price Americans have to pay “so we can leave them alone!”  When the host asked the sheikh if he was proclaiming a fatwa, the latter exclaimed, “By Allah of course!” The sheikh added that, to become a truly Islamic state, Egypt must “impose on America to pay aid as jizya, before we allow it to realize its own interests, the ones which we agree to.”

If giving Egypt foreign aid is interpreted by the Egyptian clerics as our acceptance of dhimmi status, then we need to stop that aid immediately. It is not in our best interests as a country to continue feeding this idea. Under Sharia Law, Muslims are not at all obligated to be truthful to dhimmis or to threat them well.

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