The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Jeff Jacoby Gets It Right on The Muslim Brotherhood

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The Spectacle Blog

Jeff Jacoby Gets It Right on The Muslim Brotherhood

I would strongly recommend reading Jeff Jacoby's magnificent column in The Boston Globe today on The Muslim Brotherhood.

When you consider the effort being made to minimize the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt by the likes of Stephen Walt, Tariq Ramadan and, perhaps most notably, Mohammed ElBaradei; Jacoby's words shatter any illusion of moderation or prudence or efficacy for liberal democracy as we understand it on the part of the Muslim Brotherhood:

If Egypt is to have any hope of a transition to a genuine constitutional democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood must not be treated as a legitimate democratic partner. For more than 80 years, it has been a fervent exponent of Islamic, not secular, rule; of clerical, not democratic, sovereignty. Its credo could hardly be more explicit, or more antidemocratic: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.''

The Muslim Brotherhood's supreme leader has publicly called for raising young "mujaheddin'' - holy warriors - "who love to die as much as others love to live and who can perform their duty towards their God, themselves and homeland.'' This week, senior Brotherhood figure Kamal al-Halbavi said his wish for Egypt is "a good government like the Iranian government, and a good president like Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is very brave.''

Democracy is flexible, but even in the best of circumstances it is incompatible with religious totalitarianism. What the Muslim Brotherhood seeks is the very antithesis of democratic pluralism and a free civil society. Egypt's friends must say so, clearly and emphatically.

For those of you who are eager to see Mubarak leave office immediately please be careful for what you wish because you just might get it.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Occam's Tool| 2.9.11 @ 3:30PM

I don't want to see Mubarak leave. I'm a Conservative. That usually implies a certain pessimism.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.9.11 @ 4:13PM

Doctor,
Mubarak IS going to leave ...in the very near future, either from illness, death, or as he has said, he is not running for office again.
So,
whether it is now or September, or ???, it will be soon.
The status quo is over, and I cannot see anything but dark clouds over the horizon in Egypt.

I read the other day about 85% of Egyptians are fine with Sharia law. That is similar to 85% of American "liberals" seemingly just fine with the communists, (pardon the shorthand), now in the White house.
Doc, I just can't see a happy ending there. Perhaps we should set up a betting pool, sorta' like a football pool. Question: how many months before the bloodbath begins?

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch" in DC, our stupid stupid politicos fire off in every direction.
As you have read part one of my novel, I hesitate to don the robe of prophecy, but like they say in the Budweiser commercial..."here we go".

As you will recall, I was drafting the book part one last summer. Hopefully, I can finish the book in March and kill some trees.
www.texassaidno.com

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.9.11 @ 4:18PM

Mr. Goldstein,
please contact me through my publishing agent at
sales@texassaidno.com

Clint| 2.9.11 @ 5:01PM

"The April 6 and Khaled Said groups have emerged as the organizers of the anti-Mubarak coalition.Leftists, socialists and pro-labor people know that the April 6 movement takes its name from April 6, 2008, when a series of strikes and labor actions by textile workers in Mahalla led to a growing general strike by workers and residents and then, on April 6, faced a brutal crackdown by security forces. A second, allied movement of young Egyptians developed in response to the killing by police of Khaled Said, a university graduate, in Alexandria. Both the April 6 group and another group, called We Are All Khaled Said, built networks through Facebook, and according to one account the April 6 group has more than 80,000 members on Facebook. The two groups, which work together, are nearly entirely secular, pro-labor and support the overthrow of Mubarak and the creation of a democratic republic."

gaetano| 2.10.11 @ 9:05AM

I thought that Egypt was our friend. And now Obama wants to back the protesters and overthrow Mubarak? What is one to believe? If these sharia law people want to die more then we want to live,then lets help them out.