{"id":6341,"date":"2013-08-13T13:53:53","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T20:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6341"},"modified":"2013-08-13T13:53:53","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T20:53:53","slug":"egyptians-enraged-by-u-s-outreach-to-muslim-brotherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/egyptians-enraged-by-u-s-outreach-to-muslim-brotherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptians Enraged by U.S. Outreach to Muslim Brotherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0PJ Media<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In the eyes of tens of millions of Egyptians, Senators John McCain\u2019s and Lindsey Graham\u2019s recent words and deeds in Egypt\u2014which have the \u201cblessing<\/a>\u201d of President Obama\u2014have unequivocally proven that U.S. leadership is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n

Egyptian media is awash with stories of the growing anger regarding this policy.<\/p>\n

A top advisor to Egypt\u2019s Interim President Adly Mansour\u00a0formally accused<\/a>\u00a0McCain of distorting facts to the benefit of the Brotherhood, dismissing the senator\u2019s remarks as \u201cirrational\u201d\u2014or, more colloquially, \u201cmoronic.\u201d \u00a0Ahmed al-Zind<\/a>, head of the Egyptian Judge Club, called\u00a0for the arrest and trial of McCain for \u201ctrying to destroy Egypt.\u201d \u00a0The leader of the youth movement,\u00a0Tamarod<\/a>\u00a0(or \u201cRebellion\u201d against the Brotherhood) which played a major role in mobilizing the June 30 Revolution, said \u201cWe reject John McCain and call on the international community to let the [Egyptian] people decide their own fate.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Another incensed secular political commentator,\u00a0Ahmed Musa<\/a>, asserted that \u201cThese two men have made more shameless demands than the Brotherhood themselves would dare,\u201d adding:<\/p>\n

He [McCain] is not a man elected by the American people to speak on their behalf; today, he speaks on behalf of an armed terrorist organization\u2014the Muslim Brotherhood\u2026\u00a0 We had expected [better] from these two men who came to speak with the tongue of the Brotherhood\u2019s leadership, and as if they had been recruited as two new leaders of the Brotherhood, which killed, destroyed, and burned in al-Muqattam, and now in Rab\u2018a al-Adawiya [the main Brotherhood camp].\u00a0 The only thing missing is to see them [McCain and Graham] in Rab\u2018a, surrounded by armed groups, and in their midst Muhammad Badie [supreme leader of the Brotherhood] and [U.S. ambassador]\u00a0Anne<\/a>\u00a0Patterson<\/a>. That\u2019s all that\u2019s missing!\u00a0 Here comes Brother McCain today saying that we must \u201crelease the [Brotherhood] prisoners\u201d\u2026. are you not aware that these people are accused of murder?\u00a0 Are you not aware that hundreds of Egyptians have been killed at the hands of the Brotherhood, Morsi, Shatter, Qatatni, Badie, Baltagi\u2014have you forgotten?\u00a0 Did you not read the report on what happened?\u00a0 Or did you just blindly accept your ambassador\u2019s [Anne Patterson\u2019s] words that it was a coup, that 33 million people did not go out?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What did McCain do and say in Egypt to earn the ire of millions of Egyptians?<\/p>\n

First, most offensive to Egyptians\u2014and helpful to the Brotherhood\u2019s cause\u2014is McCain\u2019s insistence on calling the\u00a0June 30\u00a0Revolution a \u201cmilitary coup.\u201d In reality, the revolution consisted of perhaps thirty million Egyptians taking to the streets to oust the\u00a0Brotherhood. McCain is either deliberately misconstruing the event, or believes the story as manufactured by Al Jazeera and promulgated by Ambassador Anne Patterson. In this narrative, at least an equal amount of Egyptians supported Morsi, and the military overthrew him against popular will. Al Jazeera has actually broadcast images of the millions of anti-Morsi protesters and identified them as\u00a0pro<\/em>-Morsi protesters, disinformation which was quickly adopted by Western media.<\/p>\n

Several Al Jazeera correspondents have resigned due to Al Jazeera acting as the Brotherhood\u2019s international mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, some American officials have formally rejected this false narrative. A\u00a0new congressional resolution<\/a>\u00a0states:<\/p>\n

