THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 131, May 22, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHITEWASHING THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
By Janet Doerflinger
HOW WELL DID MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROFESSORS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES EXPLAIN & INTERPRET THE EGYPTIAN
UPRISING, PARTICULARLY THE RISK OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD GAINING POLITICAL POWER? WOULD HOSNI
MUBARAK'S OUSTER LEAD TO GENUINE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN EGYPT? WOULD THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
PLAY A CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE IN EGYPT'S NEW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT? MOST PROFESSORS THOUGHT SO, &
DISCOUNTED THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD'S ISLAMIST AGENDA. WHAT IS LONG OVERDUE IN THE U.S.A.: A
REVOLUTION AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES, IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENTRENCHED APOLOGISTS FOR RADICAL
ISLAM.
FULL STORY:
How well did Middle East Studies Professors at American universities interpret the Egyptian uprising, particularly the
risk of the Muslim Brotherhood gaining power? Among fifteen prominent professors who commented publicly on the
uprising before and immediately after Mubarak's ouster, fully thirteen believed that overthrowing Mubarak would lead
to constitutional democracy, or liberal democracy, in Egypt and that the Muslim Brotherhood would play a constructive
role. Instead of explaining the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist agenda to the American public, they naively discounted it.
University of California - Irvine Professor Mark LeVine predicted "real democracy" and a new, more just world order.
Fawaz Gerges (Sarah Lawrence College and London School of Economics) expected "a new game of politics that
focuses on democracy, on pluralism." Ian Lustick (Penn) likened the Muslim Brotherhood to European Christian
Democratic Parties. Mark Tessler (Michigan) compared the Brotherhood to American social Conservatives. Carrie
Rosefsky Wickham (Emory) said the Brotherhood "has earned a place at the table, and no transition to a democratic
process can occur without it." And Bruce Rutherford (Colgate) wrote, "In political documents and myriad interviews
over the past fifteen years, the Brotherhood's leadership has expressed a commitment to democracy and human rights."
Oddly, Rutherford, author of the 2008 book, Egypt after Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab
World, discussed restrictions placed on presidential candidates in the Brotherhood's 2007 platform, but he seemed
unaware that the same document also sought to enshrine Shariah (Islamic law) as the sole source of legislation and
proposed establishing a clerical council above the legislative and executive branches of government. And shortly after
Mubarak fell, the Brothers sought the authority to appoint clergy, which would give them direct control over such a
council. Furthermore, it's hard to discern a commitment to human rights in the words of Muslim Brotherhood spiritual
guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who favors mutilating the genitals of young girls and exterminating world Jewry. Rutherford
conceded that other Egyptians mistrust the Brotherhood, and even helpfully suggested ways it might reassure the
wary Coptic Christians. Perhaps those Egyptians know something about the Muslim Brotherhood that Rutherford
doesn't.
While the Brothers' ultimate goal is a universal Islamic caliphate governed by Shariah, they subscribe to a doctrine of
stages, of which stage two, da'wa, or peaceful outreach, must precede conquest. Therefore, we cannot extrapolate their
circumspection under Mubarak into a future when they might judge conditions ripe for seizing power. Gerges, LeVine,
and Wickham all made this error.
Wickham, author of the excellent 2002 book Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt,
has a more nuanced view of the Muslim Brotherhood than her peers, but seems to wear rose-tinted glasses. Writing in
early February for CNN.com and Foreign Affairs, she focused on reformers, most of whom — by her
own account — have left the Brotherhood. At the same time, she overlooked the Brotherhood's official policies, which
show these reformers have not succeeded in changing the organization, and she dismissed as mere "rhetoric" the
leaders' statements. She also whitewashed the Brotherhood's early history, which included terrorizing Egyptian Jews
and Christians and collaborating with the Nazis.
Of the fifteen professors, only one, Jamsheed Choksy (Indiana University), strongly opposed empowering the Muslim
Brotherhood. Not coincidentally, he was the only one who considered American strategic interests. By contrast, Rashid
Khalidi (Columbia) explicitly opposed interfering with a Brotherhood ascendency, even if it hurt our geopolitical
standing. Opining about foreign policy in a strategic vacuum is nonsensical, so Jamsheed Choksy stood out as an
exemplary public intellectual.
Choksy viewed the Arab upheaval as the beginning of a new power struggle between secular democracy and Iranian
theocracy. In his writings, he argues that both the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Iran advocate creating Islamic
states, acquiring atomic bombs, ending the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, and curbing Western influence in the Middle
East. Iran covertly funds the Brotherhood and formed ties with Tunisian Islamist Ghannouchi during his long exile. And
shortly after long-time American ally Hosni Mubarak fell, Brotherhood leader Kamal al-Hilbawi flew to Iran for an Islamic
unity conference, where he declared his wish to emulate Iran. Because of the dangers of a potential Iranian nuclear
umbrella and Iran's skill at co-opting unrest among its neighbors, Choksy urged Western countries to take a proactive
role in supporting democratic elements versus Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood.
In stark contrast to Choksy, Juan Cole (Michigan), Gerges, and Lustick promoted the ruling Turkish Islamist AKP party
as a model for the Muslim Brotherhood. But the AKP is a poor example on both strategic and democratic grounds. Since
its 2002 election victory, the AKP has reoriented Turkey away from the United States and Israel and towards Iran. It
refused to let the U.S. attack Iraq from Turkish soil in 2003, and the Turkish government participated in the sordid Mavi
Marmara affair. Domestically, the AKP has systematically eroded democracy by disarming checks and balances and
arresting journalists, military officers, and others they accuse of being involved in the apocryphal Ergenekon and
Balyoz conspiracies. Turkey currently holds more journalists in prison than any other country, and between 700 and
1,000 Turkish journalists face legal proceedings. AKP Prime Minister Erdogan famously commented, "Democracy is like
a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off," and he seems to be living up to his ideals.
Regrettably, most Middle East Studies Professors failed to elucidate the ideology and goals of the Muslim Brotherhood
and explain why they are incompatible with both liberal democracy and a stable world order. The Arab upheaval presents
both opportunities and dangers, and it is crucial that we understand what's at stake. Each country is different. While we
hope, in time, the burgeoning new spirit of democracy will bear fruit, in Egypt, early elections will favor the Brotherhood
over the poorly-organized and leaderless demonstrators. The military, which remains in power, seems closer ideologically
to the Brothers than the democrats. And because of their oligopolistic business interests, the military officers are
particularly unsuited to solve Egypt's severe economic problems, so another round of revolution may be in order, with
unknown results. What is long overdue is a revolution at American universities — in the struggle against the entrenched
apologists for radical Islam, the first cries for freedom have barely been heard.
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
Janet Doerflinger is a writer whose interests include public affairs and foreign policy.
The foregoing article by Janet Doerflinger was originally published in Front Page Magazine, May 20, 2010, 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/2910/whitewashing- muslim-brotherhood)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
May 22, 2011
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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