Another Man Who Will Get Us All Killed
Politico
DNI Clapper: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood 'largely secular'
During a House Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called Egypt's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement "largely secular."
In response to questioning from Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) about the threat posed by the group, Clapper suggested that the Egyptian part of the Brotherhood is not particularly extreme and that the broader international movement is hard to generalize about.
"The term 'Muslim Brotherhood'...is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Clapper said. "They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera.....In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally."
The Brotherhood uses the slogan, "Islam is the answer," and generally advocates for government in accordance with Islamic principles. The movement has as a broad goal unifying what it perceives as Muslim lands, from Spain to Indonesia, as a "caliphate."
Myrick interrupted Clapper at one point, saying her concern isn't simply with the violence but with the Brotherhood's beliefs regarding government.
"The danger of the Muslim Brotherhood is not just encouraging terrorism through their ideology, but also trying to take over government, so everyone has to succumb and live under their ideology," Myrick said.
Clapper said later in the hearing that the Brotherhood in Egypt runs 29 hospitals "not under the guise of an extremist agenda." He said the group fills a vacuum caused by the absence of government services, but added, "It is not necessarily with a view to promoting violence or overthrow of the state."
FBI Director Robert Mueller said some branches of the Brotherhood have engaged in violence, but he declined to go into detail in a public session. "Obviously, elements of the Muslim Brotherhood here and overseas have supported terrorism," he said.
Hamas, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group but also runs the elected government in the Gaza strip, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. U.S. prosecutors have also produced evidence that some Islamic organizations in America, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust, grew out of the Brotherhood
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Hmm, maybe he should spend more time on the blogs than CNN. (photo from Gateway Pundit)
“We are with freedom now, until the people are ready to accept Islam,”
Wow. Is that about as irrefutable as it gets, proof of what we have been saying here for many long years now? And not just about Egypt but about Islam?
(also h/t Gateway)
The Islamic Republic News Agency reported:
The Islamic revolution in Iran over three decades ago has set an example for others to follow, according to a prominent Egyptian scholar.
“It has had an impact not only on Egypt but all over the Muslim world,” Kamal Helbawi said on the eve of the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 revolution in Iran.
“It was a revolution for freedom, a revolution for dignity and for the respect and worship of God,” Helbawi said in an interview with IRNA.
With regard to Egypt, he said the current uprising was by all people, not only Islamists, seeking freedom from 30 years of oppression. Unfortunately there are “no personality like Imam Khomeini and Imam Khamenei.”
“We are with freedom now, until the people are ready to accept Islam,” the scholar and researcher said. “Christians and Muslims have no problem, the only problem is with Mubarak and the regime.”
He cautioned the Egyptian people not to accept Vice-President Omar Suleiman, saying that he was trained in intelligence and was “worse than Mubarak” and they would effectively be “accepting the CIA and Mossad to rule over Egypt.”“Muburak should not only go but should be put on trial and spend the rest of his life in prison for accepting American hegemony and the destruction of the Egyptian economy and political system,” Helbawi said.
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