Whereas in recent weeks, an estimated 30,000,000 Egyptians in a majority of Egypt\u2019s 27 provinces gathered to protest the widespread failures of former President Mohamed Morsi and the Government of Egypt and its violations of the most basic rights of all Egyptian citizens, including Egyptian women, minorities, and those publicly dissenting from its views and policies; Whereas the participants in the June 30, 2013, popular protests far outnumbered those involved in the protests and demonstrations of January and February 2011\u00a0\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even the Obama administration has been sensible enough not to call the\u00a0June 30\u00a0revolution a \u201cmilitary coup.\u201d \u00a0Nevertheless, McCain rejected\u00a0John Kerry\u2019s statement that \u201cthe [Egyptian] military did not take over<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCain\u2019s designation raises other questions as well. If he considers the ouster of the Brotherhood government to be a military coup, why didn\u2019t he extend that distinction at the fall of Mubarak\u2019s more moderate government, which was also removed by the military in response to popular protests? If McCain\u2019s argument is that Morsi was democratically elected and Mubarak was not, then why was the U.S. giving Egypt billions in aid for decades\u2014thus legitimizing Mubarak\u2019s government no less than Morsi\u2019s?<\/p>\n

Further angering Egyptians is McCain\u2019s insistence that all arrested Brotherhood members be released from prison. As Musa said, McCain\u2019s stance does not address the fact that Brotherhood leadership is awaiting trial on serious charges: inciting terrorism, causing the murder of Egyptians, and grand treason by conspiring with foreign powers against Egypt\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

McCain claims he is simply interested in the human rights of the incarcerated Brotherhood members, a statement that is additionally curious. If human rights are at issue, why has McCain and the U.S. administration been indifferent to\u00a0the fate of Hosni Mubarak? Morsi faces perhaps more serious charges than Mubarak does, yet McCain calls for his release.<\/p>\n

McCain\u2019s call to release Brotherhood leadership\u00a0validates the widespread belief in Egypt that America\u00a0is a fellow conspirator with the Brotherhood. Egyptians believe the U.S. fears that Morsi and others, if tried, would reveal the nature of their cozy relationship with the U.S. government, leading to any number of ugly revelations\u2014treasonous\u00a0ties and\u00a0conspiracies, the exchange of billions of dollars, and Sinai issues. Hence, McCain wants them freed. This belief seems all the more reasonable to Egyptians considering that in 2011, McCain\u00a0said of the Muslim Brotherhood<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I think they are a radical group that first of all supports Sharia law; that in itself is anti-democratic\u2014at least as far as women are concerned. They have been involved with other terrorist organizations and I believe that they should be specifically excluded from any transition government.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McCain also personally\u00a0visited<\/a>\u00a0Khairat al-Shatter, the multi-millionaire\u00a0deputy chief of the Brotherhood who is currently incarcerated on charges of treason and terrorism. Interestingly, Shatter was not even a member of Morsi\u2019s government. Why is McCain visiting a civilian? Shatter\u2019s status as a major figure in the largest Islamist organization in the world is leading Egyptians to connect the dots. Even Shatter himself, understanding\u00a0the awful visuals<\/a>, asked McCain to visit \u201cthe legitimate president\u201d Morsi instead.<\/p>\n

U.S. media has said little about the administration\u2019s ties to al-Shatter;\u00a0however these ties are\u00a0well-known among Egyptians:\u00a0ambassador Anne Patterson was frequently seen\u00a0going to<\/a>\u00a0Shatter\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n

