The Presidential Election of 2012 was a historic even in Egypt. But what about the new President of Egypt - Mohamed Morsi?
Who is he? Where did he come from?
What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
Seriously, if someone just read / scanned "Major" media outlets, the picture they paint of Morsi and the Brotherhood is one of "tolerance" and "moderation" and "democracy". Let's look at some of those articles. Let's see what good old Google has to say:
So I searched Google - News for "Mohamed Morsi"
There's the Wikipedia entry of course.
Then there is an article about him planning to visit the U.S.
Then buried under that, in small print (Google - say it ain't so) is this gem:
EGYPT PRESIDENT PLANS TO VISIT IRAN
Really? This is the guy we're supporting. Well maybe he's preaching that whole "moderation and tolerance" gig. I wasn't going to include democracy- it is Iran...seriously?
First a QUICK History of Egypt - Iran relations.
- 1979 Shah overthrown in Iran
- 1979 Egypt signs the Egypt-Israel peace treaty
That's basically all you need to know right there. So what has changed to make this visit even possible?
"Mr.Morsi will visist Tehran on Aug 30th to attend the Nonaligned Movement meeting, where Egypt will transfer the movement's rotating leadership to IRan. The movement was established during the cold war to advocate for developing nations."
WIKIPEDIA ENTRY FOR NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT
Interesting reading there. Innocent enough I guess. LOL.
Plenty of good old Anti-American Policy rants too.
So let's get back to Morsi.
Born in Cairo. Educated at Cairo University (Engineering) then received a PhD in Engineering from Univ of Southern California. He was an assistant professor at California State University for several years then moved back to Egypt in 1985, where he taught at Zagazig University until 2010.
Still haven't nailed down WHEN he jointed the Muslim Brotherhood - but I digress.
Morsi was actually the SECOND CHOICE for a Presidential candidate backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The first choice was:
Khairat El-Shater
But he was disqualified by the election commission because he had just been released from an Egyptian prison in 2011. What?
Yup - he's millionaire businessman and a leading member (and financier) of the Brotherhood. Apparently after Anwar Sadat's assassination, in 1981, he was exiled and labeled an "Islamist Dissident". He went to England. (No surprise there). He returned sometime in the 80's, became an active member of the Brotherhood. In 1995 he became the head of the Cairo branch.
He was jailed (for the second time- the first time for protests against the government in 1968) in 2006. He was charged with supplying students with weapons and military training.
Apparently he was DQ'd because it hadn't been more than 6 years since he was released from prison.
So then comes Morsi. Apparently he was already a member of Parliament.
Khairat el-Shater - Muslim Brotherhood Candidate
Ban on Egyptian Presidential Candidate Upheld
More on el-Shater
So this guy was their FIRST choice? Okay. So back to Moris, after all - he is the President of Egypt now.
Apparently the Muslim Brotherhood, under the former governments, was banned from sponsoring a Presidential candidate. So they founded the Freedom and Justice party. Morsi was named the President of the party when it was founded in 2011. They won numerous amounts of Parliament seats when they contested elections in 2011.
Islamists win 70% of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament
There have been many rumors and stories that the Salafit Al-Nour party joined forces with the Brotherhood backed Freedom and Justice party. Publicly Salafists claim this to be untrue, as they believe the F&J party to be TOO moderate, when it comes to using Sharia law (Islamic law) as basis for governing.
Clear as mud?
BTW - the Brotherhood proclaimed they wouldn't sponsor a candidate for the Presidency - this was before they sponsored el-Shater. Also Morsi resigned from the Brotherhood after winning the Presidential Election.
So what about the Muslim Brotherhood?
Well do some reading. They are not (or at least in the past haven't been - people and organizations can change right? Change their public or outside perception at least) exactly the "tolerant" and "moderate" organization they are purported (by the "major" "news" outlet - sorry the use of those terms simply required two different sets of quotation marks) to be.
Some of the founding and most influential members of the Brotherhood are often quoted by proven terrorists and their organizations.
Ever heard of HAMAS? They are essentially a result of the Brotherhood gaining ground in Palestine (the brother of the Brotherhood founder started the Palestinian branch in the 1930's).
Essentially the Muslim Brotherhood puts on a front of
charity and moderation. No one can
refute these things they have done in Middle Eastern countries. But even their
own history involves “Secret Councils” or basically military versions of their
group that worked to overthrow the Egyptian government (among other ties to
VARIOUS and plentiful terror based groups).
They are remaking, or honestly have remade, their public
image. They performed a vigorous PR
campaign that basically convinced people across the world that they are NOT a
terror organization.
Funny, so many proclaimed jihadists, many convicted of crimes as
such, have cited Brotherhood members when justifying their actions.
Sayyid Qutb was one. He was often cited as a heavy influence by
Osama Bin Laden among others.
Qutb was a scholar who actually studied and taught in the United
States as early as the 1940’s
Qutb’s
opinions on the United States and Western societies are well known among
Islamic Fundamentalists, and in reality many consider him when trying to
explain the birth of “modern” Islamic extremism.
Very
informative article about Qutb and what he believed.
He
was a huge part of the Brotherhood and helped with the Egyptian revolution of
1952. After the Brotherhood tried to
assassinate Nasser (the second President of Egypt) who they had helped
overthrow the former government – thousands of Brotherhood members were jailed,
including Qutb.
He
was executed by the Egyptian government after years of imprisonment and
apparent torture. He’s considered by
jihadists to the be the “original” martyr of their cause – an inspiration.
The
list goes on and on. But apparently, if
you have a good publicist – and you can “distance” yourself from the violent
offshoots and wings you helped found and sponsored – then everything is okay.
Now
try to make sense of all this after all the recent articles about how the U.S.
is SUPPORTING the current Egyptian
President (sponsored by the Brotherhood).
Apparently
if we don’t believe the “mainstream” media, we must all be crazy conspiracy
theorists.
