THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 35, February 2, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHY THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION CAN BE
THE BEST -- OR WORST -- THING TO HAPPEN
By Raymond Ibrahim
THE OUTCOME OF THE EGYPTIAN UPRISING: WILL THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION RESULT IN THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF SOME SORT OF PLURALISTIC CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AS THE GOVERNING SYSTEM OF EGYPT, OR WILL THE
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TAKE OVER CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY & IMPOSE AN ISLAMIST DICTATORSHIP? WHAT
SHOULD THE U.S.A. DO ABOUT THE SITUATION IN EGYPT? SHOULD AMERICA GIVE SUPPORT TO THE SECULARISTS &
OPPOSE THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD?
FULL STORY:
It is clear that the media and its host of analysts are increasingly splitting in two camps on the Egyptian revolution: one
that sees it as a wonderful expression of "people-power" that, left alone, will naturally culminate into some sort of
pluralistic democracy, and another that sees only the Muslim Brotherhood, in other words, that sees only bad coming
from the revolution. These extremist views need balancing. The fact is, depending on what the U.S.A. does — or
doesn't — the result of this revolt could either be the best or worst thing to happen to the Middle East in the modern
era.
For starters, that the Muslim Brotherhood poses a great threat, there is no doubt. If Mubarak goes and a power vacuum
is created, the best positioned opposition group to take over is the Brotherhood — this is especially the case if there is
no outside intervention to prevent it.
On the other hand, the majority of the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protesting and dying in the streets of Egypt
today are not doing so because they want sharia law enforced to the letter. Rather, this is a popular revolution in the
literal sense, and contains all segments of Egypt's population, not just the Islamists. The only united goal all Egyptians
have is to see Mubarak go — hence the ubiquitous Arabic sign, Irhal: "Get out!"
Therefore, rather than naively assume that this revolution will lead to a constitutional democratic Egypt (and so the
U.S.A. should stand by), or cynically assume that this is unquestionably an Islamist revolt that needs to be crushed (by
supporting Mubarak and tyranny), the U.S.A. should not support the Mubarak regime, but rather do whatever needs
doing to see that the revolt, in fact, leads to a secular and pluralistic society, which many Egyptians would welcome.
The secularists are there. Now is the time to support them. Without Western support, the Muslim Brotherhood will take
over Egypt by default. And if that happens, the Middle East will rock like never before in the modern era.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Egypt, Arabs, & the Middle East
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
North Africa -- The Arab States of Islamic North Africa
The Middle East & the Arabs
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is the Associate Director of the Middle East Forum,
a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection
of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement. Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and
political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend the origins, development, history, and serious
danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida and
implacable enemies of the U.S.A. and the West.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in National Review Online, February 2, 2011,
and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks
to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2828/why-the- egyptian-revolution-can-be-the-best-or)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
February 2, 2011
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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