Egyptian media has also\u00a0pointed out<\/a>\u00a0that McCain repeatedly dodged critical questions by Egyptian journalists at the press conference. When asked about the fact that the Brotherhood in Rab\u2018a was armed to the teeth, and\u2014with the aid of al-Qaeda\u2014was killing and terrorizing innocent Egyptians, McCain ignored the question. This, of course is in keeping with the fact that McCain has also ignored the question as to why he is the staunchest supporter of the jihad in Syria, which has torn that nation apart, seen the slaughter and displacement of untold thousands of Christians and the destruction of their churches, and the\u00a0beheadings<\/a>\u00a0and \u201clegitimized rapes<\/a>\u201d by foreign jihadis whom\u00a0McCain is in favor of arming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many Egyptians are also wondering why McCain\u2014as well as the Obama administration\u2014is pushing for elections as soon as possible.\u00a0 Such a rush contributed to the empowerment of the Brotherhood in the first place: once the long-entrenched Mubarak was removed from power, the only party that was organized and ready to campaign was the Brotherhood. Secular Egyptian parties wanted to postpone the 2012 elections in order to mobilize their campaigns, but the U.S. was adamant that Egypt hold elections immediately. When the military wished to perform a recount, citing irregularities in the election\u2014including widespread allegations of voter fraud by the Brotherhood\u2014Hillary Clinton chastised them and called for a winner to be declared as soon as possible. This turned out to be Morsi, by a tiny margin\u2014if that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In short, McCain\u2019s remarks and actions in Egypt have further confirmed\u00a0the popular narrative\u2014as memorably displayed by countless anti-Brotherhood and anti-Obama\u00a0placards raised during the June 30 Revolution\u2014that U.S. leadership is aligned with the Brotherhood, and thus ultimately\u00a0a supporter of terrorism<\/a>. Americans can no longer afford to ignore this serious accusation with broad implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0PJ Media In the eyes of tens of millions of Egyptians, Senators John McCain\u2019s and Lindsey Graham\u2019s recent words and deeds in Egypt\u2014which have the \u201cblessing\u201d of President Obama\u2014have unequivocally proven that U.S. leadership is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[140,227],"tags":[1035,228,1061,211,139,162],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Eh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3848,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-the-egyptian-revolution-can-be-the-best-or-worst-thing-to-happen\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":0},"title":"Why the Egyptian Revolution Can Be the Best or Worst Thing to Happen","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim NRO's\u00a0The Corner It is clear that the media and its host of analysts are split 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6383,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-terror-leader-behind-bars-in-egypt\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":1},"title":"A Terror Leader Behind Bars in Egypt","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the head of the Islamist snake, Muhammad Badie\u2014who had slipped security forces by traveling in and out of the\u00a0Brotherhood torture camps\u00a0(known as \u201cpeaceful sits ins\u201d by the mainstream media\u201d)\u2014has finally been arrested in Egypt and is awaiting trial.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6353,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/egyptian-military-warns-obama-supporting-terrorism-in-egypt-is-red-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":2},"title":"Egyptian Military Warns Obama: ‘Supporting Terrorism’ in Egypt is ‘Red Line’","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/ RaymondIbrahim.com According to a report titled \u201cSisi to Pentagon: We will not turn back, sovereignty is a red line,\u201d published in\u00a0Watan\u00a0newspaper (Saturday, August 17 edition), Egyptian Maj. Gen. Muhammad al-\u2019Assar has just issued a strongly worded letter to the Pentagon, on behalf of the Egyptian military\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7096,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-past-and-the-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":3},"title":"The Past and the Future","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Last November Raymond Ibrahim was interviewed by Egyptian reporter Sherif Awad.\u00a0 The interview appeared in several Egyptian magazines and websites, as well as American ones, such as the\u00a0Westchester Guardian. \u00a0The interview follows: Awad: Can you tell us about your family and their profession and how and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6664,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/murdered-christian-children-the-price-of-obamas-pro-brotherhood-jihad\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":4},"title":"Murdered Christian Children: The Price of Obama’s Pro-Brotherhood Jihad","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Who is more deserving of punishment by the United States?\u00a0 Millions of Egyptians, for ousting the Muslim Brotherhood?\u00a0 Or the Muslim Brotherhood, for habitually terrorizing and murdering Christians, among many other crimes? According to the unmistakably clear actions of the Obama administration, it is the millions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6122,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-to-egyptian-christians-dont-protest-the-brotherhood\/","url_meta":{"origin":6341,"position":5},"title":"Obama to Egyptian Christians: Don’t Protest the Brotherhood","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine As Egyptians of all factions prepare to demonstrate\u00a0\u00a0in mass against the Muslim Brotherhood and President\u00a0Morsi\u2019s\u00a0rule on June 30, the latter has been trying to reduce their numbers, which some predict will be in the millions and eclipse the\u00a0Tahrir\u00a0protests that earlier ousted Mubarak.\u00a0\u00a0Accordingly, among other influential\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6342,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6341\/revisions\/6342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}